I saw uneasiness move through her expression, and that was so unlike her, but I had to ask about the Priestess.
“I need to know about my grandmother,” I said softly.
Wind stirred the leaves behind me. Somewhere, a wolf gave a single, short call, and my mom glanced toward the Academy and back at me.
“I’ve been waiting for you to ask, dreading it really, but I’ll try to help as best I can.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ve only held back to help protect you.”
I nodded. “I think we’re past that, but I get it.”
My dad stepped closer to her, solid and steady, and squeezed her shoulders.
“She wasn’t always the Priestess,” my mom began.
“What was her name?”
“Mariselle.”
The name landed softly. It wasn’t ominous, but elegant and controlled.
“She was brilliant,” my mom said. “She didn’t just practice magic. She studied how it moved. How it pooled. How it fractured. She believed that power scattered across towns and covens was inefficient. She felt it needed to be led by one singular authority.”
A shiver ran through me as I thought about her sitting in her compound, playing us all so she could have what…more power?
“So she wanted more control,” I offered.
“Yes.” My mom nodded once. “She wanted Stonewick structured differently. She felt it needed to be tighter and more directed like Shadowick. She believed separation was weakness… that Shadowick and Stonewick should function as one.”
A breeze moved through the branches overhead, carrying the scent of moss and bark.
“When your mom started dating me, she tried to get your mom to mess with the Wards,” my dad said quietly.
“Did you?” I asked.
My mom’s eyes sharpened. “No. Never.”
The wolf call came again, but it was closer this time.
“She studied the Hunger Path,” my mom added. “Mapped it. Talked about redirecting it.”
I thought of Malore. Of Gideon. They were like putty in her hands.
“She wanted more,” I said.
“She always does,” my mom replied. “She mothered me so she could use me, but it took many years for me to realize it. Everything always had an ulterior motive. I didn’t recognize that until I was a teenager. The less interested I was in her ambitions, the more distant she became. I didn’t like growing up in Shadowick. Stonewick felt like….a gift.”
Silence settled briefly, and I thought about the orcs and their territories destabilized, and creatures migrating.
“I don’t think she accounted for consolidation,” I said slowly. “When creatures cluster, strength concentrates.”
With all my heart, I hoped we handled this situation right. There were only so many options as we figured out what to do.
My dad studied me carefully.
“But I’m worried we could also be like sitting ducks.”
