The same doorway she had once forged from an Elder Tree.
Alora clutched the edge of her gown, staring as the truth sank cold into her bones. “Caelum…”
He stilled. Then turned with a sigh. “Ah, I had hoped to slip away unnoticed.”
His eyes were vivid gold and pointed ears poked out from waves of green hair.
A strange hum filled the air. The shadows recoiled.
“No…” A shaky breath heaved in her chest. “You are not him. Who are you?”
The stranger hesitated.
“I will spare you my name, Shadow Queen. It will hold no meaning to you.” Then to her horror, he peeled Caelum’s face away and beneath it was another, more striking and unmistakably fae. He gave her a cunning smile and bowed at the waist with an elegant flourish. “You may call me the Druid.”
Alora’s heart pounded as she stared at him.
Then at the layer of flesh with her friend’s face. Her stomach turned.
“How…when…What happened to Caelum?” The questions lodged in her throat, her mind spinning until anger sharpened her tongue.“Where is he!”
Her shout echoed with a force and thunder rolled overhead.
The Druid held up his hands in surrender. “Ah, pardon. I suppose this would be upsetting.” He cleared his throat and took a seat on a nearby boulder. “I’m afraid your first love fell during the siege on the beach, unfortunately. A valiant knight indeed. He died with your name on his lips.”
Alora clenched her fists and the air crackled with her magic. “Explain how you came to have his face.”
“It is a valued skill my kin possess,” the Druid said, his eyes gleaming. “Though useful, my true gift is sight. Where I come from, Seers are prized… and hunted. I fled on a Calveronship, wearing another man’s face, expecting to pass through this world unseen. Instead, I walked straight into a war…and a curse I did not foresee.” His gaze lifted to hers, steady and unrepentant. “When the siege fell, so did your knight. I took his face to survive. Blending in among humans was the only path left to me.”
Her mind spun with how this could be possible.
And he had chosen a position of authority, giving him access to the castle and to her circle.
Coming to find her in the mountain had not been for honor but to find a way out of Argyle. All he had to do was stay close as he waited for the curse to break, then fled when the demons came for her brother.
Alora stared at him in shock, in disbelief.
She had not sensed it at all. Or perhaps she had been too caught up in her own dilemmas to notice. It came to her now, his indifference towards Theia, his knowledge of spells, his ability to enter fae territory without the wards reacting. But he had still managed to speak and walk like Caelum without telling a single lie.
“How did you manage to hold this façade for so long?” Alora asked.
The Druid shrugged. “I am skilled at adapting to whomever I must be, silencing whoever I need with favor or spell.”
Faces with masks.
Then she remembered Delphi’s vague warning, and her struggle to speak when questioned. Zinnia had also sensed he was more.
“Why didn’t you fall to the Sleeping Curse?” Alora demanded next.
The Druid stood and from his pocket he drew out a silver lark pin with an emerald eye, wings poised in flight.
The hairpin that had gone missing from her room.
Alora’s magic snatched it away from him. The cool pin glinted in her palm and emotion tightened chest.
“Your mother’s protective magic was powerful,” the Druid said. “As are you. I have learned much during my time here.” He smiled pointedly at the Elder Tree portal. “Watching you bloom into the Goddess of Shadows really was quite entertaining. But alas, I must get going.”
“Hold.”Her command reverberated through the trees and the Druid stiffened into place.
