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Evelina

Evelina awoke to the sound of a baby crying. Her head buzzed and she blinked her eyes, her vision blurry. Her arms trembled as she tried to push herself off the hard ground, but they gave out and she collapsed face-first into dirt.

She rolled onto her side to try and figure out what had happened. Her vision slowly cleared as she searched for danger. Her brows pinched together when she realized she’d landed far enough away from the small village that nobody could likely see her, hidden beneath the bushes and tall grass near the forest’s edge.

Her muscles tensed, and a brief moment of terror coursed through her body as she remembered the little faces she had so desperately wanted to save. The rebel soldiers she had hoped she could stop, though she knew she was outmatched.

But she didn’t feel helpless before she blacked out. She felt strong—powerful.

Slowly, she tested her strength and braced herself on her elbows. She waited a breath to see if her arms would hold, and when they did, she peeled herself off the ground. Every muscle in her body ached. Each movement was a painful strain on her body .

She leaned against a pine tree, her head spinning. After the stars cleared from her vision, she was able to see the village better.

It was a sight she’d never seen. A small crowd had formed on the outskirts of the village, escaping the smoke still burning off the buildings. The villagers looked safe—the children she thought dead alive and well before her eyes. They were being held by a plush female with auburn hair and a deeply tanned male who was broad enough to hold all of them in his arms.

She strained her ears to listen.

“The rebel soldiers are all gone,” an Aegis warrior announced.

Everyone paused to listen, a palpable relief pulsing in the air.

“The princess saved us—saved all of us!” the little girl cried.

Evelina’s breath picked up.

She couldn’t have killed those soldiers… It wasn’t possible.

Despite them being horrible, terrifying beings, she felt a wave of guilt. Her vow was to protect as a healer, to never do harm to another. Now she had killed— murdered —not just one but countless others.

They were infested with a darkness she didn’t understand, so ruthless that they would’ve destroyed the entire village, the children, the storyteller—all of them. And yet she still felt the sour pang of guilt.

The child’s mother shushed her, the resemblance between her and her children unmistakable. “She’ll be remembered, Briar. The brave Manor, savior of Baile.”

“Evelina is dead?” a familiar voice demanded. It was Willow, her eyes wide.

“Here,” Evelina rasped, her throat scratchy and sore. She could barely hear it herself.

The little girl—Briar—pointed toward the village center, where piles of ashes trailed into the road. “A blinding light exploded from her and she turned those scary creatures into nothing more than ash.” Her voice was young but strong. Unafraid. “But the light didn’t hurt us. It wrapped around us and kept us safe.”

“And Evelina?” Willow demanded, her voice cracking. She cleared her throat. “She didn’t make it?”

Briar shook her head, her eyes dropping to the ground. “When the light spread, she disappeared with the rebels too.”

“I saw it too,” a man behind Willow called out. “They all disappeared into thin air, like they had been consumed in the rising sun.”

“It can’t be…” Willow muttered.

An Aegis soldier laid a hand on her shoulder. “We’ve already checked for survivors. We would’ve at least found her body by now, but it seems…” His eyes trailed to the ash around them.

Willow gave a curt nod and stalked over to Khaline. She jutted her chin out to the beta Rider who rode with them. “I’ll get word to the palace. Oversee the aid and report any findings to me after.”

No. They couldn’t leave her here, couldn’t tell her family she was dead.

“I’m here.” Evelina’s voice broke. She was too weak, helpless as a stranded bird.

Surely she hadn’t done as the little girl had said? Her light had never hurt a single soul, not even a bee—let alone reduce all the rebels to nothing more than ash in the wind. She could shield herself and one other person at best.

But her memory was fuzzy. She remembered Briar’s bravery in protecting her siblings and how much she wished she could protect them. It was an instinctual feeling, just like when the arrow had flung by her on patrol. But this was bigger—almost unfathomable—and she couldn’t wrap her mind around the possibility that she had really done it.

She needed to get to the palace, to tell them what had happened. She shook her head and winced, the movement causing pain to splinter behind her eyes. Whatever she had done, it had drained her completely .

The Aegis would patrol beyond the village soon to check for any lingering rebels, and she needed them to hurry. Because she was alive—had survived and prevented whatever massacre the rebels had intended on Baile—and Willow was on her way to the palace to tell everyone that she was dead.