Page 67 of Aubade Rising

The cells are dark. Quiet, save for water dripping from the ceiling. I pull my Concord robe tightly around my shoulders, aware my footsteps echo too loudly. The sea frost from my journey back from the laboratory melts and runs down my face in tiny droplets.

Dervla’s first autumn in power has been cruel so far.

The harvest failed, people are starving and the Concord are squabbling.

There’s only one of her and too many fires to extinguish.

Where she makes one decision, another three battles appear.

Everything must be run past her. She may have repealed the Difan but the people of Trevesiga are bristling at the return of a dictatorship.

The ramifications of imbuing serpentine with magic remain a secret.

Haelyn meets me at the darkest cell, face pale and taut, hair pulled back into a neat braid.

On our return, she was released with a full pardon.

But her time in the cells sapped her of her previous warmth.

Now, she has no interest in light-hearted gossip, no interest in lending a helping hand to those in need and certainly no interest in being my friend.

She has just one focus. One driving need to compensate for the lonely days she spent terrified in the dark: she wants revenge. I’m well aware she views my participation as a partnership of convenience. If we’re caught, it’s every woman for herself.

The dripping stops. The walls are dry, my magic replenished. That precious little strand from Eskar is still buried deep inside me and writhes happily now it’s fulfilled. Haelyn gives me a subtle nod and we start to channel. Her Zephyr magic and my combination of Aubade and Mordros together.

The crystals of serpentine we’ve hidden in the walls start to glow.