Page 84 of By the Flames of Her Fury

I swallowed. Hard. “It looks like a—a water lily,” I rasped. It was like the ones Mother would collect by the river near our house, with soft petals layered around the center. They were her favorite flower. This memory marked on Songbird’s skin made my throat constrict. My fingers itched to trace a path down her neck and to the flower. To feel her beneath me, alive and warm and safe outside these Fates-forsaken cells.

“It’s beautiful. You’re beautiful,” I said. The moment melted around us as she pulled her shirt back up. I leaned away from the hole. “Which was the lie?”

“The raw eggs. I hate eggs.”

I laughed. “So your brother snuck you whiskey?”

“Yep.” She popped the ‘p’ sound. “He said it was to celebrate. It was right after I conjured my first shadows, and…” She went quiet.

My eyebrows shot into my forehead. We were encroaching on territory she usually backed away from. I knew based on the attention Mortep gave her that she was powerful, I just didn’t know how powerful. “Shadows? I thought you were a bird Shifter.”

Silence. She sighed before she finally said, “I’m a lot of things, Swift.”

“What does that mean?”

“Look, I—I haven’t told you everything. About the real reason they put me in here.”

I paused. “I figured. But I’d never push you about it,” I said softly. “I knew you’d tell me when you were ready.”

“It’s not because I don’t trust you.” Her voice was small, and it immediately summoned my protective instincts. “But like you said the day we met, sometimes it’s better if things just aren’t…real. If I don’t talk about it, I can forget why they took me. I can forget what they want from me.”

“Whatever it is, it would never make me think differently of you,” I said. “You’re always safe with me.”

“I know,” she whispered. “I’m not a—a normal Veridian, Swift. I’m different.”

I leaned back and rested my head against the wall. “Different, how?”

“You’re right, I’m a bird Shifter,” she started. “And a Shadow Wielder. But I’m also a Lightbender. And…” She cleared her throat. “I can cast illusions.”

My mouth fell open as I counted each one. Four magic types? That wasn’t just unheard of, it was impossible. To wield not just one, but four magics of our empire… “How is that possible?” I breathed out.

“I don’t know. The lightbending happened first, when I was eleven. Then I shifted. When the shadows came, Scarven got more interested.” She paused. “I cast an illusion right before they locked me up. I was trying to get away from a guard who was holding me down. It just—it happened so fast.”

I tried to imagine how terrified she must have been to go through this so young, and then to be locked up for it. “That’s why they took you. All the tests Mortep has been running, it’s because of your magic, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” she said quietly. “He thinks I have the other two inside of me. He’s spent so long trying to force them out. But I’m scared, Swift, and not just because of his tests. I’m scared because he’s right.” There was a shifting sound. “I can feel them. The other two magics. He doesn’t know it, but a while ago, I chipped off a small piece of these cuffs, and I put it under my tongue every time he comes. It keeps my magic from manifesting.”

I sucked in a breath. “That must be⁠—”

“Uncomfortable? Yeah.” She exhaled. “But I don’t want him to get it. And maybe a part of me thinks if I hold it off long enough, it won’t come true. I don’t want this magic. I shouldn’t even exist. What kind of a monster does that make me? What even am I?”

Her voice cracked, and I pressed my hand harder against the wall. I could tell she’d been holding on to these thoughts for a while. I hated that they’d been sitting in her head, growing worse and worse.

“You are not a monster, Songbird,” I insisted. “Your magic doesn’t define you. You were born special, that’s all. That’s not the important part.”

“What’s the important part?”

“Who you are as a person. What’s inside your heart. If anyone’s the monster, it’s Mortep and Scarven. You’re nothing like them.” I got to my knees and my forehead fell to the wall again, just above the hole. “You’re fierce and protective and loyal, and even though you’ve got a sharp tongue, I know how compassionate you are. You—you’re so beautiful, Songbird. You could never be a monster.”

“Beautiful?” She let out a quiet scoff. “You’ve never even seen me.”

“I don’t need to see you to know who you are.” I closed my eyes. “I don’t need to see you to know that I love you so⁠—”

“My, my. Isn’t this a touching moment,” a slimy voice crooned from her side of the wall.

My muscles instantly locked. I shoved toward the front of my cell as far as my chains would allow. “Get away from her,” I snarled into the hallway.

“I’ve waited patiently, little bird,” Mortep said. Her cell door groaned open, then shut with a reverberating clang. “And you’ve been tricking me this entire time. Dampening your own magic? It’s clever, I must admit.”