We sat around a small wooden table, the four of us. Tyreen served tea, the ceremony giving her time to compose herself.
“My name is Tyreen. I was part of your grandmother’s coven, like I said. Marya was incredible,” she said finally, her voice warm with memory. “Powerful beyond measure. And so dramatic.”
I smiled despite my tears. I missed my grandparents so damn much, I was starving for any detail, anything to keep the memory of them alive. “Dramatic how?”
“She once portaled someone’s dinner into a lake because they insulted her shoes.” Tyreen laughed through her tears. “The man’s roast chicken, right off his plate. Gone. He never said another word against her fashion choices.”
That startled a laugh out of me. “Casimya told me a similar story. My grandmother’s moods were legendary.”
“They truly were. She could hold a grudge like no one I’ve ever met. But her love was just as fierce.” Tyreen looked at me with such fondness it made my chest ache. “You have her spirit. Her fire. I can see it in the way you hold yourself. The way you walkedup to my door even when I had magic ready to blast you. That was pure Marya.”
Mal, who’d been quiet, spoke up. “She is very fierce indeed.”
Tyreen turned to look at him properly. “You treat her well, dog king?”
“Wolf. And yes, with my life.”
“Good.” Tyreen nodded with satisfaction. “Because I know twelve curses that target specific anatomy.”
Mal’s eyebrows rose. “Noted.”
“Tyreen!” I protested, trying not to snort.
“Just establishing expectations,” she said primly.
She stood and moved to a shelf, pulling down a small wooden box worn smooth with age. Inside, nestled in faded velvet, was an old necklace. A simple silver chain with a stone that pulsed with faint purple light, the same color as my portal magic.
“A coven token,” she explained, holding it out to me reverently. “Your grandmother wore one just like it. This one belonged to her sister, who passed it to me before she died. It was meant to return to the family line.”
I reached out and touched it. The moment my fingers made contact, warmth flooded through me. Not just warmth.Connection.Like suddenly hearing a song I’d known my whole life but had forgotten. Images flickered at the edge of my vision. Faces I didn’t recognize but somehow knew. Voices speaking in languages I shouldn’t understand but did.
Heritage. Family. Power that ran deeper than I’d ever imagined.
“I feel it,” I breathed, my voice barely a whisper.
“Blood calls to blood,” Tyreen murmured, her eyes bright with unshed tears. “Keep it. It was always meant for her line. It was always meant for you.”
I slipped the chain over my head, feeling the weight of it settle against my chest. The stone pulsed once, twice, then settled into a steady glow that matched my heartbeat. It felt right. Like coming home to a place I’d never been.
We talked for hours. Tyreen shared stories about my grandmother, about the coven, about the old days. Mal watched me the whole time, his expression soft as I lit up hearing about my family.
But then I remembered the reason why we actually came here, and the conversation turned serious.
“Have you ever been hunted by Igryside? How did you fight them?” I asked.
“They hunted us down for years.” Tyreen’s face fell. “But we didn’t fight them. That is the truth. We ran from them, never faced them.”
“But you were a powerful coven,” I protested. “Casimya said...”
“Like I said before, I was second-in-command of the coven,” Tyreen interrupted softly. “We were maybe fifty witches at our strongest. Igryside is a kingdom. Thousands of soldiers and a mad king obsessed with power. It was not a good combination.”She looked at me sadly. “We could not win. So we ran. And after your grandparents left, I ran for decades, until I got too tired and too old. I settled here, and have been here ever since. When I felt your tracking spell, I stayed. I figured my time had come, and I was done running. So I waited for death.”
“And instead, you got me.” I grimaced. “So what should I do? Run from them as well?”
“No,” Tyreen said firmly. “Do not make the same mistakes we did. You have a huge opportunity, something we didn’t have - Because you are not just a coven. You have a kingdom, an alliance with six other kingdoms that have your back. You have the winning hand here, Gwendolyn. Do not throw it away.”
“But Wen does not want war if we can avoid it,” Mal said, his fingers finding mine under the table.
“There may be another way,” Tyreen said thoughtfully after a moment. “The Igryside Prince. He is different from his father.”
