Chapter 75

Chapter 75

FEY

“ G ather around, everyone,” Fey shouted, waving her arms at the crowd gathered on the Solare lawn and beckoning them closer. Today, at least, the group was smaller than usual. Most of her students with any power over Fire were with Joy and Sana today, learning the careful art of drawing sigils.

Their skills would be invaluable to the realm, in the coming months. They needed to conduct more testing, of course, but Joy’s hunch had been right. Whether from centuries of breeding with Witches, or some other hidden similarity between the two Factions, roughly half of all the Shifters they’d tested so far responded to Witch sigils. Not just the Shifters, either. A quarter of the Demons brought in were the same. Suddenly, broken bones and previously deadly diseases that had plagued the Fallen Factions were not only survivable, but easily treatable with the addition of a single healing sigil.

In one single morning, Sana and Joy had uncovered a miracle that could save thousands of lives every year. And they were working tirelessly to train the Witches necessary to ensure every Witch, Demon, and Shifter in the realm were given the opportunity to receive a healing sigil, if they so chose.

But that was their fight, and their legacy.

Fey’s legacy was here. With her students.

“Today we’ll be working with Air,” Fey announced, watching as some of the students preened, eagerly. The Air Witches were always thrilled to show off their skills. “We will be breaking into smaller teams, so?—”

Fey stopped.

There was a new face in the crowd this morning, one Fey recognized immediately. She had been waiting for her to show up for a long, long, time now.

Princess Amalia had cut her hair, and now instead of ringlets that reached all the way down her back, her curls were short and wavy, framing her face. The cut was angled longer in the front and abruptly short in the back, cut just below the base of her skull.

The look suited her.

Around her, the students were growing nervous, shifting anxiously, and murmuring amongst themselves as they waited for their instruction to begin. Air, that’s what she’d planned today. But Fey couldn’t help but think about that pull of Earth from the princess, that roiling under their feet on the rooftop that night. The sheer power of it.

Even Willow would have been proud of an Earth Witch that strong.

“On second thought,” Fey announced, staring across the lawn. “Today our focus will be Earth instead.”

Years ago, when she had still called herself a Blade, there had been rumors Princess Amalia had so little power that she wasn’t a proper heir at all. Rumors she held little more than a fraction of power over Earth.

Fey remembered that roll of power on the roof and smiled. Until that night, even she had believed the rumors.

“I need a volunteer,” she said.

There were a few hands raised among the crowd of Witches, but Fey ignored them all.

“Princess,” she called across the lawn, gesturing her forward. “Come up here and join me.”

Amalia raised her eyes, meeting Fey’s gaze without fear.

“It’s Amalia,” she said, her voice carrying over the lawn, over the whispers. “I’m not a princess anymore, remember? ”

Fey’s lips twitched. “My mistake,” she said, inclining her head. “Come up here, Amalia. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Leandra appeared at Fey’s side, her face pinched in anger.

“What are you doing?” she hissed. “Are you going to punish her for finally coming here?”

Fey ignored her. Slowly, Amalia made her way across the grass and up to stand with Fey.

“A strong Earth Witch can move the very ground itself,” Fey said, raising her voice to be heard by the crowd. “In the War of the Fallen, our greatest soldiers could bring entire buildings down with their power.”

Every Witch watched Amalia as she turned to face them. Fey placed her hands gently on the girl’s shoulders. She was trembling, just a little, under the attention of the crowd.

“Breathe in,” Fey told her. “Calm yourself. Focus your power.”

Amalia took a breath, eyes closed.

When Fey spoke next, she spoke so quietly that no one but Amalia could hear her, choosing to whisper the words right into her ear.

“They think you’re weak,” she told her. The girl tensed under her hands, but Fey continued. “They see you standing here and think they know who you are. What you are. Let it all out. Show them all how wrong they are about you, little sister.”

Amalia opened her eyes.

“Do it,” Fey said with a smile.

Fey was right. Three hundred years ago, there were Earth Witches powerful enough to take down an entire building. Earth Witches capable of shifting the very stones beneath their feet.

When Amalia unleashed her wave of power, they felt the ripples all the way at the edges of the Eternal City.