Two women glowered at me.
I stiffened, my shoulders rising instinctively. They didn’t respond, just continued walking in the opposite direction. One of them tugged the other farther away.
Discomfort burnt across my face.
“Come on, let’s walk,” Reagan said, nodding toward the Barrows.
We fell into step a few paces behind them.
“Could they tell I’m not like you?” I asked, knowing he had noticed too.
“They shouldn’t. They probably overheard Coriander.”
“But you said once that you can smell it on me,” I reminded him.
“Yes, but they shouldn’t be able to recognise it unless they stay really close to you. Enough to sense you. I wouldn’t think too much about it. Some people still resent your kind since the war; it has nothing to do with you personally.”
“What war?” I asked, meeting Reagan’s blank stare.
“The Shroud War that happened centuries ago, back when the mageborn and humans weren’t separated. It lasted a few years, and thousands of us were captured and burnt alive by humans. Millions of humans were killed, too.”
“I’ve never heard of this war,” I said.
“You wouldn’t have,” Reagan replied. “Humans don’t remember it.”
I squinted at him. “How can we not remember something like that?”
“Because of the measures taken,” he explained, then sighed. “The war ended when a coalition gathered magisters and rulers from every country to put an end to it. By then, the death toll had already grown too high. It was decided that the only path forward was secrecy. Then there were the camps, the whole process that took years to cover different cities. A lot ofmemories were wiped. And the Shroud happened, keeping our existence hidden.”
At some point, my mouth had fallen open. I closed it, lowering my chin and staring at the running water covering our ankles.
“The resolution took almost as long as the war,” Reagan added grimly. “That’s why today you don’t know about us.”
“How?” I asked in disbelief. “How was that even possible? Erasing memories from every person?”
“Every human,” Reagan said. “I’m sure some slipped through the cracks, but it was too few to make a difference. Your people likely dismissed them as lunatics.”
A knot formed in my stomach.
It was unbelievable. Absurd. Invasive. And it meant we were blind to our own history, completely oblivious to a long, catastrophic war.
My steps slowed.
Soon, I would return to that same ignorance. I wouldn’t have a choice.
I didn’t know how I hadn’t thought about that.
“Were there any humans in the coalition?” I asked.
Reagan glanced over his shoulder at me, looking uncertain. “No, I don’t think there were. Why?”
My mouth clenched shut, and I shook my head.
I could feel his gaze on the side of my face, as if he were trying to gauge whether I was angry. I felt like I should be.
From a few metres ahead, Coriander shouted, his voice barely carrying over the wind. “Reagan, we’re just going to pop into the shop. Will you both wait here?”
Reagan dipped his chin, and we came to a halt, waiting for the Barrows.
