"No, don't!"
"I'm coming in, so cover up if you're undressed," I warn, before slamming my shoulder into the door so hard that the iron lock flies off the frame, clattering to the sandstone floor of the hallway. Lynna is in her default position; kneeling on the floor in an eye-wateringly expensive dress, surrounded by thirty open books and endless pages of notes.
She stands gracefully, gesturing at the broken door. "Rexxan, for heaven’s sake!"
"You weren't opening the door."
"Yes, for a reason! For such a clever person, you truly…,” she shakes her head, exasperated. "What is it?"
"You've been avoiding me."
She blushes, and I look down at the endless papers that cover every inch of her floor. Every ancient book, every faded journal, every dusty research paper; the same topic. Sorceresses. My eyes snap up to meet hers.It cannot fucking be.
"Lynna, they were wiped out hundreds of years ago."
Lynna says nothing, tears welling in her eyes, and I see it. She thinks Renna is one, and I doubt I'll ever live to see the day that Lynna is wrong about something like this. I remember them, and suddenly it falls into place. Why Renna would go through such pain to hide it, why her parents had stopped her ever having children, why she's smaller than those around her. That sense I’ve had from the very second I laid eyes on her that she is something completely different than the rest of us. Every little detail makes sense. Every puzzle piece snaps together.
Chills dance over my skin, my heart rate picking up. This will shift the dynamics of the Kingdoms.Everyonewill want a piece of her.
Sorceresses were a possession so coveted by everyone that they were captured, sold, bred, and traded into extinction. Wars were held over sorceresses. The enemy captured them in droves, abusing their powers for their own benefit. Slowly, they died out, most dying in childbirth or from malnutrition.
The very last sorceress was a Fire Sorceress, Ember. Kings fought bitterly over her until one day, she was lost. She lived in hiding for many, many years until she was found dead at a farm in the west. They were not so different from Evergreens, contrary to the legends that paint them as flying, fire-breathing fairies. But their coloured tears were considered a prize by many; a potent elixir that would give the consumer incredible powers. It’s all horseshit, but people believed it.
"How could you possibly think this to be true?"
Lynna sinks back against her bed, looking defeated. "I know it sounds impossible. I know how this looks," she runs a hand through her white-blonde hair. "She has faded scars on her ears, and…good heavens, Rexxan, I don't know. There's just something about her. I know you see it too. She's not a mortal and she certainly doesn't seem like an Evergreen either. Where is she?"
“Out assassinating someone because Espan is too scared to do these things himself.”
Lynna nods. "Does Onyx know that we know?"
"No. He's about to," I say, and she follows me down the hallway where I open Onyx's door. He looks up and spots me, his expression turning hostile before he looks straight back down and continues loading arrows into his quiver. "Onyx, we know," I say, leaning against the doorway. "We know what she is. You don't need to hide it."
"A sorceress. Please don’t deny it," adds Lynna, when he clearly does not believe us. A hundred emotions cross Onyx's face before he hurls himself at me with such force that my back slams against the stone wall.Shit, he’s strong. I shove him off me with one arm and he shoves me right back, his fist meeting my mouth.
The metallic taste of blood coats my tongue, and I hit him back harder purely to stop him from pummelling the life out of me. Lynna is begging us to stop, but Onyx's face is two inches from mine, his eyes blazing with ungovernable wrath.
"You work out what she is, and suddenly she goes on some trip for Espan for several days now? You expect me to believe that's a coincidence?" He pushes me again, but I hold my ground. "I know what Kings like you would do to have a sorceress in your possession. I don't have to look hard in the history books to see what people like you do to them. Tell me what you've done with her!"
He’s screaming in my face now, blinded by crippling dread on behalf of his sister.
"I haven't done anything with her," I snap back, twisting out of his grip and holding him against the wall by his throat until he is struggling for air. "But if you carry on attacking me, Onyx, I won't hesitate to kill you. So take a deep fucking breath, and work with me here. We'll find her."
“Will we? And why do you want to find her? Has it anything to do with your recent discovery?" He spits between us, seemingly unfazed by my hand around his throat. "Kill me if you wish, but let these be my dying words. Keep your hands. Off. My. Sister."
Lynna places a gentle hand on Onyx's shoulder, trying to diffuse the tension that threatens to explode between us. "Onyx, all three of us want the same thing here. Your sister safe."
"So you can sell her," he says, yellow eyes not leaving mine. I shake my head. "I have no interest in selling her. I have no need for any more money."
"I don't believe a word you say."
"Onyx, please. Don't fight him, it won't end well," says Lynna, her angelic voice worried and desperate. "Let us help her. Letmehelp her."
"Why would you care?" He says, his gaze finally moving to Lynna.
"I like your sister. She's funny, she's kind, and she's one of the first people I've met who likes me for me. She doesn't care for my titles. I want to help her," promises my healer, prizing our hands off each other and stepping between us. "Please. Let us focus on what is important."
Onyx steps back, his eyes lingering on Lynna for a split second longer than is necessary. "I'm leaving on the Sundance Pass to find her. Send for me if she comes back," he says, slinging his bow and arrows over his shoulder and jogging out of the room.
