Chapter 141: You're Safe

CORUNDUM -

Corundum's vision was double-layered and it made it extremely hard to focus on any one thing.

Not only could he see what was happening to Miranda and Jilena, but he could also feel their emotions pulse through the walls and seep into his heart.

However, outside of that, he could still see the courtyard and the servants and knights that walked the castle.

When the walls began to repeat Jelina's fears and terror, the crystals that were still on the platters held by the servants started to pulse and light up alongside what was happening in the vision that the gem was showing them.

By the time her fears had turned to terror, people around the courtyard had fallen to their knees, clutching their hearts or heads.

Guards and servants ran past them as screams began.

A guard made his way up to him, his hand clutching his chest.

"We're under attack, my King. Something's... draining.... us." He said before he fell to the floor.

Cory turned to the women inside their vision.

"Let go. Both of you. Drop the crystal!"

Miranda's eyes flicked to him before sliding over to Jelina, but they didn't release the crystal. Instead, it seemed like they gripped it harder.

Screams from farther away made it to him, and as he watched, guards on top of the castle walls fell from their stations.

"The crystal is draining life from the souls in my kingdom! You have to let it go!" His voice was louder and filled with the beginnings of panic.

Miranda's eyes came back to him, and her head cocked to the side.

She understands! Relief swam through him, but she still didn't let go.

"I won't leave her." She said, shaking her head. "We've been alone for so long."

Understanding dawned on him, and he reached out with his other hand and wrapped both of them around theirs.

I will not lose you. The thought shook his core until all that was left was an emotion so strong that it rivaled fury.

"I won't lose you." His power surged through their link, and warm golden light pierced the black walls like sunrise through the trees.

It poured down like a river and wrapped around their linked hands.

"You're not alone anymore," he said, his voice thick with something raw and possessive. "I'm here and I've got you." Miranda's eyes pulled from Jelina and over to him as he said. "Both of you."

Her mouth opened in surprise, and her eyes widened.

"This isn't real, is it?" Miranda asked as more tears fell from her eyes.

"I'm real." His voice was strong. "But your prison has been shattered. What you see is the crystal's magick working your memories so that you can both heal. You must accept how you felt and believe that you survived!"

He shook their joined hands.

"You survived and no part of you will ever feel like you did back then. You're safe!"

At his words, more light pierced the veil, and a gasp came from Jelina.

Both of them turned to her, and she was staring straight at Cory.

"I know you! How... How are you here?" Blackness flared at her words, and he squeezed their hands again.

Cory bent in towards her because he knew... He knew that the fury and terror swirling around them wasn't Miranda's. It was Jelina's. Fear that this was all a trick. Worry that she would be pulled back into the void and into the loneliness again.

He'd had his own experience with the crystals and while it wasn't as strong or as powerful as what they were feeling right now, it changed him. Once he let himself truly feel the emotions before letting them go, the crystals did their job and pulled them out of him.

"Jelina. Listen to me." He waited until she met his eyes. "You have to let the emotions flow. Once you've felt them, you have to let them go. You aren't in that place anymore and you never will be again!"

"You... you're real, aren't you?" She asked.

"Yes, and you're not alone." He shook his head as he spoke the last.

Her eyes flicked between his as she tried to accept what he was saying, and he saw the moment she did.

Her eyebrows furrowed, and her jaw clenched before her shoulders squared and she breathed in deeply.

The swirling black shades that were flying around them stilled for a second before the crystal pulled them into it.

The more it pulled, the greedier it got, and the more Jelina allowed her emotions to come and be set free, the brighter the room became.

Cory heard a chittering noise from the plates that the servants had dropped, and as he looked down, the crystals were shaking and dancing on the plates.

They'd cracked and split, as lavender and rose-gold light bled through, but as Jelina allowed the emotions to flow out of her and let them go, the cracks began to heal and meld back together.

He could feel everything she felt, and the emotions were almost too much to bear, even for him, but somehow she was doing it.

They both were.

Both of their breathing had grown shallow, but as they reached the end of the emotions, it grew stronger. The breaths lifted their shoulders and their mouths opened as sobs tore from their throats as they finally allowed the pain that was carved deep into their Souls to be released.

Jelina's loneliness and fear of failing. Miranda's regret from what she'd caused her daughter and the thousands of years she'd spent battling the Red Queen.

When all the blackness had finally disappeared, all three sat within the bright halls of the dream. Tears still splashed at their feet, but the sky and walls were a brilliant rose-gold and lavender, as if they were sitting high above the clouds and were watching a sunset.

Suddenly, Miranda slumped sideways and fell unconscious against Cory, her hands falling away from the crystal.

Knowing that Miranda had been unwilling to leave Jelina, Cory kept hold of both the gem and Jelina's hands and watched as something beautiful happened.

The crystals from the plates melded together and formed one large gem that lifted into the air and floated in front of their clasped hands.

Within his mind, and he knew also in the minds of his siblings, a loving voice purred.

"Not by blood, but by the love you've conquered your fears and this land. Not by power, but by heart, did you find your strength. Because of that, I recognize you as the next ruler of Wonderland, Jelina, Queen of Hearts."

Just as quickly as it arrived, the voice vanished, and Jelina fell unconscious before slumping sideways onto the bench and against the side of Miranda.

The walls of the vision dissipated, and the crystal fell from her hand to the ground, along with the now massive combined gem that had been floating in the air.

With an exhausted smile, he brushed hair out of Miranda's face just as a black crow landed on the bench beside them.

Mordant apparently had questions for him.