Chapter 143-The price for power

Chapter 143: 143-The price for power

"Why should I trust anything you say?"

Maisa climbed another step until she was standing at the same height as Taratoya. She refused to be intimidated.

Taratoya might have made it painfully clear that she had cruel intentions, but Maisa would not allow herself to retreat and hand her the upper hand in the conversation.

Taratoya studied her for a moment before smiling. "I can prove that what I’m saying is true."

She raised one finger and gently tapped Maisa’s chest, directly above her heart where the flower connecting her mates was.

"Tell me something," her finger remained there for a moment. "Can you tell what any of your mates are feeling right now?"

Maisa’s brows drew together. That was a ridiculous question and she couldn’t see how it would serve Taratoya.

"Varitreya, Addessa, Lumi, and Zolani," Taratoya tilted her head. "Take your pick."

Maisa immediately slapped her hand away. "And what exactly is that supposed to prove?"

A cruel smile slowly spread across Taratoya’s face. "Tell me," she leaned slightly closer. "And find out."

As usual, she spoke in circles, deliberately avoiding a straightforward explanation. Every answer came wrapped in another question, forcing Maisa to uncover the truth herself. Annoyed, Maisa decided to play along.

She closed her eyes. Deep inside her chest, the Flower of Fate pulsed faintly. She focused on it.

One heartbeat, two, three and fourth one. She listened to hear what the beats meant.

For a full minute, Maisa stood completely still, searching for the familiar threads that connected her to her mates.

Usually, the flower of fate made their emotions impossible to ignore: anger, fear, frustration, happiness, and pain. Even when they were far away, she could sense the changes in their emotions as though they were ripples moving through her own soul.

But now, she felt nothing.

Maisa’s brows slowly furrowed. She listened harder, but there was still nothing. The pulse inside her chest remained faint and strangely quiet.

She opened her eyes. Panic immediately flashed across her face. She couldn’t feel them at all.

For the first time, she realized she had no idea what any of her mates were feeling. They could be laughing, crying, furious, terrified, falling apart, or perfectly happy, and she wouldn’t know.

Taratoya noticed the change in her expression immediately. Her smile widened. "Now you understand."

Maisa stared at her. She wanted Taratoya to explain what she meant.

"Yesterday night, you were running around the mansion searching for Addessa."

Maisa’s face tightened. It was taking all of her self control to stand there and continue listening. Because, she couldn’t shake the feeling that Taratoya was about to ruin the good image she had of her benefactor.

"Normally, she would have felt your distress and come looking for you. Or you would have sensed where she was and instinctively gone to her."

Taratoya slowly walked around her. "But you didn’t," her voice became quieter. "You were so fascinated by your growing power that you didn’t even notice the price you were paying for it."

Maisa went pale. The light in her eyes dimmed. It felt as though someone had reached inside her chest and ripped her soul apart.

She had been so focused on becoming stronger, mastering the powers suddenly available to her, and proving that she wasn’t an unwanted outcast. She hadn’t even noticed what was disappearing along the way.

"The medicine numbs the backlash caused by defying the zing," Taratoya explained.

Maisa’s breathing became shallow. The truth being shoved down her throat for her to swallow was too bitter that she nearly choked.

"You thought that meant the medicine was protecting you," Taratoya shook her head. "It isn’t."

She leaned closer. "The only reason you aren’t feeling the backlash is because the flower of fate isn’t feeling their distance anymore. It doesn’t feel your mates at all."

Maisa’s lips parted but no words came out. Her whole body trembled.

"It doesn’t feel them at all," she paused. "And they..." Taratoya’s eyes sharpened. "...don’t feel you."

Maisa felt something inside her collapse. She suddenly understood. The medicine hadn’t removed the consequences. It had merely silenced the part of her that could recognize them.

While she had been celebrating her newfound strength, the bond connecting her to her mates had been growing quieter.

Maisa swallowed. But instead of surrendering to Taratoya’s words, suspicion immediately returned.

How does she know? How did a blackblood know about the medicine? How did she know what it did? And how could she possibly know about its side effects?

Before Maisa could ask, Taratoya continued. "Power that isn’t earned is stolen, Mai Mai. The elements you control aren’t yours by origin."

Stolen! That word rang into Maisa’s ear. She finally saw the gift her benefactor had given her for what it was. She wasn’t blessed, she was a thief.

Taratoya raised an eyebrow.

"Have you ever stopped to ask yourself what happens to the ones whose elements you are borrowing?" She paused. "Or don’t you care as long as you’re getting stronger?"

"N... Nothing has happened to them."

The answer came too quickly. Maisa stammered because, deep down, she knew she had never actually stopped to consider the question.

She didn’t know whether something had happened to her mates. She didn’t know what the medicine was doing to them. And that uncertainty frightened her more than she wanted to admit.

"Is that so?" Taratoya suddenly grabbed her hand. "Then let me show you."

"What..."

Maisa barely had time to react before Taratoya dragged her down the stairs. She pulled her toward a section of the mansion filled with carefully cultivated plants.

Rows of strange flowers and medicinal vines grew beneath magical lamps, their leaves glowing faintly in the dim evening light.

Taratoya stopped. "One of the side effects of tapping into elemental magic that isn’t yours is..."

She reached beneath her dress and pulled out a small dagger.

Maisa’s eyes widened. "Taratoya, what are you..."

The blade flashed. A sharp cut opened across Maisa’s palm.

"Aaargh!"

Maisa cried out and instinctively pulled her hand back. A thin stream of blood welled from the wound. One drop slid down her palm, followed by another, and fell onto the nearest plant.

Nothing happened for half a second and then the leaf hissed.

Maisa’s eyes widened. The moment her blood touched the plant, the green leaf blackened. It didn’t simply wither; it burned. The edges curled inward as though acid had been poured over it, while black veins spread rapidly across the stem, devouring the plant from the point of contact.

Within seconds, the entire plant collapsed. A thin trail of black smoke rose from what remained.

Maisa stared, her mouth falling open. Before she could process what she had witnessed, another plant began to wilt, followed by another and then another.

The effect spread through the entire patch. Leaves curled, flowers shriveled, and stems blackened. One after another, the plants died, leaving behind nothing but wisps of dark smoke.

Maisa’s blood had poisoned them. Her blood. She stared at her bleeding palm in horror. She had never imagined it could do something like this.

Taratoya watched her reaction without offering the slightest comfort. "Still think your benefactor has your best interests at heart?"

Maisa couldn’t answer. She didn’t know what to say. Her mind was struggling to comprehend the image before her.

How had her blood become poisonous? Why? And what had her benefactor actually done to her?