“My King, are you sure this is a good idea?” Dion interjected.
“Do not question me, Dion,” Galen responded, not bothering to look back at the regent lord.
Show us what you can do. He wanted me to touch it. To take the blight away, as I’d done today in the village. But what if I lost control again? What if there was something in this curse, this magic, that made things worse?
My eyes strayed to Thorne and the bloody scars I knew were on his chest. He tipped his chin up at me and held my stare, as if in a silent challenge.
“Okay.” I finally nodded. “Let’s go.”
Galen, Dion and his wife, and several others followed Thorne and me through the manor and out the back entrance to the hedge maze. My heart picked up speed as we neared the tall, dark walls of greenery. I was prepared this time, wasn’t I? I knew what to expect. I wouldn’t let the magic overtake me and hurt someone again.
“Breathe, Empress,” Thorne murmured at my side, right as we turned a corner and the blackened section of the maze came into view.
I licked my lips but stayed silent. Galen stepped ahead of us and examined the dead greenery, his features unreadable. Then he turned and held out his hand to me.
Firm but gentle. Strong but controlled.I repeated my mantra as I took it, soft leather against smooth skin.
It was as if the entire garden held its breath while weapproached. Galen’s stare pierced me, his anticipation and hope vibrating through those hazel eyes. Taking one final, deep breath, I held out my hand to the shriveled hedge.
The moment my fingers touched it, my body came alive.
That same beautiful, warm, golden magic shot into me, filling me. But this time it wasn’t as powerful. Not nearly as potent. It felt like a drop of water instead of an entire ocean pouring into me. I slowed my breaths and imagined the magic as golden ribbons twisting and twining with my fox half, and I easily brought it under my control.
It must be the size of the affected area. That was the only explanation. Before, it had been an enormous hill—now, it was the size of a large bush. The bigger the space, the more magic it contained.
“Clarissa,look,” Galen murmured, and I glanced up.
Thorne was right. I hadn’t focused on it the first time, but now…
Before our eyes, life seeped back into the base of the hedge. The jagged stems straightened and regrew, sturdier and more elegant than before. Bright green leaves formed and flourished with each passing second. Even the soil on the ground around it went from black and charred to a rich, healthy brown.
I backed away, and Galen squeezed my hand. His lips parted, his eyes wide and roving over me as if he were a blind man seeing for the first time.
Starved. Desperate. Joyful. Like he’d been saved.
“It’s you,” he breathed out. “You’re really the answer.”
I swallowed hard and broke his stare.
I hadn’t shifted. I stayed in control. Relief swept through me, but with it came a sense of determination. As much as the uncertainty and contempt of those around me tried to take it away, I wasproudof who I was. What I could do. And I didn’t want to hide it from these people.
I slipped out of Galen’s grasp and cleared my throat. The handful of guests who were with us went quiet.
“I didn’t come to your kingdom to harm you,” I started. “I didn’t come here under false pretenses, or to bring the magic of my empire to your borders. I came here to bringpeace. I came to start mending paths between our two lands, not tear them down. And if my magic will help you”—I waved an arm behind me to the hedge—“then I’ll do everything in my power to aid King Grimaldi. You don’t deserve to suffer. I want to help you. Please,letme help you,” I directed the final part to Dion Silenus.
“But you have to know who I am,” I continued. “Because it’s mymagicthat can stop this blight, and I don’t want you to fear me or what I can do.” With a deep breath, I tugged on that familiar power, that small pocket of magic that I could feel fading by the second. I shifted my right hand into one of my fox paws, relishing the way my claws extended, sharp and glinting. The soft red fur swayed where it met human skin halfway up my forearm.
Fates, I missed this.
The night was filled with soft intakes of breath, but nobody cried out in alarm. Nobody snarled at me. Nobody pulled away. They stared at me in fascination. Curious and hopeful.
The magic was waning. That hedge didn’t hold enough of the curse to give me my powers back for long. Without having to use any effort, my paw slowly shrank back to a human hand, the fur retracting into my skin as the black pads became delicate calluses once more. In a heartbeat, the kernel of magic was gone.
Nobody moved. The air was silent as Dion Silenus slowly approached. His wrinkled face was an unreadable mask. Lifting a shaking arm, he pointed a hand at me, tilting his head to the right. I sucked in a breath and prepared for the worst.
“I—I was wrong,” he said quietly. “The Fates…they have answered our prayers. They havedeliveredus. You are not an animal, Your Majesty.” The moonlight caught the rings on his fingers, making them shine like coals in a flame. The eyes of everyone there rested on me, heavy and waiting.
“You are our savior.”
