Mama laughed and added, “She’s quite pretty though, isn’t she, Leo?”
“This feels like a trap,” my father answered.
Elwasbeautiful. She knew it too.
My affection often blossomed into adoration. Any spark beyond friendship was wisest to squash before it blazed into some unrequited passion on my part. I wouldn’t be foolish enough to open my heart to someone who gave me no reason to believe she’d ever settle with me. Not again.
Elsedora was far too important—her visits were a compelling reason to keep fighting.
Chapter 12
Larkspur
“Very good!” Aunt Asterie clapped her hands.
My determination to make progress had never been stronger than since my parents revealed my fate to me after my birthday festivities a week prior.
Shadows spilled from my hands and vined around books, pulling them from the dark shelves of the estate’s library. The array of tomes smelled of leather and dust. The domed ceiling above featured gold-foil flowers over a rich emerald paint.
We’d practiced spells, charms, and curses for countless hours, until my mind fatigued. I’d never admit it to Aunt Asterie, but summer lessons were actually enjoyable.
Aunt Cass came to the estate each day to practice our swordsmanship. Aunt Wyeth pulled me into the kitchen to practice our potions at least twice a week. I loved tinkering with the combinations of ingredients and watching their reactions.
The most powerful enchantresses in all the realms were my teachers. Now, I knew why they insisted on my focus…
Isolde’s book of prophecies claimed I would end Caym’s final reign. I’d read it cover to cover three times. Each time, my panic mounted.
Thousands of years ago, the Sources and Reverists had walked the lands and warred with one another until the demise of both—a manipulative end brought by Caym’s wicked games.
The Sources had embodied the elements and gifted their immortality to mortals. The Reverists were mortal and possessed powers of the mind—foreseeing the future, mind reading and compulsion.
Only Isolde and her eldest daughter, Isleen, held the power of compulsion and telepathy together. Mama and I were descended from her; we were the last of our kind.
The Death Origin’s imprisonment would end; he would find a way out. When he did, my family expected me to be ready.
“I’ve been practicing,” I answered as the Shadows bent to my whims, though it took all of my focus and I bit my lip raw. I haphazardly placed my selection of books down on the long desk.
When I was small, Papa used to sit with me by the fire and we’d make Shadow animals together on the wall. The rabbit always escaped the wolf, the mouse always evaded the Lynx.
With each passing year, Source power grew stronger within me and weaker within Papa. My parents had poured all their dreams into me.The realms’ last hope, they’d said.
And I hadn’t even had my first kiss.
“We are done for today,” Aunt Asterie concluded.
“The Shadows seem easier to control lately,” I said. Her lips turned up at the sides—as close to a smile as she ever offered.
Flopping onto a deep sofa, I opened a thick green leather-bound spell book. The spark for consuming more knowledge had been ignited, and I longed to learnonelast charm today.
“It took me until I was a few years older than you before I learned anything of use that was possible with my Source power alone. Your progress is impressive.”
An image of a blonde woman behind a gilded desk flashed through my mind—a memory Aunt Asterie failed to conceal. The light-haired woman smiled, but it seemed pensive and calculating.
The enchantress who’d trained Aunt Asterie no longer lived. No one spoke of her, but her name had been Firose.
I’d grown better at breaking past the wards in my aunts’ minds. Their thoughts of the wicked enchantress were mixed. Aunt Asterie held no respect for Firose’s actions, but she also didn’t hold the same anger toward her that my parents and Uncle Fen did.
“Maybe Firose was simply not as great of a teacher as you are.”
