My pacing increased.
“Okay, so what? What does this have to do with me?”
Saryna grabbed my hand, her everi rushing through me, and a slight calm came over me.
“He did not tell us much, Anna,” she said. “Just that he wanted us to protect you. Keep an eye on you here. He cares about you, Anna. Unfortunately, Caelan took his orders as permission to assist in your awakening by pushing you every step of the way, which was grossly negligent.”
Caelan glared. “She is fine, is she not?”
“It was selfish,” Saryna fired back.
“I want to see him,” I snapped, tired of their bickering.
My head hurt as I began to process my entire life in a matter of seconds. Since I was a child, this man—no—mage—had been training me in lethal Raicanya without telling me why or what it was. He was the reason I was at Nightfall. He was the one my mom had confided in from this world—the only one.
“I am afraid we cannot do that,” Caelan says. “He only contacts us.”
I shook my head, everything spinning. “Why? Why do his bidding? What makes you follow his orders?”
They shared a look that told me all I needed to know. It was silent communication—do we trust her? And whatever the reason, it was valid.
Saryna nodded, and Caelan paused.
“My family is from a long line of border keepers that guard the Realm from the Bloodmist Void,” Caelan said. “Our clan’s mission was directed right after the Fall of the Great City over a thousand years ago—by Derrick.”
Seeing Derrick in the Realm when the wraith attacked had been a blur. Everything Caelan was saying wasn’t sticking, but one image kept clashing through my mind that I was only now recalling—Derrick’s red eyes, so very different from the blue I knew them to be.
The blood drained from my face. Sometimes the things the Aurkai said elicited some emotional response from me, but whatever Caelan just said did quite the opposite.
“Anna?”
“Hmm?”
“Are you okay?” he asked.
I smiled. “Yeah, of course.”
Saryna watched me with a worried expression.
“I do not think she is taking it well,” she muttered.
“No,” Caelan said, snapping a few times in front of my face.
“How? A thousand years old. Mages can be that old?” I finally managed to get out.
“No,” Saryna said. “Not that we know of anyway. But blood mages can.”
The warmth left me.
A blood mage?
“Anna, are you okay?” Caelan asked, worry lining his brows.
“It’s fine,” I said, holding up my hand. “Just keep going. I’m going to ignore what you said and keep breathing.”
Caelan nodded slowly, unsure if I was being serious or not.
I was.
