And then, another voice: “Isn’t that Romie Brysden?”
Recognition swept over the gathered students. There was a hum of confusion and disbelief and fear, mixed with something else Atheia couldn’t quite put her finger on.
“She was dead!” someone shouted. “She was one of the drowned students last year.”
“Isn’t she a friend of the Ainsleif girl?”
More people gathered in the quad now, voices repeating Romie’s name like it was an accusation.
Suddenly another one of those charcoal-clad Regulators marched toward her, beady little eyes taking her in like she was prey. Two more Regulators were at his heel.
“Rosemarie Brysden,” the beady-eyed one said. “My name is Captain Drutten. I’m going to ask you to come with us.”
Atheia raised a brow. “To what end?”
“It’s my hope you might help us locate your family members, for one thing.” He gave her an oily smile. “And I’m very curious to know where a supposed drowned girl has been all this time, especially one who was friends with the Shadow reborn.”
He means Emory,said Romie. Her feelings were all over the place at the mention of her family, anger rising at the thought that her association with Emory might cause her and her loved ones harm.
“I assure you I am no friend of the Shadow,” Atheia told the Regulator. “And I can answer any questions you have right here in front of all these faithful lunar mages.”
“There’s no need for that. Now come along, Ms. Brysden.”
“I will do no such thing.”
The Regulator’s ears reddened, his eyes darting to the whispering crowd as if Atheia’s disobedience were an affront to his authority, an embarrassment he refused to allow. He squared his shoulders, voice low as he said, “Then you leave me no choice.”
Before she knew what he was doing, the man reached for her arm, and the cold sting of metal brushed her skin.
Atheia wrenched free of his grasp before the restraint could close. “Get your hands off my vessel.”
This seemed only to inflame him more. She felt magic slither toward her, as if this man were trying to compel her. Usinghermagic against her—the magicshehad created as the Tides.
“Stop,”she commanded in a booming voice.
His eyes went wide as he froze. Power thrummed around Atheia as she stepped closer to him. She felt like a giant even though he stood a good head taller than she.
“Lift a hand to me again, lunar mage,” she said, “and I will not be so benevolent.”
“Who are you?” the man asked on a shaky breath.
“I am the Tides you worship. I am Bruma and Anima and Aestas and Quies wrapped in a single vessel.”
Murmurs again rippled through the crowd.
“That’s not possible,” the man said. “The Tides are gone. They’re in the Deep, put there by the Shadow…”
“That might have been true.” Somewhat. Atheia laid a gentle hand on the man’s face. “But Romie Brysden brought me back.”
Eyes went wide with fear and wonder, and she delighted in it, this feeling of divinity among mortals that she hadn’t felt for a millennium. Atheia swept a gaze over these lunar mage students who would have once been her loyal followers, her devoted worshippers. Who could be once more now that she’d returned.
“If the Tides are back, why is our magic still lacking?” a student spoke up, expression pinched with skepticism. “Isn’t their return supposed to restore it to what it once was, accessible to all, no matter our ruling house or tidal alignment?”
Murmurs of assent ran through the crowd, making an unpleasant feeling slither up Atheia’s spine. She did not have that power,could not give them what they wanted from her, and whose fault was that?
“I know you wish to regain the full might of your magic,” she addressed the crowd. “To see it flow freely once more, without any limitations. You wish to have the culprit of your dwindling powers gone. To wash away the Shadow’s stain from this world. Believe me, I am here to help you fulfill this wish. But there is an obstacle that stands in the way: the Shadow and his followers.
“I have it on good authority that the Shadow himself will be setting foot on your shores soon. Help me capture him, and I will deal with him myself. His death will mean the death of his magic.” At least, that was the hope; Atheia would see it done one way or the other. “And then,” she continued, “I will give back to you what was once yours. I will bless those faithful to me with all the lunar magics at my disposal. You will once more know magic without limits. This I promise you.”
