Page 74

Chapter 74

Rev

Saelyn was three and wild.

Every chance she had, she’d burst from the doors of the Fortress , running down the steps and into the forest paths. It was a game we played. I’d chase her through our rooms and the foyer, and she’d run, giggling endlessly in her dresses of cornflower blue, a contrast against her black waves her mother or I attempted to braid each morning.

Saelyn was too busy for sitting down at three.

She wanted to know everything, explore everywhere. That year she lost her playmate for a time. Talon and Ilyenna passed the conduit trials, finding themselves ready to leave Felgren and emerge into the world as powerful conduits who could bring change.

Ilyenna insisted on setting up a home in the Hallow Marshes . There , she began her work on mining rhyzolm safely and more effectively while Talon used his iumenta talents to bring cattle to the marshes for the people to raise and sell.

We were proud of them both and ensured them they’d always have a summer home with us. Indeed , Saelyn and Thevin were two peas in a pod and the change was difficult for them.

But that year, Saelyn was adorably wild and three. And as I chased her through the autumn leaves that fell in the grove of maples, her laughter sounded through the forest which she was born in—the forest which gave her the power we’d already begun to see.

I hadn’t heard from Adaynth in three years. I’d probed that cavern in my mind a few times, asking after him, listening on the hard days for his voice.

Sometimes I wondered if I had dreamt it. I wondered if, in my desperate panic to hold onto Karus and our child, I had hallucinated all those conversations, all the warnings, the pestering to keep myself sane in my worry. Karus hadn’t heard from either of the ancient beings, and we decided to let that be. We decided to live the life we’d been given to live with our love, our Baronship , our precious little Saelyn . That was enough.

No , that was everything.

“ Watch me, Papa !” She twirled in the falling leaves and seeds of the maple tree grove. Her power pooled at her feet in whorls of white, and her laugh chimed along the Felgren wind.

I scooped her up, tossing her into the air where she screamed in delight before I caught her in my arms. “ I see you, Little Love .” I kissed her red cheek and she summoned an orange leaf to her hand with her power. “ I see you,” I repeated.

The rhyzolm did not lie.

Our daughter was powerful.