Page 104 of The Dark Mage

“Liar.”Fael snorted.

For the first time with her, Zev truly smiled, the barest hint of something akin to admiration glinting in hisgaze.

The tension broke, and Esrin let out a long breath.“Enough theatrics.I need a drink.”He rubbed both hands over his face, muttering something about terrifying allies and bad life choices.

Fael shifted beside her, his hand warm in hers.“I don’t know whether to be amused or concerned that you just terrified one of the most dangerous people weknow.”

Ren’wyn smirked.“Why notboth?”

Fael grinned.“Gods, you’re amazing.”

And just like that, the weight of all that had happened melted away.Ren’wyn’s heart softened, the fire inside her warming rather than burning.

“No, you are,” she murmured, pulling him down for a slow, lingeringkiss.

But as their lips parted, Zev’s quiet voice cut through the moment.“Have you heard the rumors, darkone?”

Ren’wyn turned, catching the strange glint in his gaze.Fael tensed beside her, his hand flexing at herback.

“No,” she answered, her tone cautious.

Zev studied her intently before speaking again.“My Master told me, as his Master told him, that a dark force would rise against the Empire,” he began.“It was foretold by an oracle:

The silver tree under emptysky

Hope in ash and fire’s breath

Black feathers fall and smolderslow

Freedom lives in fire and death.

“I never thought I would meet a dark mage,” Zev admitted.“I believed you were all executed during the last imperial uprising.But now…” His voice trailed off, unreadable.“Now I wonder, Ren’wyn, if you are the dark one with the power to free us.”

Ren’wyn’s breath caught, his words a weight on her chest.She shook her head, retreating a step as the world tilted beneath her.“I’m not a savior.I’m nothing special,” she argued, her voicethin.

Fael’s hand flexed again, but when she turned to him for reassurance, she found something she had never seen before—uncertainty.His hazel eyes, usually so steady, flickered with something dangerously close tofear.

“Ren’wyn,” he murmured, his voice shaken.“My mother spoke those same words to me as a child.Told me to hide them away.I haven’t heard them since.”

The world blurred, Zev’s presence fading into the background.All she could see was Fael’s face, the way he was looking at her like she was suddenly something he didn’t understand.Like she was somethingelse.

Her father’s voice twisted into the back of her mind:A worthless daughter from a worthless wife.You’re nothing.You’re noone.

She gasped, stumbling back another step.“I’m only Ren’wyn,” she whispered, her voice breaking.“A dark mage.Unusual, yes, but nothing more.I’m nothing more.I’m nothing.”

Fael reached for her, but she jerked away, the storm of memories and prophecy pressing against her lungs.

“Ren’wyn,” Fael said again, softer, but she was already moving.

“I’m going to check on Lia and Sorya,” she choked out, turning sharply before anyone could stopher.

Esrin quietly held Fael back, his voice too low to make out the words, but she didn’t turn to look.She stormed through the camp, grabbing her pack and striding into the forest, the trees swallowing her whole.

The words fit—fit with everything she had felt, everything she had learned about herself.

And yet, it couldn’t be possible.

Itcouldn’t.