Before I Let Go (Skyland #1)(70)

“I made a promise to him.” Sorin reached forward and wiped the moisture from my face. “I will protect you no matter the cost.”

“Swear it,” Gavril held out his hand toward Evren, and I could feel his own magic radiating from his skin even though I couldn’t see it. There wasn’t a single visible sign of his magic. “Swear it, and I’ll let him go.”

I moved out of Sorin’s touch and looked for my friend. “Thalia!”

A deal sealed in magic couldn’t simply be undone. If Evren took his hand, if he swore to his brother while his magic sealed his words, there would be nothing we could do.

Thalia’s panicked gaze slammed into mine, and her bright blue magic slipped through her fingers as she tried to penetrate the wall that Evren’s magic was holding up. She was blocked as easily as I had been, and I watched in horror as Gavril took Evren’s hand in his.

“I swear.” Evren’s magic wrapped around Gavril’s wrist, and I could feel their magic mixing together as their deal began sealing between the two of them. My chest felt like it was caving in as I watched them. My magic swelled inside of me as I made my decision.

They spoke of me as if I was the key to saving their kingdom, but they were wrong. It wasn’t me this world needed. It was him.

It always had been.

I gathered every bit of my power I could before letting it pour from my fingers in a wave of magic. It shot into Evren’s magic and bent to my will. I didn’t stop until my power hit him full force.

It shot into him when he wasn’t expecting it and knocked him away from his brother. His hand fell from Gavril’s before either could seal with their magic between them, and Evren’s gaze shot to mine.

There was confusion and panic staring back at me, but I didn’t stop. I moved toward him as I pushed my power harder, and Evren hit the ground as my black inky magic poured from me and slammed into him.

“You will take me.” I looked up at Gavril, and I could see the shock in his own eyes. “Swear that you will take me instead of him, and I will go with you willingly. I am the key to the prophecy. Not him. He is not to be harmed.”

He looked back and forth between his brother and me, and he knew the truth of my words. Taking his brother wouldn’t get him me. It wouldn’t give him what he truly wanted.

He would have nothing but a dead brother and a betrothed he was still unable to touch.

“I swear it.” He nodded once, and I sent a trickle of my magic in his direction.

He watched every move it made as it wrapped around his hand and wrist, and I kept my magic pushed hard against Evren.

Gavril’s magic mixed with my own, and he nodded once. I could feel it lock into place, the deal between us, and I could barely hear Evren as he screamed out my name.

I looked back at him and slammed my magic harder and harder until he stopped fighting against me. Then I pushed harder. I forced my magic into him until I feared that it would be too much.

I had no idea what I was doing, but I remembered what he told me. We were mates which meant our magic was linked. He had said that it was legend that one mate could pull from another, and I didn’t have time to figure out how it worked. I poured my magic into him harder and harder until I could feel it draining from me.

Evren shook his head, but he couldn’t stop me. Not now. Not when so much of my magic was already pouring into him. I felt it the moment he opened up, the moment he accepted what I gave him, and I didn’t stop until I could feel myself draining fully.

“I thought you wanted him unharmed.” Gavril laughed as he wrapped his fingers around my bicep and tugged me into his side. “It looks like you’re going to do the job for me, Starblessed.”

I knew how it looked. My magic was still slamming into Evren, and even as my gaze slid past him to Thalia, I could see the fear in her eyes. But none of them had the power to stop me.

Her blue magic hit my own, not to harm me, but to stop me from harming her prince, but it did no good.

I would go with Gavril willingly, but I would play no part in his plan. When he took me, he would be taking me without my powers. He would be taking a Starblessed that held no blessings to make his prophecy come true.

I could feel the bottom of the well, every but of my magic drained from me, and I sagged against Gavril as the last of my magic trailed from my fingers.

The throne room was eerily quiet as Evren took a deep breath and shook his head. “Please don’t do this, princess.”

“It’s already done.” Gavril laughed with his mouth near my ear. “You gave yourself up for a man you think you love.” Gavril pressed against my neck, and I tried to jerk away from him but I was so tired.

Evren climbed to his feet with fury in his eyes, but Gavril lifted his blade to my neck just as Evren took a step in our direction.

“He craves your blood as much as I do, Adara. He craves your power. You are nothing more to him than a pawn.”

“I am his mate.” My words were as weak as I felt, but I hoped Evren could hear the truth behind them. I hoped he knew what they meant.

“Mate,” Gavril spat out the word, and his hands tightened against me. “Do you think fate knew he was your mate when my mother ordered him to take your father from you? Was that fate or his own power that caused him to lock your father in the dungeon and guarantee that your own blood would never get in the way of you being his? You may hate me, Starblessed, but the man you just saved is no better than I. He is worse. He damned you to this life. He damned you to be mine even though it’s the last thing he could want.”