Page 51 of Stolen Magic (All That Glitters #2)
Gwen and I were escorted back to my old chambers that were now hers, guards posted at the door while the king met with his mages. Eventually I was sent for and escorted outside, flanked by a guard and a mage. I recognized our destination—the magical herb garden Callan had shown me.
The king waited beside it, and when I approached, he gestured at the flame-lily in the center. With my heightened senses now that the curse was broken, I could see a thin network of shimmering lines creating a protective barrier around it—a magical ward.
“I have hunted for this plant for years,” the king said.
I shut my eyes as a wave of sorrow and anger rolled over me, flooding me with memories.
“It is the key to keeping Eldoria from dying,” he continued. “All this prosperity you see? It’s a ruse.”
I opened my eyes, looking at him in confusion.
“Look.” Lord Velgrin pointed across the field.
“Can you see that everything is held together with magic? Not the kind of magic that naturally flows through the world, but a magic that artificially keeps plants growing, soil producing, rain falling. Years ago, a powerful wizard cursed Eldoria with death, and the only cure is a spell of life.”
A spell of life . My eyes widened as I stared at the flame-lily. My family’s magic, born from the flame-lily, symbolized life. Could this be the king’s true purpose in destroying everything I knew?
“Your mother came to us once,” Lord Velgrin continued.
“We offered her wealth, power, anything in exchange for the spell that would save us. She refused, claiming she didn’t trust us, believing we would use such powerful magic for our own ends.
We tried to convince her, but she fled and hid for years in Myrona.
So we began to hunt through the surrounding countries, hoping to find her or someone else with the power we needed.
When we couldn’t, we took any magic we could find, using it to keep our land alive in hopes that one day we would find the cure.
When we found the Flamekeeper ten years ago, she once again refused, and there was a battle of magic. ”
I stood frozen, my breath caught somewhere between a gasp and a cry.
My mother hadn’t died because of some distant, faceless tragedy—she had been hunted, trapped.
And still, she had stood her ground, even when the cost was her life.
She had stood against kings and courts, refusing to bend even when the world demanded it…
then died protecting a secret too powerful to entrust to those who would twist it into chains.
A storm of emotion crashed over me. Tears burned my eyes, but I blinked them back.
I wasn’t that frightened girl hiding behind masks anymore—I was her daughter who would demonstrate the same bravery she once had.
I took a shaky breath to steady myself, trying to shut out the memories of crashing and screaming I’d heard as I cowered in the basement.
“Rather than allowing herself to be captured and used, she chose to die,” the king said.
“My men returned with this flame-lily, but it was useless without a mage from your bloodline. And we did not know you existed, thanks to your mother’s curse that stifled your magical signature so we could not track you. ”
I gasped, staring down at my unmarked palm. Mother’s last burst of magic had been spent to protect me—ensuring that Eldoria could not use me once she was gone. Until now, as I made my own choice.
“I am still not convinced that helping Eldoria is the right thing to do, considering my mother died to avoid it,” I said.
“But I have chosen to trust Callan and the kingdom he and Princess Gwendolyn will foster. I will help if I can.” I looked down at my hands again, now free of the seal but untrained in the ways of magic. “Though I don’t know how.”
The accompanying mage, Serephine, stepped forward. “I will help you learn,” she promised. “I have spent my life studying this magic, and though I cannot perform it, I think I can help you understand how to wield it.”
For a moment, I could only stare at her, too stunned to speak. I had surrendered my magic freely—sacrificed it as penance to choose what was right, even at great cost. I hadn’t expected there would be anything left for me afterward, but this was a mercy I hadn’t dared to hope for.
Something fragile and long-buried stirred in my chest as a piece of myself I thought I’d lost forever flickered back to life.
To be allowed to learn magic again and rebuild what I had broken—not as a thief of magic, but as someone trusted to carry it—was a gift beyond anything I’d thought I deserved.
Exhausted and filled with emotions I couldn’t yet process, I returned to the palace, where Gwen had begun settling into the chambers I’d occupied during my time as the imposter princess. I wasn’t sure where I would be lodged now that I was a magical servant rather than the crown prince’s fiancée.
Gwen wasn’t there when I arrived. Quietly I began to pack, placing only a few cherished trinkets into the worn satchel I had brought with me: the now dried bouquet of violets Callan had given me the evening of our first meeting, his letters worn soft at the folds from how frequently I’d reread his dear words, and the final phial of the glowing essence I had risked everything to gather during my sojourn in the palace, though its light had long since dimmed.
The door creaked open behind me. I turned, expecting a servant, and found Gwen just inside the threshold, poised and regal.
Her hair was braided in the formal court style again fit for the future queen, and she wore lavender silk—the same dress I had worn the day I first arrived in Eldoria as an imposter…
and the same gown I had worn during my first stroll with Callan in the garden.
The memory caressed my thoughts, lingering on when he had smiled at me so tenderly and given me the necklace that now rested, warm and familiar, against my skin.
My fingers found the pendant, memorizing the feel of the fleur-de-lis against my palm, as if it could anchor my heart aching with suppressed longing.
Gwen’s gaze dropped to the bouquet in my hands, lingering on the way I gently laid it atop the folded gowns in my satchel. For a long moment, she said nothing as a quiet war raged in her eyes. Then, as if coming to a decision, she nodded to herself and lifted her chin to meet my gaze.
Though she looked weary, her expression remained gentle. “There’s no need to pack,” she said.
I blinked. “What do you mean?”
“I was hoping I could speak to you,” she continued. “I know you intend to leave, but I wanted to ask if you’d stay.”
Disbelief momentarily robbed me of words. “You want me to stay? ” I finally managed. “After everything I did?”
She nodded. “When you have time outside your magical duties, I would like you to resume your previous position as my handmaiden.”
For a moment I could only stare in shock. So many questions burned my lips, but I only managed the most pressing one: “ Why? I thought I’d be escorted out under armed guard, that you’d have orders to keep me far from you.”
She shook her head. “You weren’t dismissed as a prisoner. I don’t want to lose what little foundation we’ve already built. I want you to return—not as a spy, or a secret princess, or even as my handmaiden…but as my friend.”
I opened my mouth, then closed it again, words failing me.
“I’m not excusing what you did,” Gwen said, stepping closer.
“But I understand your motive. I see the change in you, the guilt you’ve wrestled with, and your sincere efforts to make amends.
In the end that is what matters most to me.
” Her voice softened. “I’d like to believe the girl I once called a friend is still in there somewhere. ”
Emotion swelled in my chest, tightening my throat.
“I don’t expect it to be easy,” Gwen continued. “I certainly don’t expect you to trust me right away, but with time and patience, I believe we can become become something better than what we once were.”
It was a mercy I never expected. Once, I would have refused the offer without hesitation—remaining in the court I despised had once seemed like the worst fate.
But I wasn’t the same girl who’d entered these gilded halls burning with fury and schemes.
That girl had died, her ashes replaced by someone softened by mercy and forgiveness, someone who had learned that power was not what I truly valued, and that vengeance could never fill a hollow heart.
Gwen’s grace and friendship had changed everything.
Whatever memories I had taken from her, my own remained, including the memory of her trembling hand in mine when we first crossed the border together, her quiet gratitude for a companion in the formidable Eldorian court, and the unlikely kinship that had grown between us.
Despite my betrayal, she had still offered me her hand.
Even though my heart ached at the thought of watching the man I loved create a future with someone else, I couldn’t imagine choosing a future apart from the very thing I desired most: to belong.
No matter what it cost me, I would remain.
Because Gwen had become more than a friend—she was the closest thing I had left to family.
In her I saw the version of myself I might have become if I hadn’t allowed my pain to harden my heart.
It wasn’t too late to begin again.