“The winds are changing. I must be ready for what comes now.”
Except from Aziah’s diary.
Chapter 27
Aziah emerged from the portal into the crisp night air, the blue hue of her witchlight illuminating the tree line that edged what looked to be a small farm. She peered out from beneath her hood, changed from her usual white to a mottled black and grey, paired with her darker uniform. Little sense in standing out. She inhaled deeply, savouring all the senses that washed over her; the woody scent of the forest, paired with the dewy tone of leaf litter and wild flowers; the acrid smell of smoke that billowed up from a chimney at the cottage, with sage being burnt too. She caught the scents of just one in the cottage, familiar and earthy, like she was being called home.
It was dangerous.
With a deep breath she closed the distance and as she raised her hand to the door it opened, a man filling the doorway. There was no mistaking the similarities between them; the snow-white hair, the pale skin, the golden eyes and the pointed ears. Those very ears twitched at her presence.
“Aziah,” he said coolly. “It’s been quite some time since you honoured me with your presence.”
“A dragon was sighted,” she announced, let the weight of her words settle. “We need to talk.”
His jaw tightened. As much as he loathed to see her what she said went beyond his feelings, past their tangled past. With a curt nod he stepped aside and gestured her inside. As she walked past him, she caught that woodland smell of him, like a forest on the cusp of a storm, and her heart gave a nervous jump. She permitted none of that on her face, however and walked into the main living area, moving to where a low fire burned.
Using the amount of magic, she had been left her cold, so she tugged off her gloves, finger by finger, set her gloves into one of the pockets within her cloak and held her hands to the fire. She rubbed them together, then faced back flat to the flames.
“You still bear our mark,” he stated gruffly from across the room.
She glanced at her hand, the tattoo etched on it, a whirling pattern with two crescent moons in the middle. With effort she dragged her gaze back to the fire. “I never forget the oaths I make.” When she felt warm enough, she turned to him, ready to do what she had to in order to get the information she needed. “I’ve tried every tracking spell I have, spoken to everyone I could within the city where the dragon was sighted and found only thin leads where the dragon might be. I need some Hellis powder and I know you always kept a stash.”
His expression darkened. “So, that’s why you came?”
“I came because a dragon was sighted for the first time on these lands in three hundred years since the fall of the Dragonair empire. I came because that is one of the heralding signs of Alexandria’s end,” she replied sharply.
Disappointment clouded his gaze. He might’ve been religious enough to believe a little in an old prophecy, enough to admit her within his home, yet she knew he hoped that it was a front. That perhaps his wife had returned to him. Perhaps he hoped she would ask him to join her, to ask for his aid – not just something he possessed. She knew his temper well, for it was akin to her own, so she tried to pick her words carefully. As would he.
“You know the risk of using that red powder,” he replied warningly.
“I’ve channelled it before for visions. We both have,” she retorted. “Please. If there is any chance-“
“The next part of that damned prophecy is the true heir appearing – Kathrine and her husband, our prince, were murdered, along with their baby girl. There is no true heir living,” he said.
She grew quiet for a moment. It was an old familiar argument, only before she kept quiet with a secret that would’ve changed that argument. It had been too risky to declare it before but now as the time approached, fate calling out across the land, she felt the truth beat against her chest to be free.
“The child lived,” she announced quietly.
Silence.
He looked at her, eyes widening. Despite the distance and pain between them he was very good at reading her, which was lying before had been so hard. Now, with the truth lay down before them, clear on her face, he knew.
“How?”
“I helped Alayna escape the castle with the baby and gave her the sword of the king as a way to protect herself. I enchanted her so that she would be able to use it.” Aziah looked down at her hands, feeling old shame bloom within her, guilt as crisp as it had been that day. “It wasn’t enough to save Alayna. She was followed, I think, or perhaps injured on her escape. I tracked her down and found her by the side of the road. Only the baby’s shawl remained with her but the sword and baby were gone. A large group of wagons and people had passed through, as I saw evidence of their moving, so-“
“They collected the child.” He paled for a moment, sought a seat which he sunk heavily into. “The true heir might be alive? And if she possesses her father’s foresight then she might already know whom she is, what her destiny is.”
Aziah met his gaze. “Now you know why I need that powder. So please, my love, give me the Hellis powder.”
ns 15.158.61.6da2
