Ryn pointed an illuminated finger at me. “You’re catching on. I’m glad you’re smart. Otherwise, she’d eat you alive.”
“She? So the relic is a woman?”
“No,” Ryn answered with a chuckle. His glowing face looked far too amused. “You’re looking for a boy.”
The Sources had once brought Asterie back from the dead as a baby. Elsedora claimed that they’d deduced enough to know that certain Source-wielders had been selected as New Origins.It’s why Caym had gathered us in that amphitheater; he’d wanted to be rid of us in one fell swoop.
“If you are stillhere,then is Firose as well?” I asked.
He took a seat on nothing in front of me. “I saw her walking the in-between often while with child. Elara told me the Source of Light reentered the realms after being born.” He mentioned the Moon Origin as though he regularly sat down for tea with her. “You’ve already met him—well, sort of.”
The boy in the mirror. The one who helped save me.Dritan.
My throat tightened; all these years watching the young groundskeeper at Lamoreaux, and I’d denied what I knew in my gut.
My head spun.
My heart pounded.
I’d wondered how it could be possible. This was all so far-fetched, yet I’d known whose child that boy was when I’d seen him through the mirror. He had his mother’s eyes and my bone structure.
“Can I see her?” I said with bated breath.
He shook his head. “I’m afraid that she moved on. I’m sorry... truly.” He frowned, and my heart sank.
Firose had been a complicated woman—full of secrets, built from deceit. But she’d been at the whims of Caym for so long, and he held no mercy. She’d become the hardened person he’d crafted her to be.
I asked, “How do you know the boy is a relic? A new Source Origin?”
“Because I know everything.”
I scoffed. “Surely, there’s no way...” I couldn’t finish my thought. This all grew so outlandish. My mind fought to not believe him.
“Isolde’s prophecy stated Caym would rise anew. That is true. But hisReveristabilities hinge on the black moon. He may raise the dead, he may cause havoc and destruction, but your child remains the key to stopping him from ever holding the power of Isolde again.”
My child.
With my head spinning, I tried to interject, but Ryn held up an amorphous finger.
“So long as the boy lives, the realm will not see a new black moon.Heis the third relic. And you must protect him.”
“But how?” I asked. The surrounding light ebbed and dimmed. “Wait! I have so many questions.”
“Sorry, friend. That is my cue to go. It’s about time I rest. They won’t be happy that I’ve pulled you here. When you wake and you see El, would you tell her something for me?”
The Moon warlock’s voice grew distant, and his form started to dissolve.
I floated on nothing but ether, which grew thinner by the moment.
“Yes,” I agreed.
“Just tell her, ‘I always knew.’”
Then the descent began. I shouted, flailed, and tumbled through the light until coming to an abrupt stop. For the first time in twenty years, I could feel my fists tighten around warm, soft fabric.
A feminine voice read me a story.
“The Princess threw a magical acorn at her foe. Up the beast went into a cloud of smoke. But the sorceress still followed, and she had a trick up her sleeve, yet.”
