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He smiles, broad and obnoxiously white. “Ah. Didn’t you know?” His mouth curves into a pitying expression. “Of course, I should have realized your father wouldn’t tell you.”

Unease climbs up my spine, vertebra by vertebra.

“You do not belong here. Even with half your blood tainted with Utsanek dirt, you are Luvesti by race.”

I shake my head, unwilling to let him into my head. A different race? The Vale is my home. Every word that comes out of his mouth is a lie.

Isn’t it?

He snorts in disgust. “Ellehra and I have our wonderful parents to thank for messing us up like this. For sending us here in the first place.” The pungent mulch silences his steps as he paces, never breaking eye contact with me for a moment. “But really, I should thank them. It turns out there really is no better place to become intimately acquainted with the darkness. They had no idea what a gift they gave me.”

My mouth opens and closes. I grasp around for some lifeline of sense. My mother. My grandparents. The Luvesti. My thoughts swirl more than the ténesomni, looking for somewhere, anywhere, to find purchase. But there is nothing but this sinister man and the incriminating knowledge burning at my core.

I do not belong here.

Myrzeth leans in, his pale face filling my vision. “So, what will it be, Amyrah? Will you broaden your mind with me? Share in the knowledge, share in the power?” He straightens and backs away. “Or must I arrange for the kaligorven to take care of you, as they did my sister?”

My eyes flit around my orb of light—it seems smaller—wondering if the Shrouded wait just beyond, where I can’t see. “C-can you control them too?”

The corner of his mouth twitches, ever so slightly, but he masks it with a self-assured grin. “They respect what I have. As long as I perform for them, I find them more than willing to perform for me.”

The shivering starts in my chest and spills to my extremities. I open and close my mouth multiple times, trying to form the words. But it’s like I am underwater.

“Yes?” Myrzeth says, coming closer, closer still.

I shake my head and try again. His amused expression begins to fade after a while, his patience with this game wearing thin. When his hands move out from his sides and he spreads his palms, when his lips begin to move with whatever unnatural language he’s speaking, I find my voice. It leaves my lungs in the form of a song.

Lo, there will be a coming day

When bird, beast, man shall see,

For all the darkness will fade away

And all of the Vale will be free.

The last verse of the ancient tune spills from my lips like warm cider. Just as the trembling overtook my body from the inside out, the music replaces every grain of weakness with a fire-like strength.

I am no longer afraid.

Thus grows the ever bright’ning day,

From the fields to the ne’er ending sea,

And the Light of Life will shine on all,

For rich and whole we shall be.

A dark fury erupts from my uncle’s livid face as he summons the ténesomni to throw itself against me. And it is his one mistake. In the second the darkness is lifted, and I can see beyond my limited range of vision, there isn’t a dark beast in sight.

The shadows slam against me but break apart like mists in Elberu’s heat. When they rush back to their original posts, my uncle’s pale face is aghast with confusion and fear. His eyes look beyond me, to something that makes the back of my neck tingle with warmth. I risk a glance behind.

High in the branches, a dazzling light sends down spiraling tendrils that curl around me, embracing me. A pure, sweet trilling fills the air.

The wren’s song.

I can’t help it. I laugh, and the tiny sola chirps with me.

When I turn around, my uncle is nowhere.