Page 47

He didn’t need a Council decree to know what it meant. Garrick had been here. Recently. Marking the ward from inside. And someone had helped him.

He ran his hand through his hair, tension building like thunder behind his ribs. Every part of him wanted to rip the glyph out by the root, but he forced himself to memorize it first. He’d need to report it—to someone. Eventually.

But not now. Not with everything unraveling this fast.

He was still crouched there when he heard footsteps.

Soft. Controlled. Determined.

Delilah.

Rollo straightened slowly, brushing dirt from his palms. But the weight on his shoulders didn’t shift. If anything, it grew heavier.

She stepped into the clearing like a storm dressed in sunlight—her stride sharp, eyes hard, chin lifted just enough to let him know she wasn’t here to ask gently.

“You didn’t tell me,” she said, her voice even, but every word landed like a blade. “About Garrick. Aboutanyof it.”

He froze, caught mid-breath.

So she knew.

“Delilah, let me explain…”

“I came here today,” she said, quieter now, “to ask. Not accuse. I wanted to understand what Nerissa meant. What happened between you and Garrick. Why it left you so afraid.” Her voice trembled, but her hands were steady.

Rollo took a moment to answer. It’s not the question he was expecting.

“I didn’t want to become him,” he finally said. “Garrick was like a brother to me and then he just kind of… went off the rails. It was all after you left so I never bothered to tell you. But we were so much alike and, well, you remember.”

She nods once. “Yeah, you two were together a lot.”

He rubbed the back of his next trying to find the words he had never told anyone before. “I was afraid that if Garrick could do what he did, I assume Nerissa told you?”

Again, she nodded.

“Well, if he did that, and I felt that same urge, what would stop me from becoming that as well? I grieved for my friend, I was still grieving over you It all became a lot. So, I shut down and tried to figure out who or what I was.”

Delilah stepped closer now and reached for his hand in understanding, but before she could say anything she looked down and saw what he had uncovered. She froze and gestured to the glyph, sick and curling at the edges, pulsing with something dark and familiar.

“This… this is twisted magic. This doesn't belong here,” she breathed, her eyes never leaving it.

“I didn’t put it there”

“This” Her eyes turned cold now. “This is the magic that Garrick has been using? One of the reasons he was exiled?” Her voice had turned to ice covered fury.

Rollo nodded slowly, now only realizing that she hadn’t known it was his magic sickening the land, but now, she did. And she obviously knew he had known it as well.

“Youknewthis was his. Didn’t you?”

He nodded, slow. “I did.”

Her face went pale.

“For how long?”

Rollo opened his mouth, then closed it. He looked down. “Since the phoenix pup. I felt it then. But then I saw him in the woods and I knew it washim.A week, maybe more.”

Delilah recoiled like he’d struck her. “You talked to him? And you’ve known for over a week?”