Page 105 of The Dark Mage

29

Ren’wyn didn’t slow her charge through the trees until sweat poured down her back, dripping into her eyes and stinging them.Heaving a sigh, she stopped to catch her breath, brushing damp strands of hair from her face.Her dress clung to her, sticky and uncomfortable.She’d be washing it again tonight.

“What the hell am I supposed to do now?”she yelled desperately into the trees.“This is not what I want.This is not whoI am!”

Silence descended—thick, oppressive, and unrelenting.Alone, with no answers and no understanding of what was happening to her, Ren’wyn dropped to her knees in the soft ferns.She screamed, the sound ripping from her throat—raw and wild, stretching into the stillness.Her voice burned as tears streaked her face, but she didn’t stop until the fury in her chest began toebb.

Pressing her open hands into the earth, the cold ground stood firm beneath her palms.She drew in deep, deliberate breaths, letting her anger and fear drain into the soil.The air seemed to grow heavier, more solid, and the crushing weight around her chest loosened.

Ren’wyn allowed her magic to rise, unbidden and familiar.Safety lived here, in the fabric of her own being.The Void opened like the embrace of an old friend.Black shadow and cold frost crept out around her, wrapping her in their comfort.When she looked up, her siblings stood before her.Their cold presence was as familiar as ever, but today, she was angry with themtoo.

“You have found the flame,” Moira whispered, her voice faint and flickering, like a candle’s glow behind a blowing curtain.“You are stronger, sister.”Aiden and Daren stood silent beside her, nodding in agreement.

Ren’wyn glared at them, her frustration boiling over.“None of you ever told me about any foresight concerning me,” she accused.“Instead, I learn what I might be from a stranger!I am not this.I don’t want this.I want quiet, peace, and safety.I want someone else to lead and make the choices.There is no way I can do this right.I can’t.”

They remained silent, as they always did, their expressions invisible beneath their hoods.Ren’wyn clenched her fists in her lap, her frustration mounting.She wanted to scream again, to demand answers, but the blank faces of her siblings only deepened her confusion.This was no way to prepare herself to deal with shades, whose tempers were fickle and easily unsettled.

“The darkness and the living flame,” Aiden rasped.The sound of his voice startled her—he so rarely spoke.Ren’wyn flinched as he continued, “You have the tree, sister, and the open sky.You must find silver and hope.Then, the six will bring freedom.”

“What the hell does that mean?”Ren’wyn cried, fisting her hands in her hair.Her anger churned the shadows around her, and her siblings’ spirits retreated, drifting away like smoke, leaving her alone oncemore.

“Damn it!”she shouted, fury flaring hot and wild—at herself, at them, at the entire stupid, incomprehensibleday.

“Have you seen myson?”

Ren’wyn whirled in surprise.

Standing in the clearing behind her was a young woman with loose brown waves falling over her shoulders.She was fresh-faced and pretty, with large brown eyes and a slender, athletic frame.Ren’wyn’s gaze swept over her, noting the strength in her posture—a fighter?

“Have you seen my son?”the woman asked again, sweetly this time, though worry threaded through the words.“I’m not sure which way heran.”

Her son?Here?

Ren’wyn’s mind stumbled over the impossibility of it.This was unsettled territory.

Then she noticed the details she had missed in her anger.The woman’s skin was far too pale.Dark circles shadowed her eyes.Her skirts faded into mist at the edges, dissolving into shadow in the presence of theVoid.

A shade.

Only her distraction and exhaustion could have delayed her recognition for so long.She closed her eyes, drew in a deep breath, and stilled hermind.

“I haven’t,” Ren’wyn replied with a gentle smile.The shade felt flighty, but hope glowed in her gaze as she scanned the clearing.“He hasn’t been here, milady.Can I ask where you last saw him?Or what you were hoping to tellhim?”

Questions were the best way to engage a shade, especially one with a gentle nature.The young woman smiled prettily, and for a fleeting moment, Ren’wyn thought she recognizedher.

“I think you have,” the shade whispered, stepping closer.

Ren’wyn’s hands instinctively curved, ready to banish her if things wentawry.

“I see his light onyou.”

The shade’s eyes glimmered orange.

A female berserker.

Ren’wyn’s breath caught as the pieces fell together.

“What did you want to tell your son?”Ren’wyn asked again, her voice calm but firm, curving a finger slightly to help compel a response with her magic.