Chapter 295 The Blood Magic 2

Chapter 295: Chapter 295 The Blood Magic 2

Talia’s POV

I raised my bleeding hand, and I pressed it against the bars one last time.

"Sha’kala mor’eth! Vas’kala sil’verath!" I yelled out.

The words exploded from my mouth, and I felt the power surge through my body. The blood on the bars burst into light, and the silver shattered.

The bars exploded outward.

I felt the shockwave of the explosion push me backward, and I stumbled as the shards of silver flew past me. Some of them grazed my skin, leaving shallow cuts along my arms and cheeks, but I did not feel the pain. All I could feel was the triumph, the joy, and the overwhelming relief that it had actually worked.

More pieces of the silver bars were raining down around me. I stumbled back, and I felt more of the pain shooting through my arm.

I stumbled backward, and I felt myself falling. But before I hit the ground, Kaelen was there. His arms wrapped around me, catching me, and pulling me against his chest.

We fell together, and I felt his body hit the stone floor beneath me. He grunted, but he did not let go.

"I have you," he whispered. "I have you, Talia."

I looked up at him.

"I thought I was going to die," I whispered, and my voice was shaking as I looked into his gray eyes. "I thought the magic was going to consume me, that it was too much for my body to handle. But you caught me, Kaelen, like you always catch me, and I am so grateful that you are here."

Then I saw the pain on his face. He was still suffering from the silver, and he had still caught me.

"Kaelen," I said. "Your hands..."

He looked at his hands, and I saw the fresh burns on his palms. He had caught me with his bare hands, and the silver had burned him again.

"I do not care," he said. "You are safe."

Kaelen’s eyes widened. "Talia, your hand."

I looked down at my hand, and I saw the wound on my palm. The blood was still flowing, and dripping onto the stone floor. The flesh was raw and red.

The silver burns on my palm were angry and red, and I could feel the throbbing pain radiating up my arm. It was going to scar, I knew that. But I did not care, because every scar on my body was a reminder of what I had survived, and this one would be a reminder that I had saved my mother.

I could see the silver burns around the edges of my hands.

"It is fine," I said.

"It is not fine," Kaelen said. "You are bleeding everywhere."

I looked at the blood on my hand, then at the broken bars on the floor. "It was worth it."

The wound on my hand was still bleeding, and I could see the raw flesh beneath the blood, but I did not care.

Because when I looked up, the bars were gone.

I blinked, half expecting the silver to reappear, to reform, or to trap her again. But it did not. The bars were gone, shattered into pieces on the floor, and the cell was open. She was free, and I had done it.

I looked at my mother.

She was still sitting on the pallet of straw, with her hands gripping the edges of the broken cell, and she looked so small and fragile. But when I looked into her eyes, I saw the strength that had kept her alive all these years, the same strength I had inherited from her.

And I saw the tears streaming down her face.

"Talia," she whispered. "You did it."

Kaelen helped me to my feet, and I swayed for a moment before finding my balance. My mother was still inside the cell, but the bars were gone, and she was free.

"We did it," I said, and the tears streamed down my face. "We did it."

Kaelen put his hand on my shoulder. "You did it, Talia."

I looked at my mother, and I saw the tears on her cheeks, and she was smiling. After fifteen years, she was smiling.

I had never seen anything so beautiful in my entire life. Her smile was weak, and trembling, but it was there, and it was real. For fifteen years, I had wondered if I would ever see her smile again, and now I had.

Then my mother laughed, even though it was weak, but it was a beautiful sound. "My daughter. My brave, brave daughter."

I laughed too, and I felt the tears and joy mixing in my chest. We had done it, and we had broken the bars. And now, she was free.

I stepped forward.

My legs were shaking, and my hand was still bleeding, but I did not care. I had waited fifteen years for this moment, and nothing was going to stop me from reaching her now. Not the pain, not the exhaustion, and not the fear that this was all just a dream.

And I reached through the broken bars.

My fingers brushed against hers, and I felt the warmth of her skin for the first time in fifteen years. It was like touching a memory, like reaching across time and darkness and everything that had tried to keep us apart. I wrapped my hand around hers, and I felt her fingers curl around mine, weak but steady, holding on like she was never going to let go again.

"Mother," I said. "Come with me.”