The mage looked at me with a contemplative frown. “My master?”
I folded my arms. “You’re very young to be traveling alone and using your magic without a master to help you.”
It took many years for young mages to fully control all their elemental powers, and this girl couldn’t have been more than a few years older than me.
The mage smirked, twisting two pale fingers into a wavy curl that lay over her shoulder. “You needn’t worry, princess.”
As she spoke, I could’ve sworn her eyes grew a shade darker, but it might’ve been a cloud passing over the sun.
“My master is very close.”
I looked to the trees again but felt silly. There was no one there. “What are you and your master doing so far north?”
The mage shouldered a light bag I only just noticed she carried. “Heard a rumor of a witch passing through these parts.”
I raised my eyebrows. “And you didn’t tell the Legion so they could investigate?”
“What’s the point of possessing these powers if not to help those who need it?” She turned on her heel. “Now, I believe I’ve answered enough of your questions, while you’ve barely answered mine. I’ll be off.”
Affronted, I almost pointed out that all she’d really asked was why Zach had chosen me as a partner and no one else, which now seemed rather personal, but I didn’t. She had just saved us. “Wait,” I said. “Lady Mage, if you…if you wouldn’t mind, I have a favor to ask of you.”
She turned only halfway back, her gaze flickering to Brom, who was watching her with fascination, then back to Zach and me. “So ask it, then.”
Ignoring her haughty tone, I pointed in the direction we’d come. “A herd of red rowan deer were brought down by these basilisk vipers, and now their bodies are being picked apart by sparrow harpies. I was wondering if you could…help their souls find peace.”
The mage regarded me, her blue eyes fixed on my own.
Before I could say another word, she nodded, then raised her hand above her head and brought it down in a quick slicing motion.
Wind ripped through the trees with the force of a gale on the seas. Zach, Brom, and I threw up our arms against the wind and the onslaught of thousands of leaves. When we looked up, she was gone.
“Show-off,” I muttered.
We picked up our thrown daggers and loosed arrows and started once again through the forest. Not long after, we smelled smoke on the breeze. We turned and looked back. Sure enough, thick black smoke was rising above the treetops from the direction of the meadow. The sparrow harpies dissipated like ash in the wind, leaving the souls of the great deer to find peace in the magical flames.
Chapter
Seventeen
Incoming Storm
We moved through the forest at a steady pace, even though the terrain was slowly changing and collecting more hills. By heading north for the mountains, occasionally drifting east when we’d catch our bearings from the sun’s position through the trees, we covered a lot of ground. Then the thunder started.
It came fast, low and threatening, like a second canopy above our heads, pressing in on the leaves and branches of the forest.
I cursed, stopping Lorena and patting her muzzle as the third rumble of thunder boomed around us. “This isn’t a normal storm.”
Zach scowled over his shoulder. “Don’t tell me…another blasted sign?”
I nodded. “We need to find shelter. Fast.”
“I could scout ahead and look for a cave,” Bromley offered, already dismounting.
I knew Brom was a good scout—the other princes and members of the hunting parties often bragged about his skills—but still, my stomach dropped at the idea. Not only was the magical storm itself dangerous, but also it interfered with my Sense, preventing me from noticing a dark creature roaming about.
I bit my bottom lip to stop myself from forbidding him.
Zach caught my eye, then swung down from his horse. “No offense, Brom, but I’ve got longer legs—I’m pretty sure I can move faster.”
As he handed me Vel’s reins I gave him a grateful smile, briefly squeezing his fingertips. Zach returned my smile, then tossed his hood over his short brown hair and hurried into the forest, his hand lashing out at trees with a dagger, marking his trail.
Brom and I continued forward but at a much slower pace, listening to the sounds of the forest and the incoming storm. We were only minutes away from the onslaught of rain. I just prayed the black lightning would wait till we found shelter. Unlike regular lightning, where fires would ignite, black lightning hit the earth with subzero temperatures, freezing every living thing and cracking open the earth. Entire crop seasons were ruined, and people starved. The ice rupturing the ground caused earthquakes, and when the ice thawed, there would be flooding. It was one devastation after the next.
Which was why we needed to find a cave soon. Black lightning never struck stone. Nothing to kill there.
“I should be out there, not him,” Brom said after a particularly large thunderclap. “He should be here with you, princess. To protect you.”
“I can take care of myself, Bromley,” I said gently.
He met my eyes. It was the same look he’d given me when I teased that I’d put a goblin in his closet when he was a child—one of real fear. Had those vipers terrified him more than he’d let on? Had the griffin? I had been so concerned with the thunder that I hadn’t noticed how quiet he had become after the attack.
We got down from our horses so we could travel side by side.
“Those serpents,” he said, “they almost got you. Several times. But he saved you from them…effortlessly. The griffin, too. I wasn’t there, but I saw the blood on Zach—he saved you. What if we’re attacked again? I can’t protect you like he can.”
I halted the horses and glanced at the sky. “It’s not your job to protect me, Brom.”
“Which is why it should be me out there!” Bromley shouted.
I took a step back, shocked. Bromley had never yelled at me so forcefully before.
Color drained from Brom’s face, and he fell at my feet. “I’m so sorry, milady. Please forgive me.”
Oh, Brom. My sisters were dear to me, but Brom was more like family than anyone else, and I knew he felt the same about me. We worried about each other.
I dropped to my knees and placed my arms around his shoulders, pulling him close. “Zach offered to go because he saw I wanted you with me. I was scared for you, Brom. I didn’t want you out in the forest alone.”
Bromley said nothing, but his hands dug deeply into the earth.
I pressed my cheek against the top of his head. “I know it’s selfish, but I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you.”
Bromley moved his head up, bumping my cheek and looking me in the eyes. “Me, too. I couldn’t stand to see you… You’re…you’re the only family I have.”
I smiled and kissed his forehead. “You’re my family, too.”
He brushed away my kiss like an embarrassed little brother. “What happened between you and Zach? Last night, I mean, when I left?”
The question was so sudden that it threw me off guard. “Well I…I had said something unbelievably rude to him, then I apologized, and we came to a sort of…agreement.”
Brom’s lips pulled to the side in a half smirk. “I can tell something happened. You two seemed—”
A crack of lightning drowned out his voice. Black veins ripped through the gray sky, and several yards away an entire cluster of trees went white with ice, the ground shaking under our feet as the trees’ roots froze as well. We quickly stood and grabbed the horses’ bridles, stroking their noses to keep them calm. As if triggered by the black lightning, rain fell in large pellets. We threw up our hoods and kept moving in the direction of Zach’s trail marks. Just when we were freezing and soaked to the bone, a cloaked figure emerged through the rain. I hoped it was Zach, but I drew my sword just in case.
The figure signaled, and my heart fluttered with relief. Not only was Zach safe—he had found shelter.