Page 140 of A Sunwoven Ascent

The song became louder and Alia’s voice quieted in the distance. Cillian kept his eyes closed as more and more light poured into him.

“You are destined to cleanse and protect what the darkness wants to destroy. You have two paths, Cillian, my kin. Two paths.”

The song faded, and Cillian opened his eyes to find Alia smiling beside him.

“She told you your destiny, did she not?”

“She did.”

“You must not tell me,” she said gently. “It is yours alone.”

He hesitated. “How did you know who I was? Not as a lord, but as a…”

“Sunweaver?” she finished, tilting her head.

He nodded, and she took his hand, guiding him to sit in the grass beneath the tree.

“You know the Stonebridge family,” Alia began. “Vera Stonebridge called to me when I arrived from the Southern Isles. That is where my kin once journeyed to plant the sister tree to Solwyn. It is where we have lived ever since. When Elarwyn warned us of a threat to our mother,” she added, gesturing to the great tree above them, “I was sent back to Velenshire to discover what had taken root here.”

Cillian did not understand, but he listened.

“When I stepped from the ship, Mrs. Stonebridge was waiting for me at the docks.”

“Why?”

“You truly do not know what she is? What your friend is?”

Cillian shook his head. At this point, he was certain he knew nothing at all.

Alia smiled faintly. “She and her son are seers. She saw that I would come, though not why. Only that I was the one she was meant to meet. So she brought me into her household while I carried out my purpose and visited the grove.”

Cillian stared at her, stunned.

Alaric… a seer?

“You look shaken,” Alia said with a small, uncertain laugh. “I am sorry. I did not mean to overwhelm you.”

He cleared his throat. “It is not you. There is simply… a great deal to take in.”

“Yes,” she said. “Then perhaps it is best to be direct.”

“I would appreciate that.”

“The first time I came here, I let her sing to me,” she said softly. “She told me of the Duskwood line. Of the boy who would summon light. And that I was to help him learn what he is.”

She turned his hand over in hers, tracing slow circles along his palm. The sensation was calming, drawing the light from his skin into hers.

“Your bloodline is ancient,” she continued. “But it is not just the Duskwood line tied to your new life.”

She gathered the light between them, letting it bloom in her palm so he could see it. It shone gold, bright enough to make him squint. Then she released his hand and summoned her own.

The light was the same color. But softer—weaker.

“Long ago, the daughter of one of our strongest Sunweaver lines chose to remain here,” Alia said. “She fell in love with a mortal man and did not cross the seas with her kin. Her mother did not return for her. She allowed her to choose her own life.”

That was not how his mother would have allowed Evelyne or Aurelia to live.

“The Sunweavers choose peace over conflict,” Alia said quietly. “It was Lumira’s choice, so her mother honored it.”