CHAPTER THIRTY

A s soon as I stepped through the spider web of magic, I felt like I could breathe again. I turned around to see the web for myself, but was surprised to only be met with dense forest. The wards were still invisible, even though I felt myself pull through them. And for the first time since entering those wards, my mind felt clear.

Gods…Elias. I couldn’t go back for him or I’d be trapped all over again.

Through the bond, I did not feel that he was in trouble – albeit, I may have felt a numbed sense of dread as he searched for me.

Guilt ripped at me from the inside. My mind wasn’t my own, and I abandoned him in the magical mind-fuck of a deeply enchanted forest.

But he would find me. He always finds me.

I stepped forward, eyeing the old buildings that once made up an entire kingdom. Most of the structures had crumbled to the ground. The ones that still stood were completely taken over by vines, almost making it look like the building itself was made up of them.

I walked over to one of the used-to-be buildings which was now just a pile of rubble. A small stone wall that barely made it to my knees was all that remained. I bent over it and peered inside, seeing nothing but broken stone and untouched earth. I turned to get another look at the forgotten city. It didn’t just look like it had been abandoned. It looked like it had been through a war.

Closing my eyes, I inhaled a deep breath. I made it. I fucking made it. I made it to Zolmara alive. But I was alone, and had no idea what I was looking for. I decided to walk towards what I assumed to be the center of the city based on the way the fallen buildings seemed to form around it.

As I got closer to the heart of the kingdom, my skin began to crawl. I hadn’t sensed the magic of the wards like Elias could right before we entered. But here…the unexplainable energy buzzed around me like lightning was about to strike. It wasn’t a good feeling, but one that filled me with unease. I was hoping the glory of finding the once flourishing kingdom would bring me joy and awe, but something like despair washed over me, and I couldn’t shake it.

My hairs stood on end as I made it closer and closer to the center of the city. I kept moving, until I noticed a building that hadn’t been completely torn down. I was drawn to the words etched above the door frame. The scripture was identical to what I remembered in the book. I reached for the door and gently pushed on it. The thing nearly fell off its hinges at the slightest pressure, but it managed to barely stay intact as I made my way inside.

Sunlight filtered through the broken windows, illuminating the dust that seemed to hover in the air. The inside of the building was not as intact as the outside. Cobwebs and layers of dust took over the small front room. There were shelves that lined the walls, most of which were broken and empty. This must have been some sort of shop, but after centuries of abandonment, there was no way to tell what it sold. I turned to see an old side table in the corner. I walked to it and had to yank on the stiff drawer to get it to open. Inside was nothing but some empty and broken vials. Perhaps witches sold their potions here.

After looking around for a few more minutes and finding nothing, I left. As I exited the building, careful not to touch the door again, I saw something up ahead that made me stop in my tracks. A small trail of smoke floated to the sky far off in the distance. From where I stood, I could not see its source. I headed towards it with caution, aware that it could be a trap.

I walked slowly and quietly for long minutes until I finally reached the edge of the city. Beyond the desolate ruins, there appeared to be farmlands, with cottages that looked just as abandoned and broken as the city behind me. Some of the cottages were made of stone, some of wood and hardened clay, but all of them had either fallen apart or were covered in vines and overgrown foliage. All except one, near the far end from where I stood. And that one little building was the source of the smoke trail.

I continued forward until I came upon the cottage near the shore of a small lake. As I got closer, I could confirm that it appeared to be in decent shape compared to the rest of the buildings that surrounded it. Smoke came out of the chimney and floated towards the sun.

Someone was definitely here.

But who the hell would be in a place like this? And how? No one was supposed to be here. Elias and Willow said it was abandoned. Not only that, but how did they get through the wards? I barely made it through them – wouldn’t have, had I not had Elias to lead me most of the way and advise on how to move forward .

Elias…gods, how I longed for him. We hadn’t been separated long, but with our bond now fully formed, I felt like I literally ached for him, my body screaming at me to find his. I brushed it off as I took a few more steps towards the occupied hut, reminding myself that it could be some sort of trick, or a distraction.

When I noticed a presence behind me, I slowed my steps. I saw their shadow first, then heard the quietest of footsteps. So quiet, the beating of my own heart overpowered the sound.

I slowly bent down, then began pulling my borrowed bow off my shoulder and pretended to inspect the ground. As subtly as I could, I nocked an arrow. My heart fluttered as I felt the presence looming nearer. But before they could reach me, I shot myself up and flung around, pulling the arrow back with enough force for a killing shot. I almost released it, pointed directly at the man that stood less than ten feet away.

“Since when do you know how to use a bow?”

A simultaneous feeling of both exasperation and relief hit me as I met eyes with my uncle.

“Uncle Balor,” I gasped his name. I gently released the bowstring, careful not to shoot the arrow at my uncle. I ran to him and embraced him tightly, dropping the bow at our feet.

“You actually made it,” he laughed as he hugged me back with the same enthusiasm, his sheathed sword swaying at his side.

I forced myself to pull away, my uncle’s hands remaining on my shoulders. My feeling of relief began transforming into anger. “What the fuck are you doing here, Uncle? You said you couldn’t come here. You lied to me.”

“Aurelia, calm down. I never lied.”

I shoved his hands away from my shoulders and took a step back. “All this time, and you were already here? Just waiting for me? Do you know how many times I almost died to get here? How many people I put at risk? What is wrong with you?!”

“I never said I couldn’t come here. I said you would have to find your own way.”

“Why?!” I was so angry, so full of rage and betrayal.

A sense of despair trickled down the bond as Elias sensed my anguish.

“It was never about the destination, Aurelia. It was about the journey. I thought you coming here would trigger something in you – would help unlock your memories.”

“That doesn’t answer why you couldn’t just take me here yourself!”

“I couldn’t take you because of Adelaide,” Balor answered, his voice sharp.

I paused. “What does my mother have to do with this?”

Guilt etched into my uncle’s face. “She spelled me, and anyone else, from being able to tell you the full truth. Or help you find it. Only when you found out on your own would I be able to help you.”

My blood froze over. “Spelled?” I whispered.

Balor let out a breath. “This was her home, Aurelia. Your mother was a witch. The fact that I’m able to tell you this makes me know you’ve learned about them – about this place and the immortals that lived here.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “No. You’re lying. I would have known she was a witch. I would have remembered.”

“How much of your childhood do you remember, Aurelia?”

I stiffened. Almost every memory involving my mother was muddled. Foggy.

“She spelled you to forget before she died. And she prevented anyone from being able to tell you. Me. Your father. We couldn’t utter a word. You had to find out on your own. You had to make it to Zolmara on your own. Only then would her spell end.”

I bit the inside of my lip. None of this made sense. Why would she do that?

“I’ve wanted to tell you for years,” Balor continued. “But I couldn’t. Even if I could, your father would forbid it.”

My chest tightened. “Why? Why would he want me to forget my mother is a witch? Why would she want me to forget?”

Balor opened his mouth, but no words came. He closed it then opened it again, only breathy air escaping him.

My eyes narrowed in confusion. “You…you can’t tell me, can you?”

He cleared his throat. “No, it appears I can’t. The spell isn’t fully broken, then.”

“How do we break it? What do I do?” I was desperate, hungry for more answers. Hungry to find out what else my mother wanted to hide from me, and why.

Balor’s head twitched slightly, and his mouth tried to form words that didn’t come. It was like he was fighting with the spell – trying to tell me something he couldn’t. He struggled for a moment until he found something that he was capable of saying.

“Have you seen the eyes of the wolf?”

An icy chill ran up my spine. “What?”

“It’s an old prophecy. One your mother told me about when you were just a baby. When the princess sees the eyes of the wolf, her fate will be revealed . The prophecy was older than she was. But after you were born, she knew it was about you. So I’m certain she put it into her spell when she—” he paused, his words being taken from him again. “When she spelled you to forget,” he finished.

I clenched my hand over my heart. My own mother was a witch, and she put a spell on me to forget who she was. And something else. Something bigger. I looked back up at Balor. “Do you know? Do you know what will be revealed?”

His silence confirmed the answer was yes.

“And if I asked you to tell me…”

“I can’t,” he replied quickly. “I don’t know what it means… the eyes of the wolf . But that’s the final piece.”

I pursed my lips. “I know what it means,” I said quietly.

He lifted a brow. “Oh?”

“Elias,” I answered. So he was truly tied to my fate after all. Not just by the gods, but by an old witch prophecy that he was meant to fulfill with me.

“Who is Elias?”

“He’s a lycan,” I replied.

A look of surprise panned over Balor’s face. “I thought they were extinct.”

“They are. Except for Elias. He is the last one. And he’s…” I took a deep breath in. “My mate,” I exhaled.

Balor’s face paled as if he had seen a ghost. “That would certainly explain the wolf then, I suppose. You haven’t seen his eyes?”

I shook my head. “Not while in wolf form. Not yet. Not fully.”

I remembered the glowing yellow eyes that stalked towards me when I was dangling from the tree at the bandit camp. But I was so close to blacking out, they were nothing more than a blur.

Balor’s brow furrowed. “Well, where is this mate of yours?”

My heartbeat quickened as a lump formed in my throat. “I lost him in the Forest of Torment. I…I just left him there. Alone. I wasn’t in my right mind, Balor. I…oh gods.” I pressed my fingers into my temples.

My uncle took a step closer and replaced his hands atop my shoulders to comfort me. “It’s alright, Aurelia. He is a lycan. He will make it through the wards.”

I tilted my head to the side as a thought arose. “How did you get through the wards, Uncle?”

“It took me over a year to learn to make it through. To this day, it’s still not easy. ”

“Then how the hell did you think I was going to make it on my own? If even you could barely manage – if Elias isn’t even here yet – how did you expect me to get here?”

“Because—” His voice cut off in an unnatural way.

“Because what?” I asked, brow raising in impatience.

Balor shook his head, his eyes losing focus and blinking erratically for a short moment.

“You can’t tell me.”

His gray eyes made contact with mine, but his lips did not move as an ominous voice answered from behind me.

“Your family seems to have many secrets they don’t want to share.”

I whirled around to find King Volund stepping around a building, followed by three warriors and a woman I hadn’t seen before. Although I had never seen her face, I knew exactly who she was by the sinister energy she projected.

Sarai.

Her straight, black-violet hair reached her collarbone in the front, but was much shorter in the back. Her lips were painted a dark purple to match the color of her skin-tight dress that reached her feet and had a slit up the thigh. Her eyes were silver-colored, and they bore into me with such malice, I wanted to shrink.

Anger and fear enveloped me all at once. I pried my eyes away from the evil witch to look at Volund, but Balor stepped in front of me and blocked me with his arm.

“How and why the hell are you here, Volund?” Balor’s voice boomed in the quiet of the forgotten kingdom.

“I could ask the same of you, cockroach. I had my witch scry for the princess and her dog. Imagine the surprise I felt when I learned where they were headed.” His eyes darted to mine, and his lip twitched upwards. “You continue to surprise me, Princess Aurelia.”

Balor glanced at me. “What does he mean? ”

“Your niece and I have unfinished business,” Volund interjected.

Balor’s eyes remained fixed on me in confusion, but I couldn’t form words. Instead, I only gave him a pleading look.

Volund continued. “Is this where you’ve been hiding all these years? Your own brother exiled you and you had nowhere else to go but this gods-awful place? Look at it. It looks like shit.” He glanced around before laughing. “Suits you well, I suppose.”

“How did you get through the wards?” Balor asked calmly, letting the insults pass right over him.

Volund’s eyes narrowed as he scowled. He gestured a hand towards Sarai who stood there, eyes not leaving me for even a second. If looks could kill, I would have been dead on the ground where I stood.

“It’s easy to get through witches’ spells when you have your own witch pet, wouldn’t you think?”

I expected Sarai to react to being called a pet, but she didn’t look away from me – her eyes hungry for what looked like murder.

“King Callum knew that all too well, didn’t he, having his own little pet?”

My hands clenched into fists at my sides. “My mother was not his pet,” I spat.

Volund peered at me with a grin, getting a kick out of my reaction. I was not as good at keeping calm as my uncle.

“You’re overstepping your bounds, Volund,” Balor answered. “I suggest you leave before you make this ugly. Enough blood has been shed in this place. There doesn’t need to be any more.”

Volund laughed – a nasty, malicious sound that gave me a chill. “On the contrary. I came here for the princess, and I am not leaving until I have her corpse. Your death will be an added bonus.”

“And what benefit do you have to gain from Aurelia’s death?” Balor asked. He grabbed for his sword, but did not yet unsheathe it. I followed his lead and bent down to pick up my fallen bow, nocking an arrow.

The king’s malicious smile turned to a scowl. “Because, as you know, dear prince, your brother is a pathetic excuse for a king. All that power. Those unstoppable armies. And yet he does nothing with it.”

Balor’s grip on his sword tightened. “The Four Kingdoms are at peace, Volund. Callum does not need to use his power or his armies.”

“If I had control of those armies, there wouldn’t be four kingdoms. There need only be one . And one ruler.” Volund’s eyes were full of madness.

Power. That’s all this boiled down to. He wanted power. To take over Rimor’s armies so he can invade the other kingdoms and become the one true king. He was sick. Sick and delusional.

“Why kill me, then?” I asked. “What do I have to do with this?”

Volund scoffed. “It’s nothing personal, my dear. You’re just a pawn. I can’t kill Callum, but I can make him crumble . His heart, as pathetic as it is, is easy to break. And with it, his mind. He barely survived his wife’s death, and if it weren’t for your pesky uncle, I could have manipulated him into giving me control of his armies. But the minute I learned of Prince Balor’s exile, I began putting together a plan. If he was so easy to manipulate after Adelaide’s death, imagine what he’d be like after yours .”

A breath hitched in my throat. Killing my father wouldn’t give Volund any more control over our armies than he had now. But breaking him down until he could manipulate him into giving him control…perhaps that was possible. And downright evil.

Balor’s knuckles whitened around the hilt of his sword. “Callum will have your head on a spike if you lay a hand on her. And so will I.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Volund laughed mockingly. “After I kill you, I’m going to use your own sword to kill her.” He sneered, and the look of depravity on his face was that of pure malevolence. My heart dropped to my stomach as I realized what he meant. “I’m going to make it look like you did it.”

Volund raised a hand in the air. “Kill the prince. Leave the princess alive. I want the lycan here when I slaughter her.” Then with a snap of his fingers, all three warriors stepped forward, pulling knives from their sashes.

“Run, Aurelia!” Balor shouted behind him. But I didn’t. I wouldn’t. I watched these vile humans almost take the life of my mate. I would not watch them try to take someone else I loved.

One of the warriors threw his knife directly at my uncle’s head, then another. Balor pulled his sword from its sheath and knocked them both out of the air with his blade. I had almost forgotten how incredibly skilled he was. And quick. He lunged to the side, grabbing a hidden knife of his own from his boot and launching it towards a Sprathian warrior. It hit the warrior in the neck, and he fell to the ground, choking on his final breaths.

One down.

The second warrior screamed as she sprinted towards Balor with knives in each hand. She reached him quickly, and they began their combat. The sound of metal against metal reverberated in my head as his sword clashed with her knives again and again.

I looked past them to see the third warrior pull out one of his knives and aim it at Balor. Without a second thought, I pulled back on the string of my bow and released the arrow. It flew straight into the chest of my uncle’s pursuer. He fell to his knees before toppling backwards.

Holy shit. Did I just…kill someone?

I had no time to reflect as Volund screamed in frustration. “Keep the princess at bay,” he barked at Sarai. My head shot in her direction, and for the first time since they arrived, she grinned.

Sarai began chanting under her breath as Volund unsheathed his own sword and headed towards where my uncle battled the king’s last remaining warrior. I started to run towards them, ready to fight beside my uncle, when the canteen that hung on my belt suddenly pulled me down so hard, I plunged to the ground.

What the hell was that? I tried to push myself up onto my hands, but my canteen yanked me down again. The side of my face met with the ground so hard, I felt my cheek bruise. I looked up to see Sarai stepping closer, her left hand raised towards me. Then I looked down towards my belt. The water in my canteen…she was controlling it!

Before I could reach down and unbuckle it, I felt it pull again with such force that it threw me through the air and I collided with a nearby building. The old stone wall collapsed around me, and I covered myself with my arms.

“Aurelia!” I heard my uncle shout.

I opened my eyes to find myself on the ground, surrounded by the debris of the collapsed wall, my bow broken at my side. Blood dripped down my arm, and a sharp pain throbbed in my shoulder. “I’m fine!” I called back, not wanting to distract him from his own fight.

Quickly, I reached down to unbuckle the canteen, then poured its contents onto the ground before Sarai could use it against me again.

“Smart girl,” a siren-like voice said from a few feet away. The witch stepped into view, and I staggered backwards from my spot in the rubble. “Unfortunately for you, your foolish uncle camped near the lake.” She stepped towards me, then began chanting.

Fury like no other quickly built inside me. Not for what she said, but for everything she had done. For being the reason Elias could never escape. For the pain she caused him for so many years. For choosing to work for the vile humans responsible for his suffering. I hated her. And I was going to make her pay.

I let out shrill battle cry, and before she could do whatever spell she intended to do on me, I grabbed a large chunk of stone from the debris and threw it at her with as much force as I had. The stone hit her in the jaw and she shrieked in pain. I shot up as fast as I could and ran at her like a wild animal.

Sarai stepped out of the way just in time, tripping me so that I fell flat on my face once more. I growled in frustration as I pushed myself up onto my feet.

Be calm. Calculate your moves. Don’t let your emotions control you .

The words my uncle had instilled in me when we trained replayed in my mind. But it was easier said than done. I looked over to where he was currently in battle with Volund maybe twenty feet away. The female warrior was dead on the ground not too far from them.

The wave of relief was short-lived when I suddenly felt something wrapping around my legs. I looked down to see a vine of water coming out of the nearby lake and slithering up my body like a python, constricting my legs, then my torso, then my arms. I tried to yank my arms out of the water-serpent’s grasp, but it held strong. Within moments, the pressure of it had me falling to my knees.

Sarai stepped towards me. Depravity shown in her diabolic glare, blood dripping from the side of her face where the rock had hit. Her long, slender fingers curled and coiled as she hissed an incantation under her breath. Within seconds, the water that surrounded my limbs began to boil, burning the flesh underneath it.

I screamed as pure agony enveloped my senses. It felt like my skin was being seared from the inside out as the boiling water scorched every limb. I fell forward onto my hands in insufferable pain, my uncle’s cries for me being drowned out by my own screams.

The torture was unbearable. I could smell my own flesh burning from my body, and the odor made me retch. The edge of my vision darkened as I could no longer bear the pain, the clanging sound of Volund and Balor’s swords slowly becoming muffled .

Sarai stepped closer, standing over me as I fell onto my side, convulsing in agony. My voice began to strain as my blood-curdling screams echoed around me.

Her magic was doing this – incinerating my flesh. And right at that moment, realization hit. The many scars that lined Elias’s body weren’t all from silver weapons. Many of them were burn marks. Boiling water, he had said, and I assumed it was thrown on him. But no. She did that to him. For three hundred years, she tortured him just like she was torturing me.

Deep rage began to overpower the pain. I glared at the witch who looked down at me with a sneer. Then with all the energy I could summon while under such distress, I slid my mother’s knife from its sheath and jammed it into the witch’s foot. Unlike a lycan, the weapon didn’t need to be silver to hurt her. It just needed to be sharp.

Sarai wailed in anguish, interrupting her spell. The pain of the boiling serpent immediately subsided and the water fell from her control, soaking my clothes. Blood poured from the new hole atop her boot where my knife remained lodged.

“You bitch ,” she shrieked, then kicked me so hard in the side, my body rolled a few times before landing on my back.

Before I could even try to pull myself up, Sarai threw herself on top of me, wrapping a hand around my throat.

“Why are you doing this?” I gargled as her hand tightened. I tried prying it off, but the residual pain of the burns made every movement agonizing. “Why do you work for him?”

She leaned in, her face just above mine, a terrifying craze in her eyes. “I’ll humor you before I kill you, little rat,” she hissed. “After my beloved husband died, I put a curse on his soul so that it would be tethered to this realm – so that one day he would be reborn. I hunted down a prophet to tell me who he would be reborn as, and they told me a Sprathian king. ”

I gurgled as her grip tightened. She cursed her own husband’s soul so he would be reborn? Elias told me witches could do a lot of things, but…to be able to keep a soul from moving on to the afterlife? That seemed impossible, and diabolical.

“I waited centuries , working for these imbeciles, waiting for him,” she continued. “I did whatever they asked of me, whenever they asked. The moment Volund was pulled from his mother’s womb, I knew it was him. Felt his soul. At last. My Malakai.”

Oh gods. She was deranged.

“He promised he’d finally make me his queen if I help him finish out his master plan for power – to be the one true ruler of this world. And I will give him that world, even if I have to kill every last person in it. I will not lose him again.”

It was almost sad. And I would have felt bad for her if she hadn’t been responsible for so much of Elias’s suffering.

Gods. Volund was power-crazy and Sarai was love-crazy.

“You deserve each other,” I rasped out. “You’re both fucking delusional.”

Sarai only grinned, showing teeth, then whispered words in a language I didn’t understand. Panic rising, I attempted to fend her off, but water suddenly and quickly began pouring into my mouth and down my throat.

Sarai straddled me, one hand in the air and the other pinning me down as she chanted. I tried gasping for air, but only swallowed more water which seemed to trail from the small lake. I felt it gliding down my throat and consuming my lungs, which burned as they begged for relief.

It felt like Rebellia River and the waterfall all over again. Even though I was above water this time, water still filled my lungs. I was drowning. I needed air or I would die – slowly and painfully.

“Don’t kill her yet, you fool!” Volund’s distorted voice shouted. But Sarai either didn’t hear him or ignored him. I glanced up at her, murder in her silver eyes as she was killing me in such a slow, excruciating way. She removed her hand, no longer needing it to keep me subdued. Drowning me was doing a great job of that already.

“Aurelia!” Balor screamed my name, but it sounded distant – like a dream. I turned my head in his direction. He was overpowering Volund as his sword clashed with the king’s again and again, Volund stumbling backwards with each blow. But Balor’s attention kept turning back to me. It looked like he was screaming for me, but I heard no sound as I became closer to death.

Balor took one final big swing at Volund, making the king’s sword fly out of his grasp. Volund receded a few steps, his hands raised in defeat. Balor said something to him, then Volund slowly pulled the knives from his sash and tossed them far off to the side, one by one. When he finished, my uncle turned and ran towards me, abandoning his victorious fight with the king to get to me.

He made it a few strides before he slowed. Then stopped. Why did he stop?

My uncle’s sword fell from his grasp, clashing onto the ground.

Balor ?

If I could have said his name out loud, I would have.

Balor’s eyes met mine as he stood there. Just stood there. He mouthed something to me, but I couldn’t hear it. Then, he fell to his knees. Volund came up behind him, and I tried to scream, tried to do anything , but I couldn’t.

Volund yanked something out of Balor’s back and held it up.

A knife. Covered in blood. Then Volund plunged the knife into Balor’s back again. And again. And again.

NO!! I couldn’t scream. Couldn’t move. All I could do was blink the tears from my eyes as I drowned. My eyes slowly rolled to the back of my head, and the last thing I saw was Volund shoving Balor’s limp body to the ground in a bloody mess.

This was my end. I came all this way to find answers, and I was going to die before I got them. Die alongside my uncle.

The world began to slowly slip away. But before I could accept my fate…I felt him. His energy erupted through the ruined city like a hurricane in the middle of the sea – violent and lethal and no way to escape it.

I forced my eyes to open, and saw Elias slam his body into Sarai. She flew through the air, crashing to the ground several yards away.

I rolled onto my side, vomiting up the water before finally being able to gasp for air. Tears stung my eyes, and my lungs still burned. But they weren’t the only thing. The seared marks on my skin were excruciating. I pushed past it and looked up and watched Elias, in human form, facing off against Sarai.

Elias held his dagger, attempting one blow after another with inhuman speed. Sarai had created some sort of water shield around herself that was somehow impervious to Elias’s strikes. Having the small lake nearby was not acting in our favor.

I tried to focus on her blurry form behind her water forcefield. I could see her pulling something from the ground. No, not the ground. Her foot.

My knife. My silver knife.

No! Elias!

She pried the blade from her own foot, then turned it upwards, just as Elias was about to strike again.

I couldn’t scream for him, the water still in my lungs needing to be expelled. But the fear I felt in that moment could have conjured the gods.

Just before Sarai could strike, Elias stopped in his tracks, turning to me as he felt that wave of fear. One step further and Sarai would have slashed the knife through her water shield and gutted him .

But my relief was short-lived because Sarai’s water shield transformed into a tidal wave that crashed down on Elias when his focus was on me, flinging him backward and into a nearby tree. I felt a sense of pain shoot through my arm as his bones cracked from the impact.

Before Elias could pull himself up, Sarai used her same dirty trick that she used on me, and began magically forcing a large tendril of water down his throat and into his lungs. I felt the pain as his airways closed. I was all-too familiar with the feeling of drowning.

I turned and coughed up more water. “No!” I finally was able to scream. I stood up and ran towards him, but was suddenly yanked backwards by my hair.

“Not so fast,” Volund hissed in my ear as he pulled on my hair and brought his knife to my throat.

In a panic, I looked to my right, and saw Balor lying on the ground, blood pooling beneath him.

A scream erupted from me, causing Volund to tighten his hold and press the edge of his blade into my neck.

“Balor get up! Get up!!” I screamed. But I knew he wouldn’t. My uncle remained on the cold ground, unmoving. “What have you done?!” I shrieked, bringing my elbow back so hard I felt one of Volund’s ribs break under the impact.

The Sprathian king screamed in pain, and I pulled away. I turned, grabbing his bloodied knife from his grasp and pointing it towards him.

“Sarai!” Volund squealed.

Before I could strike, the witch pivoted towards us, her eyes filled with rage at the sight of Volund in distress. I noted a shift in the words she chanted, and the vine of water pulled out of Elias’s throat and levitated through the air. Then she threw her hands forward, the water shooting at me like a giant arrow .

It crashed into me, and I nearly fell backwards from the force. Volund’s knife flung from my grasp as the water began to swirl around my hands and wrists. The water pulled me to the ground, my knees bruising from the impact.

I tried to stand myself up, but was only yanked down harder. I squirmed and thrashed, but my attempts to escape the spell failed. Sarai had me bound by her magic, tethered to the ground like a dog on a chain.

I watched helplessly as Elias slumped over, on the brink of unconsciousness from having the air ripped away from him for those long moments.

Volund limped past me, his hand clenching his side from where I had broken his ribs. “I’ve had enough of this bullshit from the two of you,” he sneered. He grabbed his fallen blade then staggered over to Sarai and Elias. “I really wanted to kill her first to watch you suffer. But it seems like I’m going to have to kill you instead, dog, seeing as how you won’t let her die. And what a shame. You were a great assassin. But I won’t need you anymore once I am the one true king.”

Elias’s eyes fluttered. I could feel his broken arm already beginning to heal, but he still had to gasp for bits of air after nearly drowning. “Kill me and let her live,” he breathed, as a bone snapped itself back into place. His golden eyes fixed on me, defeat swirling behind them.

“No!” I screamed.

“Shut up!” Volund spat, his temper flaring. “Neither of you will be leaving here alive.”

A cough from Balor had my head swiveling in his direction. Gods, he was still alive! Although blood pooled around him, he was somehow barely conscious. His gaze met mine. “Eyes…” he gasped, blood dripping from his mouth. “Wolf…”

My heart fluttered. The eyes of the wolf . I turned back to Elias with desperate determination. “Elias,” I said. “Shift. ”

Volund only laughed. “With the amount of wolfsbane in his system, he can’t shift, you fool.”

But he didn’t know that we had the help of another witch. He didn’t know that Elias had been drinking a potion to recover more quickly. There was still a chance. He had nearly recovered, he said so himself. He wasn’t fully there this morning, but now…

I had no idea if Elias could shift yet, but it was our only hope. Whatever memory I would recover when I saw him in wolf form, Balor thinks would save us. I had to try.

“Shift, Elias,” I repeated.

Volund frowned. “If you do somehow shift, I will gut her here and now,” he threatened.

A growl came deep from Elias’s throat.

“Please, Elias,” I begged. “Trust me.”

Elias gave me an imploring look that I knew said, But he’ll kill you . Desperation flooded his emotions.

He’ll kill us anyway. Just trust me , I tried to say back with only my eyes. I took a breath, trying to ground myself. Trying to get him to feel a sense of calm through me.

Surprisingly, Elias nodded, his own emotions settling. Then, his golden eyes slowly began to glow as he used all of the energy he could pull, even with the trace amounts of wolfsbane still coursing through him.

“Stop that! Now!” Volund shrieked. Then he limped back over to me and pointed his knife at my face.

“Now, Elias!” I yelled.

I watched in astonishment and amazement as Elias’s entire body transformed from a human into a huge, black wolf. The exact same one I had been seeing in my dreams.

The transformation only took seconds. When it was over, the giant wolf’s golden eyes looked directly into mine .

Then I remembered. I remembered it all. Remembered everything my mother used her magic to make me forget.

When the memories finished clicking into place like pieces of a puzzle, my eyes shot open. It felt like lightning had struck me – like I had been touched by a god. Power I hadn’t felt in a decade coursed through my veins.

Flames erupted in my hands and behind my eyes. The water-chain binding my wrists began to sizzle and steam until it evaporated entirely.

Volund gasped and dropped his blade, stumbling backwards. Sarai had stopped chanting and took a step back as well. She knelt down and grabbed my silver knife which had somehow ended up on the ground, her eyes wide in fear. Elias watched me in wolf form, the shock and disbelief in his eyes matching his emotions.

I fixed my gaze on Volund. He made his way to Sarai, snatching my silver knife from her hand. She backed away, her terrified eyes not daring to look away from me.

“Don’t come any closer!” Volund shrieked. “I will throw this knife right into the heart of your—”

He was interrupted by his own screams. I had lifted my arm, and the same multi-colored flames that surrounded my hand formed themselves around Volund’s body. He continued to scream as the energy from my power scorched his flesh.

“Do you know who killed my mother? Do you know who was looking for me?” I asked, rage boiling my blood. Volund only screamed in response, so I dimmed the energy of my power. “Answer me!” I demanded.

“No! I don’t know!” he squealed. “Please! I didn’t know! I didn’t know what you were!”

I believed his answer to be truthful. But I didn’t care.

“You and your ancestors have tortured my mate for centuries. ”

“I’m sorry!” The fear in his voice only angered me more.

“I’m not,” I answered. Then I put everything I had into my power and watched as the energy-flames that engulfed the Sprathian king grew higher. He screamed as his flesh began to disintegrate, bits and pieces searing off as if he were being cooked alive.

Although I wasn’t physically touching him, I felt him dying beneath my power. I felt his anguish, his agony. So I ended it quickly. Within seconds, Volund’s entire body incinerated into ash in front of me, cutting off his screams. He deserved a much slower, more painful death. But I wouldn’t stoop to his torturous level. Not ever.

“No!” The witch’s wails were long and drawn out. My attention turned to her. Sarai’s face was full of anguish for the loss of her beloved. Or, who she thought was the reincarnation of her beloved.

I wanted to kill her next, but I had used up most of my energy on Volund. Sarai was just as responsible for Elias’s pain and suffering as he was, and I would not feel guilty for her death any more than I did his.

She turned to me, a crazed look in her eyes. “The next time I see you, Princess Aurelia, you’re dead .”

A deep growl bellowed from the giant wolf next to her. Elias turned towards her, teeth baring in a ferocious snarl. He should be the one to rid this world of her. He deserved that much.

Sarai gave me one last death-glare before sprinting towards the lake, Elias lunging after her. But just before he could clasp her in his mighty jaws, she dove headfirst into the water, her body disappearing entirely. Elias jumped in after her, but only landed in shallow water.

Shit . With her magic, she got away. Magically transported to gods knew where.

I took a step towards Elias, but was met with a wave of dizziness. I had used quite a bit of power that had been buried inside me for too long. And it was swiftly taking its toll on me .

I stumbled forward, and was met with a body of fur. I shuddered as the realization of what had just occurred hit me with full force. I just killed the King of Sprath with powers I had long forgotten. Powers that were hidden deep within me.

The fur I leaned against slowly transformed into human skin, and Elias pulled me into his arms.

“Aura,” he said, cupping my face between his hands and kissing my forehead. “Are you alright?” His eyes filled with worry as he held me.

“I think I’m okay,” I replied, not sure it was the truth.

“You’re a mythic.” He said it out loud like he was trying to convince himself.

I half-smiled, feeling faint and nauseous. “Yeah. Turns out I forgot.”

He let out a startled chuckle, but the sound of a faint cough caused a feeling of dread to wash over me. “Balor!” I yelled. I turned and ran to him, falling to my knees as I reached him. His breaths were extremely shallow, but he was still alive. Barely.

His eyes gently fluttered open as I took his blood-soaked hand in mine. “Hey, little fire girl,” he wheezed. This was something he used to call me when I was little, before I forgot who I was. I remembered it all now – the way my father and uncle used to play with me, teaching me not to be afraid of my own power.

“Uncle Balor,” I choked, tears streaming down my face. “No, no, no. Please, please. You’re okay. You’re going to be okay.”

“I’m so…sorry,” he said between shallow gasps of air. “I wish…I could…have told you.”

“Hush,” I said, pressing my free hand to his forehead. He felt cold. So cold.

“Please…forgive your father. He just wants…to protect you.”

“I know,” I sobbed. “I know.”

“I love you…little fire girl. Always.”

He took one more small gasp before his breathing stopped, and his eyes glassed over.

“I love you too, Uncle Balor,” I cried.

Then I wept. I wept over his body until the sun lowered. Elias stood behind me, his hands on my shoulders, and patiently waited.

* * *

My mother was a powerful witch – daughter of a witch and a mythic. After the war in Zolmara, she fled to Rimor where, centuries later, she met and fell in love with my father, a human. She gave up her own immortality to spend the rest of her life with him.

When I was born, they expected me to be either a witch or a human. But my existence defied all logic, as I was neither. Somehow, it was my grandfather’s abilities that were passed down to me. “The gods intervened,” my mother would say. It was the only explanation.

My name is Princess Aurelia of Rimor and I am a mythic – the last of my kind.

My mother knew my powers would put me in danger. I would be hunted. Used. So we kept them a secret.

But somehow, someone found me. Someone who had been looking. The night they found me was the night my mother died.

They killed our guards and chased us through the woods. My mother’s only solution was to bind my powers and my memories. If I didn’t have my powers – didn’t even know about them – they could never find me again. So she made it so no one could tell me who or what I was. Made it so I forgot all about magic and immortals, even my mother’s origin.

The pain I experienced as my powers were taken was excruciating. My mother’s powerful binding spell made it feel like my very essence was being ripped from my body. She cried for me during every second of it. Then it was over, and she ran, leading my hunter away from me.

And then she died, the binding spell extinguishing her powers enough that she couldn’t defend herself.

Only when I saw the eyes of the wolf would the spell break. She didn’t know what it meant, but she knew it was what the prophecy foretold. A prophecy that had been around for centuries, predicted by the few remaining witch prophets long ago.

My mother died protecting me for who I am. What I am. I am a mythic. The last mythic.

* * *

“Aura,” Elias beckoned gently, when the darkness took over and the sun was long set. “You need some rest.”

“We can’t leave him here,” I said, wiping more tears from my stained cheeks. “We need to take him back to Rimor.”

Elias pulled me up to my feet. “Rimor is a long way away. His body won’t—”

“I don’t care. He deserves to be buried at home.”

Sorrow shown on Elias’s face. But he nodded. “Okay. We will. But right now it’s night, and you need to rest.” He glanced down at my uncle’s permanent sleeping form. “I will put him in a building to shield him from the elements, and we will take him back home tomorrow.”

And so I agreed to let Elias lead me to the small hut Balor had been sleeping in so I could get some rest. After recovering my memories, and killing someone with my powers within moments of reobtaining them, my body was completely drained of energy. A heavy heart and new worries kept me awake for a short while longer.

How would I confront my father? How would I tell him his only brother died saving me? What would become of Rimor, having an immortal queen? Or Sprath, with no king? All those thoughts swirled in my mind as my eyelids fell heavier and heavier until the sweet escape of sleep took over.