I briefly considered leaving Ennartha’s place altogether and trying to make my way to Iannis alone, but I worried that he might arrive while I was gone. The serapha charm was still not working, so there was no way to tell. Besides, Ta’sradala could snatch me up at any time, from any place, and even with my increased power, there was nothing I could do about that. Her magic seemed to operate on a different frequency than my own—I would need to learn to use Tua spells in order to combat her, but with the huge disparity in power, it wouldn’t make muchdifference.
Thinking about it, it seemed strange that Ta’sradala’s magic would be different from my own, if the theory about Resinah being a Tua was true. Shouldn’t our spells be the same? But perhaps our magic had evolved into something different over the millennia, something inferior to theoriginal.
Half-heartedly, I pulled the gulaya from my sleeve and attempted to recharge it with my new powers. Unfortunately, the extra magic was of no use— I still needed to perform that tiresome recharging ritual, and I didn’t have the right ingredients necessary for thespell.
Wandering the gardens, I found Drawe sitting on a secluded bench, reading a book. He was still dressed in simple, drab clothing, but his hair was washed and he was clean, with no signs that he’d recently performed anylabor.
Definitely not aservant.
“Hey,” I said softly, moving a little closer. I angled my head to try and see the title of the book he was reading—a compendium of Manucan folk tales. “How’s itgoing?”
The boy jumped, his blue eyes widening at the sight of me. “You shouldn’t be here,” he whispered, looking around. “You should flee beforeshecomesback!”
I had no doubt by the tone of his voice which “she” he was referring to, and part of me wanted to do just that. But I had questions that needed answering. “You look similar to Iannis, my husband-to-be,” I said, keeping my voice low. “Are yourelated?”
“I guess so,” Drawe said. “Nana Deryna is my great-grandmother, and Iannis’saunt.”
I nodded—it made much more sense than that old woman being his mother. “Why don’t you live with yourparents?”
“They died when I was a baby,” Drawe said sadly. “Nana says they got mixed up with an angry Tua. I’d never met one before…before recently…” he added, his eyes darting around again. “She frightensme.”
“The Tua frighten me too,” I said solemnly, feeling sorry for the boy. No wonder he was so quiet—he was forced to be around a living nightmare! “But they are not all bad. I just came back from the Tua realm, and the two I came across were quite nice. They helped me get backhere.”
Drawe looked at me like I was nuts. “There is no way you went to the Tua realm,” he protested. “No human who has ever gone there has come back on their own, at least not for hundreds of years. Nana said it is deadly forhumans.”
I shrugged. “I’m not human. Maybe thathelps.”
Drawe still looked skeptical, and I decided to drop the subject. “If you’re unhappy here, you can always come back to Canalo with me,” I said. “There are a few other children around your age who live in the palace, and I think you’d get along with them quitewell.”
Drawe scowled. “That’s never going to happen.Sheis never going to let that happen. Don’t you get it? That old Tua lady is doing everything she can to make sure your wedding won’t happen and that you won’t ever go home. I didn’t expect you to survive this long, but it’s only a question of time. She’s playing a game of cat and mouse, andyou’rethemouse.”
I opened my mouth to respond indignantly to that—I was apanther, not some damned mouse!—when I felt a sizzle of magic in the air, coming from the side of the house. Drawe gasped, then scurried off to hide just as Ta’sradala came storming toward us. She was furious, her eyes blazing with cold anger, her lips pressed in a thin line. The air around her shimmered with waves ofpower.
But I wasn’t afraid. Not thistime.
“I could be wrong,” I said casually, turning to face her, “but it seems like you’re unhappy to seeme.”
“How did you get back?” she demanded, stopping a few feet away from me. “You should not have been able to. Mortals cannot travel betweenplanes.”
I shrugged. “I have myresources.”
Her eyes narrowed as she looked me up and down. “You look healthy,” she accused. “Like you’ve slept and eaten. You’re even wearing newclothes.”
My lips tugged into a smirk. “Like I said. Resources.” I wasn’t about to give up the names of the Tua who had helped me—for all I knew that could get them into trouble, and that was the last thing I wanted. “Are we done here yet? I’ve already proved I’m more than capable of passing your tests. I hope I haven’t missed my own wedding yet, or there will be hell to pay when Iannis findsme.”
“You still have one more test,” Ta’sradala said, her lips curving into a cruel smirk of her own. “Let’s see if your ‘resources’ can help you withthis,mortal.”
She waved her hand, and I braced myself as the world began to spin around me once more. I squeezed my eyes shut to keep the nausea at bay, thankful that I’d already vomited everything in my stomach. Whatever she threw at me, I vowed to myself, I would not give up. I had to get back to Iannis one way or the other, and the hope of seeing him again would have to give me the endurance I needed tosurvive.
14
When I next opened myeyes, I found myself standing in what looked to be an underground cave. Glowing mushrooms covered the walls, illuminating the interior just enough to make out the silhouettes of bats hanging overhead and the glimmer of a deathly still lake below. A shiver crawled down my spine as I craned my neck, trying to see how far the tunnel up ahead went, but the glow from the mushrooms was too dim to be of much help at that distance. Just how far underground was I? And in whatworld?
Parched, I made my way over to the lake, and after checking it for harmful substances, sipped the water to wash out the last taste of vomit from my dry mouth. It was ice cold, but tasted divine, and I quickly gulped down several handfuls. My canteen was still full of water, so I didn’t refill it, but with any luck there would be more water sources down here should I runout.
Thirst quenched, I sat down a few feet away from the lake, then treated myself to a little picnic. I was still a bit dizzy, so I ate slowly, replenishing my strength with the food the Tua had given me. I was getting used to the strange tastes and was so hungry that it wouldn’t have mattered if they’d given me week-oldgruel.
As I polished off a leg of blue roast bird, something shifted around my waist. Looking down, I shrieked—the belt I’d been wearing earlier had turned into a living snake! I jumped up, conjuring a fireball in my hands, but before I could incinerate the beast, it morphed into a wolfcub.
