Sember shrugs one shoulder and it’s only then I realise what she’s wearing. A deep, leaf-green gown, the colour symbolising the green mountains and forests of the central territory. The one bordered on all sides but one. ‘Afraid so. I promise not every rumour about us is true, though. Only the very worst ones. The rest you can ignore. We spread them ourselves.’
She’s off before I can reply, whisking so deftly through the crowd that she’s gone between blinks. And yet, before she disappears, she looks back over her shoulder at us both, and it almost seems like an invitation to follow.
Kell sighs. ‘Well, at least we know who is representing Skylan. Prince Heath himself, the second son, not the heir to the Skylan throne. Not at all intimidating.’
‘The spare. Interesting,’ I murmur, turning my gaze back to the drakes and the contenders from the Spines, a plan unfurling in my mind. These Trials are about more than the events themselves. And, if I amto free Agnes and myself, we need more information from the most unlikely sources. We also need allies in this court. Fleetingly, I imagine having Eli by my side. His purposeful swagger would cut through this sea of people and I wish, keenly, that he was here with me. He would know how to navigate these waters; he would know who to trust and who to avoid. But he’s not, and if I ever want to see him again … I swallow. I will need to play a dangerous game indeed. ‘For now, Kell, I think we keep what we are both able to do a secret. Let’s learn all we can before revealing anything. Unless we make allies, it may be the only advantage we have.’
The ground rumbles ominously. The drake on the right, the green-scaled beauty, is eyeing the crowd in agitation, a growl reverberating deep in its throat, sending shockwaves down into the ground. The guards surge forward, a guest nearby gasping as she’s shoved aside, her wine glass shattering on the terrace. The other drake scrapes at the lawn, baring fangs, and that’s when I notice what the Skylan contender is doing.
Sember Lockswift is baiting the drakes.
leaving liska in the woodswrenches Brielle’s heart. As she follows Dreska back to the tavern, the moonlight casting a river of silver for them to follow, all she can hear is the quiet whimpering of Liska in her wither-beast form as she lumbers behind them at a distance.
Once they reach the very edge of the forest, Dreska says a quiet goodbye to her sister before they walk the winding road back to the tavern, and Brielle turns away, giving them a moment. All she can think of is that no coven would touch this, not at this time of year when assignments from more affluent clients abound in the courts and mines, not with so little benefit to them. Certainty fills her like a smouldering flame. No other hunter would, butshecan help.Shecan fix this.
‘I accept the assignment,’ she says formally to Dreska as they trudge along the packed mud and stones of the road. ‘I will help you free your sister from the form she is trapped in. But …’
‘But?’ Dreska says, eyeing her.
‘You are a witch, Dreska. You are not a human girl, even if you were born to human parents. ‘You are a witch, and right now you cannot control your magic. It is beginning to controlyou.’
Dreska exhales slowly. ‘I know. Maybe I’ve always known that I’m different. That I’m not like Liska. I’m not good like her.’
Brielle stops, turning to her. ‘Being a witch does not make you bad,’ she says gently. ‘You can still be good, still be true to yourself and be a witch. It’s what we do with our power that shapes who we are.’
Dreska bites her lip, bowing her head. ‘But I will become a wraith in time, won’t I? If I have no control. I’ve heard the whispers, the stories. I will become a creature of anguish and sorrow, and feed off my family, draining their spirits and forever darkening their days.’
‘No. It doesn’t have to be that way,’ Brielle says, shaking her head slowly. Nova suddenly appears beside them and Dreska starts as the familiar purrs, brushing up against Brielle’s leg.
‘Is this your familiar?’
‘Not mine,’ Brielle says. ‘My sister’s. But Nova is with me for now.’
‘You have a sister?’
‘I do.’ Brielle nods, her voice softening. ‘And I would do anything for her too. Anything to keep her safe.’
‘It’s odd – I feel calm around Nova. Like she’s takenthe edge off.’ Dreska exhales, finally looking up at Brielle, desperation tinged with steel in her eyes. ‘Tell me what I must do.’
Brielle hesitates, weighing her words as an unseen creature shrieks like a cut through the woods. ‘You must survive the night of Clarus, out here in the darkest depths of the forest. You must face the very heart of yourself – your fears, your worries, your strengths, your magic – and you must gain absolute control over them all.’
‘And if I don’t? If I lose control?’
Brielle blinks steadily, taking in the girl’s slim frame, her knitted brows, the jut of her bottom lip, quivering slightly, despite how brave she is trying to be. ‘Then by morning you will have become a wraith, your own power consuming you whole, or you will have died. And you will no longer be able to reverse the curse you placed on Liska.’
When the clock strikes midnight the following night, Brielle meets Dreska at the tree line. A cool mist has rolled in, and it envelops them, turning nothing but thin air into wisps and the ghostly shapes of false wraiths.
‘Are you ready?’ she asks.
Dreska looks fearfully to the woods, then nods to Brielle, clutching her sleeves. ‘I don’t want to ever hurt my family again. Or anyone else. I must change Liska back, reverse the curse I placed on her. And I want more. I want to understand what I can feel, what I can’t quite grasp.’
Brielle briefly closes her eyes and sighs. Dreska’s words are almost identical to what Lowri had said to her just before their Clarus. For a moment, she can feel the ghost of Lowri here beside her, and her heart squeezes. ‘Then step into the trees. Keep walking for about an hour, until you find a clearing, somewhere far from humans. I’ll be nearby to make sure you are undisturbed.’
‘How will I know when it’s begun?’
‘You’ll know,’ Brielle says thickly. ‘You always know. Witch or wraith, it’s down to you tonight. When dawn wakes, the rest of the world will know too.’
She waits as Dreska squares her shoulders and steps over the threshold of the forest. Then she counts to thirty, until she’s sure the trees have swallowed her whole. Brielle releases a charged breath before glancing down at Nova, staring far too intently at the trees. ‘After you, creature.’
