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The mage’s voice remains calm. Indifferent, even. For some reason it rankles Dawsyn.

“Some might still,” she presses. “If given the chance. Hate is resilient. Fathers pass it on to their sons.”

And doesn’t it rile her, to think of what they took? Doesn’t it rot her slowly from the inside?

The mage only sighs. “Mages and humans are no different in that regard. Some are bad. Some deserve to be burned alive, but not all. I do not blame the people of this kingdom for the misdeeds of their ancestors.”

“You do not want revenge?”

Another sigh. “No.”

“Why?”

“Enough questions.”

“What about the Queens?” Dawsyn asks anyway, her eyes on the back of the mage’s head, her voice low and careful. “Do you grant them the same mercy?”

Baltisse laughs once, low and mirthless. It sends a stroke of malice down Dawsyn’s spine, pricking her skin.

“Them?” she sneers, eyes sparking. “I will gladly hold them down while you remove their fingers and weight their feet.”

CHAPTERTEN

Outside, Baltisse lifts the fainting stem of an edelweiss flower, coaxing its wilted face back toward the sun. Dawsyn watches as the petals lift in response.

She spent much of the day trailing the mage uselessly as she went about what seemed to be her usual habits. Collecting water, cleaning clothes, stewing broth, setting traps, and – presumably – now communing with the plants.

Dawsyn eyes the flower dubiously. The mage had used a paddle to beat the dust from a rug, but she will use magic to save a flower?Why bother?

“Sometimes you need to reteach a thing its loveliness,” the mage says, not turning to look Dawsyn’s way. “There are too many questions in your head, sweet. Pick one.”

Dawsyn chews her tongue, marking the mage’s hands, dipping and bending as she meanders, not quite touching the wild tangles of vine and shrub and bracken, but rather dispelling the air around them.

“These woods know you,” Dawsyn starts, not a question at all.

“They know us all.”

Dawsyn laughs dryly. “There are no flowers on the Ledge, mage. No ponds or streams or vines. These woods could not know me.”

Baltisse continues her leisurely pace, a pail in hand. “You are wrong, dear. A thousand humans have walked this path before you. You are not so different from the rest.” She points to the branches overhead. “I have never seen these leaves before. They are newly unfurled, but they aren’t unfamiliar. I know them well.”

“Poetic,” Dawsyn quips. “But tell me, why does it respond to you the way that it does?”

“It?”

“Thewoods.”

Baltisse looks around her, at woodlands that seem to belong only to her. “Mage magic is born of nature, just like anything else. Nature is entwined, interconnected. It recognises itself.”

“And how do you harness it?” Dawsyn presses. “The magic?”

Baltisse stops walking down the sodden path, muttering about interruptions. She turns and regards Dawsyn for a moment, perhaps considering how much to share. Eventually, she gestures Dawsyn closer.

When they are eye to eye, the mage turns to the tall shrubs by Dawsyn’s shoulder and lets her hand hover over the fruit on its stems. Without a word, the berries pull away from the bush, detaching gently. They follow Baltisse’s palm obediently, letting her lead them through thin air. She brings them to a halt before Dawsyn’s eyes and lets them hang there, the sun gleaming through miniscule veins on purple skin.

Dawsyn has never seen magic like it. She exhales in a gust, laughs, unable to stall the wonder in her any longer.

“Magic is nature-born, Dawsyn. The two are alike. There are times when it is dormant and quiet, but it can be vengeful, too. It lurks and waits before it pounces. It devours its threats and seeks safe harbour. It is not so different from you or I. If you want to harness it, you must know it first. Study its movements. Look for what makes it flinch and retreat. Learn what it craves. You cannot control something without intimacy. My magic was born with me, and I have lived a long time. It trusts me. Yours, however, differs in more ways than one. You took it from the pool. You pulled it from its source. You will need to work much harder than I ever did to earn its alliance.”