It was a hard thing to believe. Mages didn’t marry outside of their race. Her fiery red hair could portray her as someone of the Sun Guild, but Azeran was of the Lunar Guild. His hair had been white as starlight, his eyes the color of amethyst crystals.
Zev crossed his arms. “She tells you the truth.”
“It’s an honor to be his descendant,” Dyna added.
Cassiel curled his nose. “That is nothing to be proud of. Azeran committed treason.”
She sighed, shaking her head. “That is not true.”
“You would dispute the hundreds of books and mage biographies that documented the War of the Guilds?”
“Yes,” she and Zev answered definitively.
“Azeran’s uprising led to countless deaths,” he shot back. “By the time the war ended, most of Magos was rubble and ash.”
“The mages fabricated their history,” she said. “The Archmage of the Orbis Age made sure only his account of the war was known.”
The Prince glared at her across the fire. It crackled and popped, casting a swirl of embers. “Who told you suchlies?”
Dyna hugged the journal to her chest, and it responded in a warm current of energy. It was Azeran’s Essence but a part of her believed it held a piece of his spirit. The embedded magic was so gentle there was no denying what kind of person he was.
She had only known a general account of the Lunar Mage and what had led him to defy the Magos Empire. It wasn’t until she read his journals that she learned much more about his courage and the cost he paid for freedom.
“I have a coffer full of his journals chronicling his life during the war,” she said. “Magos is not the place you believe it is, Prince Cassiel. Perhaps now is not the time to speak of it, but Azeran’s deeds were for peace.”
He was not convinced. The glint in his gaze was much harsher than it had been in Hilos. Dyna sighed. Nothing she said would change his mind. It was her word against an empire.
“And yet there is a fact that negates your story,” Cassiel said after a pause. “Azeran had sired no children and he died during the war. You cannot be of his bloodline.”
Zev said, “You witnessed her use of Essence.”
“Thatcan be explained.”
“She’s not a witch,” Zev growled. The Prince rested a hand on his silver knife, and Zev’s eyes flashed yellow at the subtle threat.
“Azeran survived,” Dyna said, drawing their attention back to her. “He and a handful of Lunar Guild Mages escaped Magos and founded North Star. We are their legacy.”
She sat beside Zev, close enough to remind him he could harm her if he shifted. It was enough to calm his wolf and he settled again.
“How do you suppose the Shadow has not laid waste to our village and made its way to Hilos?” she asked Cassiel. “It’s untarnished because a village elder cast the shadow demon back to the Netherworld at its first coming. My grandfather did so at its second coming, and then my father at its … third.” The word came out as a breathless utter.
Zev gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “They did so with magic, but the cost was their lives. Her father passed away before he could share the spell used to access the Gate.”
Dyna looked up at the twinkling sky. The night the Shadow came, the village was in chaos as the people ran with their children. Her father told her to run so she did, but she wished she had stayed. She had gone over it in her mind several times, imagining different scenarios, questioning which one could have ended with the destruction of the Shadow instead of her family.
“The spell would be useless in my hands,” she said. “Magic has nearly diminished in North Star. The first generation of Lunar Mages who founded the village were all in close relation, so their children took humans for life-mates when it came time to marry. As did their children and so on. Within each generation, their magic dwindled.”
The scowl faded from Cassiel’s face.
“The preservation of magic within bloodlines is a delicate thing,” she continued. “This is why the Magos Empire forbids mages to marry outside of their race, including outside of their guilds. In my generation, the ability to wield magic and cast spells is nearly gone. However, Essence remains. My family is one of the few remaining in the village who can wield it.”
The Prince sat against a tree and propped his elbow over his bent knee. “I suppose that is how you revealed the enchanted map?”
Dyna nodded; glad he was listening at least.
“And in the forest…” He stared at her intently, his wings tucking close against his back.
The firelight caught on the plumage at the apex of each one. His feather she’d found had fueled her Essence when she needed to defend herself against Captain Gareel. The green fire was not something she could muster on her own, and not something she would ever experience again by the way Cassiel reacted when she attempted to touch another feather. But it was expected after what his people had suffered.
