A Mage's Influence: Complete Series

by Melanie Cellier

Genres: YA Fairy Tales & Folklore; YA Paranormal; YA Romance

Synopsis

Two sisters.
Two seeds of power.
One Mage's Guild, and an unprecedented new power—but which sister does it belong to?

Cadence and her sister possess the seeds of glory and ruin—or so their father always insisted. Cadence never understood what he meant until Airlie's seed of power is activated, turning her into the most powerful mage in generations. Despite knowing it must mean her own dormant seed is much more malevolent, Cadence is swept away to the distant Mage's Guild in her sister's wake. She's used to living in Airlie's shadow, but she can't see a place for herself in this new world.

Nor can she believe in the apparent interest of the charming Zeke. No one has ever chosen her over her beautiful sister.

But leaving her new home isn't an option. Plagued by questions from her isolated childhood, Cadence needs answers, and the Guild might hold them. But as the revelations grow, Cadence must find a way to conceal the truth from her new companions before the sisters' secrets turn everyone against them.

And as word of Airlie's power spreads, new danger emerges. Across the kingdom's border, a threat is growing among the ruins of their former neighbor—enemies who will do anything to get their hands on the sisters and the seeds they contain. No longer able to shelter behind Airlie, Cadence must make a choice. Will she embrace her power—whatever it might be—or pursue a different path?

While the twisted vines that connect them threaten to tear apart everything Cadence and Airlie hold dear, they might offer the only chance for survival. If the sisters have any chance of saving their world, they must do it together.

If you enjoy strong heroines, fantasy worlds, sibling dynamics, adventure, and clean romance, then try this new world now! Available for a reduced price in this complete series set which includes the following titles:
Seeds of Glory and Ruin
Vines of Promise and Deceit
Thorns of Hope and Betrayal
Forests of Grandeur and Malice

Read more

Release date: April 28, 2023

Publisher: Luminant Publications

Print pages: 1175

Sample

Chapter
One

heard the distant sound of hoof beats long before I saw
anything unusual. Springing up, I spun toward the noise,
but the surrounding trees blocked my view.
I spared a second’s glance at the basket by my feet. The
berries inside were the last of the season and represented
several hours of work. I had been dreaming about the pies they
would make all day.
With a shake of my head, I left them where they sat. The
basket was an awkward shape, and its load had grown heavy. It
would only slow me down.
Weaving between the trees, I ran. My breath soon rasped in
and out, but I didn’t slow. Five riders were on a course that
would lead to my sister. I didn’t stop to question my certainty—
I just knew they promised disruption to the monotony of my
isolated life.
The possibility of danger didn’t give me a moment’s
hesitation.
At !rst, as I raced across the uneven ground, I told myself it
was concern for Airlie that lent my feet wings. But the image of
my formidable older sister danced across my mind’s eye, calling
a lie on the noble sentiment. I revised my internal justi!cations.
1

Airlie might not need any protection I could provide, but she
would certainly be worried on my behalf—she always was. If
there were other people in this remote area, she would want us
to stick together.
But I could feel the less "attering truth behind even that
excuse. Curiosity drove me on above everything else, its !res
stoked by the thrilling possibility of disruption to my boring
life. What was danger compared to that?
The wind shifted, bringing with it the biting smell of smoke.
My pace faltered, concern leaching through my excitement. We
rarely ventured away from our isolated house in its protected
valley, but we did make supply runs to the nearest villages. And
hadn’t I heard talk of some new band of brigands on our last
such brush with humanity?
Airlie had been quick to turn us away from the conversa‐
tion, but I had caught the worried looks and hushed voices. At
the time, it had seemed like the usual anxieties of those who
needed something to complain about. Airlie and I had been
living for two years without our father—a soft target for thieves
—and we had never seen anyone near our house.
But why else would there be smoke on the wind? It was far
too much for a simple camp!re.
My feet slowed of their own volition, proving I did have
some care for danger, after all. Apparently some natural caution
remained. The hoof beats had stopped, replaced by voices, the
lower tones of a man punctuated by the familiar sound of my
sister. I slipped through the remaining trees, creeping up the
gentle slope toward the place where they stood.
I had directed my approach to avoid the majority of the
smoke, but it still stung my eyes, the occasional breeze forcing
me to suppress a cough. If the newcomers had torched the long
abandoned and derelict shack we had been using as a base for
the last two nights, they must surely be brigands. Who else
would possess such a destructive nature?
2

My heart had barely slowed despite the halt in my exertion,
but my sister’s even tones gave no hint of fear. I eased myself
behind the last tree, the ground ahead of me bare of anything
more than waist high bushes.
For the !rst time, I had a clear view of the source of the
smoke.
As I had suspected, it was the shack that was burning. The
structure had already collapsed, the "ames smoldering rather
than leaping high as they might have done with a juicier target.
Smoke still billowed out, however, providing an impressive
backdrop to Airlie.
She stood tall and con!dent, having claimed the high
ground directly in front of the !re. A few steps below her, a man
in a purple cloak faced her, four mounted men behind him.
I frowned at his companions. Three of them were dressed in
the blue and gold livery of royal guards. I had seen royal guards
only once before, during a visit to a distant village, but their
garb was too distinctive to mistake. Not brigands, then. And
hardly likely to have set a crumbling shack on !re.
Had they been drawn here by the smoke? Perhaps they had
driven the brigands away?
If so, Airlie didn’t appear grateful. Rather she looked like a
monarch, barring entry to her domain—no matter how devas‐
tated that domain might be.
I sighed. It wasn’t only my lack of height that denied me
such an authoritative presence. Despite our shared features—
long brown hair, startling blue eyes, a heart shaped face, and a
willowy frame—Airlie and I had never been alike. More like
opposites, in fact.
The two of you possess the seeds of glory and ruin. The voice of
our father sounded as clearly in my head as if I had heard him
issue his favorite pronouncement yesterday instead of two
years earlier. My stomach soured at the memory. It had always
seemed the path of wisdom not to inquire which of us was
3

which. Given the warmth of pride in his eyes whenever they
rested on Airlie, I didn’t think I would like his answer.
More words I couldn’t catch were exchanged between the
men and my sister, and then the one in the cloak pointed at
the burning shack. A waterfall of rain appeared from the clear
blue sky, directly above the fire. It fell in a solid sheet, causing
the flames to sizzle and sputter, even more smoke pouring
forth. A moment later, the water cut off as abruptly as it had
begun.
I bit my lip. An elements mage. And a strong one to produce
so much water without a cloud in the sky. That explained the
attendant and three guards.
“Cadence! Please join us.” Airlie’s raised voice reached me,
her eyes somehow !nding me despite the distance and covering
foliage. How did she always do that?
I didn’t dwell on the irritation, however, spurred on by the
return of my earlier excitement. If Airlie was beckoning me into
the open, that was con!rmation the men weren’t a threat,
despite the burning building.
I jogged across the short distance, avoiding the column of
smoke as best I could, as well as the small huddle of men and
horses. Within moments, I reached my sister’s side.
From this position, I could see the newcomers more clearly.
The four mounted men kept half their attention on their horses
as they stomped and snorted, nostrils wide at the smell of
smoke. Only the !fth man looked entirely unconcerned about
the situation. Despite the height disadvantage from his position
on the ground, he maintained an air of con!dence and
command that put even Airlie to shame. Even without his
earlier display, I would have had no doubt who the leader of the
small band must be.
The cloaked man looked back at me, the slight lift of his
brow suggesting surprise.
“It is really just you and your sister? These are remote and
4

lawless parts for two youngsters on their own.” His eyes shifted
to the burning building behind us.
I snorted softly, drawing his gaze back to me. I braced
myself for anger—or at least irritation—but his gaze held only
a trace of amusement.
Interesting.
Given our usual isolation, I spent our supply runs watching
the people who inhabited the villages as closely as possible.
And while I might not be an expert, it hadn’t taken much expe‐
rience to learn that men who carried themselves with such

assurance rarely appreciated being laughed at by sixteen-year-
old girls.

I hadn’t been able to help my response to his words, though.
He had spoken as if he were a gray beard instead of a young
man only a handful of years older than Airlie.
I examined him more closely, but the answer didn’t lie in
the messy waves of his dark brown hair or the angled lines of
his honey-colored face. His authority was no more a physical
attribute for him than it was for Airlie—it came from within
him, and it clearly carried weight with the four older men who
followed him. The one closest us was eyeing me with all the
distaste his leader lacked, apparently more defensive of his
dignity than the man himself.
“Don’t mind Sutton,” the leader said without turning to
look at the man behind him. “His face falls that way naturally.”
The disapproving lines on Sutton’s face deepened, but he
still didn’t speak.
“I’m Evermund,” the leader continued with a friendly nod.
“This is Cadence,” Airlie replied before I could introduce
myself. “My younger sister.”
I suppressed a surge of irritation. I wasn’t a child, unable to
give my own name, but this was hardly the time for a squabble
between siblings.
A resounding crash behind us made me "inch. Fresh billows
5

of ash and smoke erupted as the sagging remnants of the shack
collapsed. Airlie, on the other hand, held herself steady, the
barest tremor rocking her slim !gure.
As I fought against a "ush of embarrassment, I thought I
detected a hint of admiration in Evermund’s eyes as they dwelt
on Airlie. No surprise there. Young men in the villages we
visited usually did look at Airlie that way.
No one directed such approval in my direction, but at least
Sutton was no longer glaring at me, instead busy keeping his
horse from bolting for the trees. I gave the animal a sympa‐
thetic look. I would have preferred some distance from the
smoldering ruins myself, but Airlie and Evermund were
apparently trapped in a competition to see who could show
themselves less affected by our proximity to a burning
building.
Or perhaps Evermund truly was unbothered by it. A
powerful elements mage had no reason to fear !re.
“You are both remarkably self-possessed young women to
take the loss of your home and all your possessions with such
calm.” Evermund’s words sent my gaze whipping from him
back to my sister.
Although she refrained from meeting my eyes—keeping her
attention on Evermund instead—I could feel a strong emotion
radiating off her in waves. If it wasn’t for our audience, she
would no doubt have been glaring at me, warning me not to
react to the incorrect assumption. I immediately moderated my
response, wiping the surprise from my face.
A curious gleam had already leaped into Evermund’s eyes,
however, and I read the annoyance on Airlie’s face. Not that a
stranger would be able to detect her hidden emotion. Just as the
arm she placed around my shoulders no doubt looked maternal
to an outside eye.
“We would indeed be distraught to have lost all our posses‐
sions,” she said. “But we were just returning from an extended
6

gathering trip and thankfully have our packs with us. Naturally
our most important belongings are carried with us always.”
She gestured at two large packs half concealed behind her
on the ground. I hid my frown, making sure to give them only
the briefest glance despite the fact my pack had been inside the
shack when I left to go berry picking. I didn’t understand what
was going on, but I trusted my sister.
“It wasn’t much of a home anyway.” I gave the smoldering
timbers a glare. “I’m not sorry to see it gone.” Even the !re
could only do so much to conceal the decrepit nature of the
building.
Some of the invisible tension leaked from Airlie’s body, her
arm around me relaxing slightly at this evidence that I intended
to play along with whatever game she was playing.
“I’m glad you weren’t around to encounter whoever lit
that,” Evermund said. “But the fate of your home—an unsatis‐
factory one by your own claim—must stand as evidence to the
unsuitability of this location. Surely you have family elsewhere
who would take you in?”
I shook my head. “Our parents have been dead for years. We
only have each other.”
“So your sister informed me.” His focus was still on Airlie, a
faint crease between his brows as if he couldn’t quite work
her out.
She drew herself up to her full height. “I will be nineteen
this coming winter. I am the proper person to have guardian‐
ship of my sister.”
“Nearly nineteen?” The crease smoothed out of Evermund’s
eyes. “That explains it, then, I suppose. But why don’t I recog‐
nize you from the Mages’ Guild? You must have a strong ability.
Few in your position would risk living in such an isolated loca‐
tion so soon after completing their apprenticeship.”
I opened my mouth to inform him we hadn’t just arrived in
this remote area—we had been alone here since our father’s
7

death. But I thought better of it, snapping my mouth shut
again. Our father had been obsessed with secrecy, always
insisting we rotate our trading visits between as many villages
as possible to ensure we never made real connections with
anyone. He would have been horri!ed to hear me reveal any
information at all to a stranger, let alone that we actually lived
in this border region—an area shunned by most sensible
Tartorans.
“What is your af!nity?” Evermund asked Airlie, his concern
replaced with curiosity. When she didn’t reply, he asked again,
with a touch of impatience. “What type of power do you
wield?”
She still gave him no answer, meeting his look with a hint of
de!ance.
“I don’t owe you anything,” she said, and I caught her eyes
"icking sideways to Sutton for the briefest second.
I hid another frown. What was Airlie playing at now? She
and my father had always insisted we do everything possible to
avoid notice. Why provoke these strangers? There was more to
her response than a reluctance to admit she wasn’t a mage.
Evermund said nothing, but Sutton’s horse responded to a
heel in his side, taking several reluctant steps in our direction.
“Don’t you know who you’re addressing? This is the Royal
Mage, an elements master and direct emissary of the king.” He
transferred his attention to his companion. “Really Evermund,
we have tarried here long enough. The !re shows no danger of
spreading, and no one has been injured. There is no reason to
prolong the delay. Test the girl, if you must, and have done with
the questioning. It is well within your rights.”
Evermund regarded him for a moment before giving the
briefest of shrugs and turning back to us. But in that short
moment, he missed the tightening of Airlie’s muscles and the
sudden squeeze she gave my arm. Whatever she had been
attempting to orchestrate in this encounter, it had been leading
8

to this. For some reason my sister wanted this master mage to
test her.
“Very well, Sutton.” Evermund gave us a measured look. “As
a master mage I am permitted to test anyone I encounter. And
since we have detoured from royal business, I must ascertain
whether or not you are two defenseless and homeless minors in
need of royal sanctuary.”
I kept my mouth buttoned closed. There was no chance we
were going to meekly accompany them to the closest town to be
dumped on some unsuspecting matron, but I knew better than
to overset whatever plan Airlie had underway.
Evermund looked almost apologetic as he continued.
“There are some masters who don’t live at the Guild, so it’s
possible you’ve completed your two years’ apprenticeship
without us crossing paths. And if you are indeed a quali!ed
mage, then I can allow you to go your own way with a clean
conscience. But I must be sure.”
Airlie said nothing, and Evermund sighed. Prompted by
instinct, I slipped out from under her arm. I had no idea what a
Royal Mage was, but if Evermund was a master mage, able to
control the elements, I didn’t want to be caught by whatever
storm Airlie had just provoked.
Far from trying to keep me at her side, Airlie gave me a
subtle push to encourage me away. If Evermund noticed, he
didn’t comment, and neither did he make any gesture or utter
any grandiose words.
But something emerged from him anyway, racing through
the air between him and Airlie to encase her in an invisible
bubble. I couldn’t see anything, but I could feel it, the tiny hairs
on my arms standing on end.
A radiant smile—almost a triumphant grin—transformed
my sister’s face in the second before the air around us shook
and an unnatural thunder rent the air, setting my head ringing.
9

I

Chapter
Two

stumbled and fell, landing painfully on my rear and only
just catching myself with both hands before I fell all the
way back and struck my head. But at least I didn’t have a
mount to deal with.
The horses, driven past forbearance, whinnied loudly, three
of them rearing up to strike at the air with their front hooves.
Two of the guards and Sutton fought to control the animals,
while the remaining guard disappeared into the trees on a
mount that had decided to bolt instead.
Evermund, with his feet on solid ground, fared better.
Although he staggered brie"y, he didn’t lose grip on his horse’s
reins and soon had the animal back under control.
Only Airlie was completely unmoved, as if the bubble
surrounding her had protected her from the unnatural move‐
ment of the air. But even as I thought it, I realized the bubble
had gone. I could feel no trace of it now.
Evermund ignored his four companions, his eyes wide and

lips tight as he stared at Airlie. She had lost some of her self-
assurance, meeting his gaze with a look of penitence. It was as if

—having achieved her aim—she now had the grace to
10

acknowledge her role in whatever piece of subterfuge she had
just engineered.
I scrambled back to my feet, about to demand some
answers, but Sutton beat me to it. Sliding down from his still
quivering horse, he abandoned the reins, his whole body
shaking with anger.
Striding forward, he loomed over Airlie.
“You foolish child! What have you done? Do you think to
entrap the Royal Mage? You will soon discover—”
“Sutton!” Evermund’s commanding tone whipped across
the space between them, pulling the older man up short. “That
is enough.”
Sutton turned back to him, an appalled expression on his
face. “You cannot allow this nobody to get away with such an
appalling trick. You are—”
“Bound by the same laws as everyone else, regardless of my
position.” Evermund had regained his previous calm. “As for a
trick, you are forgetting Hayes.” He turned a questioning eye on
one of the mounted guards.
“Is our new elements mage truly eighteen?”
“Aye, Master Evermund. I would have told you if there was
any untruth.”
I gaped at both of them. The guard was a mage who could
tell truth from lies? What sort of power allowed that?
I scrambled to remember my own words from earlier. My
comments about the shack hadn’t been a lie, even if they had been
misleading. When our father died and Airlie was forced to take over
the hunting, she had insisted I couldn’t be left behind on my own.
We had discovered the derelict shack on our first trip, and she had
laughingly dubbed it our hunting lodge—a home away from home
for the time we spent foraging and hunting. But it smelled foul and
creaked ominously in the slightest wind, and I had always hated it.
I had spoken the truth when I said I wasn’t sorry to see it gone.
11

But the revelation about the guard’s ability wasn’t the only
shocking part of Evermund’s words. He had called Airlie a new
elements mage, and all !ve of the men were now regarding her
with varying levels of shock. But my sister wasn’t a mage of any
kind—not even our father had been.
“Airlie, what’s going on?” I asked, noting with concern that
she looked nervous, although she was hiding it well.
Evermund frowned thoughtfully at my question, looking
between me and Airlie. “You must know how unusual it is for
someone of your age not to have been activated.” He hesitated,
the furrow in his brow deepening. “Or perhaps...” He looked
between us. “Have you had any training—formal or informal—
on the ways of power? Of seeds and activation and in"uence?”
Airlie stiffened but didn’t speak. Was she ashamed to admit
to ignorance? I felt no such compunction. I didn’t bear the
blame for the hole in our education.
“None,” I said. “Our father undertook our education before
his death, and he always refused to speak of such matters, no
matter how many times I asked.”
Airlie’s hand slipped into mine and squeezed approvingly. I
shook my head slightly. I must have misunderstood her reluc‐
tance to respond.
“That explains it then,” Evermund said. “And whatever our
personal feelings on the matter, the law is clear. As the mage
who activated your power, I am now personally responsible for
your training. We will return to the Guild immediately.”
He glanced at the collapsed walls and blackened ashes of
our lodge and then at the sun which had already begun its
descent toward the horizon. “I believe we can manage another
hour or two of travel before we need to make camp.”
“Back to the Guild?” Sutton stared at him. “But what of our
mission? I concede our hands are tied on the matter of the
apprenticeship, but the girl can tag along easily enough. Given
12

how you were trapped into the activation, she cannot expect
you to drop everything and see to her—”
Once again Evermund cut him off. “How many seeds have
you seen activated in your years, Sutton? Have you ever
witnessed anything like what just happened?”
Sutton shifted uncomfortably. “I was there when Master
Drake activated you, Evermund, and still remember how the air
shook. Everyone agreed that nothing like it had been felt since
his own activation.”
“I, too, remember the occasion.” Somehow Evermund
managed to keep the impatience out of his voice, which
suggested he had the forbearance of a saint. “And I spent the
next four years striving to live up to such a promising begin‐
ning. I do not, however, remember thunder nearly splitting all
our eardrums.”
Sutton gaped foolishly at Evermund, whatever disbelief he
was feeling apparently outweighing his natural inclination
toward self-importance.
“What exactly are you saying, Evermund? Are you
suggesting...”
“I’m saying that we will return to the Guild immediately.
Our mission can wait or be assigned to another. This is too
important.”
“The villagers whose homes and lands have been burned
and pillaged might not agree,” Hayes said quietly behind them
both. “Nor the ones carried off by the raiders—if the rumors of
such are true.”
Sutton glared at the guard—apparently he was the only one
allowed to question the Royal Mage—but Evermund showed
no sign of offense.
“If they understood the broader picture, they might. Airlie
must undergo formal testing immediately. If we have discov‐
ered something new, it might prove crucial in protecting the
13

outlying Tartoran villages and ending this raider threat once
and for all.”
Airlie stepped forward, half shielding me with her body. “I
take it you wish me to accompany you to the capital? I’m not
going anywhere without my sister.”
Sutton turned a dull shade of red, bristling with anger. “An
apprentice doesn’t question the orders of a master, let alone her
in"uencing master.”
“Excuse him,” Evermund said with a friendly smile, “he’s
rather old-fashioned. I assure you I am as fallible as anyone and
will not crumble at the least sign of opposition.”
Sutton sputtered, but Evermund ignored him, his tone
turning apologetic. “But in one respect he is right. When I acti‐
vated your seed of power, I bound us together, little though I
intended to do so. You are now of!cially my apprentice and
must remain so for the next two years. As such, the law does
require you to accompany me back to the capital. It is my home,
you see, and I can hardly train you if you remain out here in the
borderlands.”
“I am more than willing to take up residence in the capital,”
Airlie said with a stubborn tilt of her chin that I knew all too
well. “But I will not go without my sister.” An edge of entreaty
entered her voice. “She is only sixteen and has no one but me.
Surely you see that I cannot abandon her out here alone.”
Evermund ran a hand over his chin, surveying me with a
calculating air. I tried to look as small and helpless as possible. I
was going to the capital if I had to trail behind them the whole
way there. I knew enough of tracking to manage it, but I would
much prefer to travel as one of their party—especially since it
appeared the talk of brigands in the area had been true. I shiv‐
ered, and apparently my fear tipped the matter in my favor.
“Very well,” he said. “You said your birthday is in the
winter, and you will be nineteen. Since you will be of age in a
matter of months, we can stretch the matter and claim your
14

sister as your dependent. As such, she is entitled to your care
and protection even above any responsibility you owe to me.”
Airlie’s tension melted away, and she gave him a true smile.
He blinked once, a strange expression traveling across his face
before it was quickly suppressed. I gave a small sigh. No one
had ever been forced to hide their reaction to my blinding
beauty.
I shook my head. I had no reason to complain about my
sister’s many talents. Apparently they were great enough that
she had won us both a position in the capital—the very place
to which we had spent the last two months planning to
move.
“Is it really true?” I murmured. “After all our plans—and
your insistence that we not go until we were fully ready and
provisioned—are we just leaving everything and walking
away?”
“Not everything,” Airlie said. “We have our packs.”
I shot her an unimpressed look, but something in her words

gave me pause. No one had ever disturbed us in our snug, well-
built cabin a full day’s travel away. We had never seen any

evidence that anyone had even come upon it, tucked out of
sight in a remote valley. And yet every time we left, Airlie
insisted we take our most treasured possessions with us,
despite the slower pace our heavy packs required. How many
times had I grumbled that we were not snails to need to carry
our home upon our backs?
Had Airlie always been prepared for such an eventuality as
this? It seemed impossible when she had spent two years
insisting that we not leave our home to join one of the neigh‐
boring villages as I had wished.
Two months ago, when she suddenly announced we needed
to start careful preparations for a move to the capital, it had
seemed like a complete about face. Now I wasn’t so sure. Had
Airlie always been open to the possibility that every time we left
15

our home we might never return? Had she been planning our
eventual departure—one way or another?
I watched her out of the corner of my eye as she slung her
pack on her back and brought mine over toward me. Whatever
excess of emotion had overtaken her in the immediate after‐
math of her activation—whatever activation even was—she
was now back to her usual air of calm con!dence.
Although a certain buzz of excitement underlaid her
manner. Was it possible my staid, responsible sister—always
preaching caution and the need for concealment—wanted to go
to the capital as much as I did? If that was true, why had she
drawn out our plans for the move to such an extent? I had been
sure she was lingering at home, unwilling to actually leave.
Some days I had doubted it would ever really happen.
I accepted my pack, noticing for the !rst time that some‐
thing was missing from its usual place strapped to the top of
hers.
“Wait! Where’s—”
“Shush!” she hissed at me, and I instantly fell silent.
But despite her efforts at subtlety, Evermund hadn’t failed
to note the exchange, watching us with an unreadable expres‐
sion. He didn’t comment, however, merely directing the guards
to take our packs and secure them on the back of Hayes’ and
Sutton’s horses. As soon as that was accomplished, he directed
the remaining two guards to take us up in front of them. Appar‐
ently he was the only one to remain unencumbered by our
unexpected presence.
Not that he held himself aloof from either of us. He
was the one to lift first Airlie and then me up to the
guards waiting to receive us. I tried to remain unflappable
during the proceeding, desperate not to show my inexperi‐
ence. We had learned to ride on Father’s old mare, but she
had passed away two years before he did, so it was a long
time since I had been in such close proximity to a horse.
16

And I had never been in such close proximity to a strange
man.
I held my breath as his arms encircled me, knowing he
needed to position himself that way in order to hold the reins.
When his movements and attitude remained detached and
impersonal, I soon relaxed. The furor in my mind left little room
for me to obsess over my physical situation.
The day had started as so many before it had done, and now
suddenly my whole world was upended. How many times had I
pleaded with !rst Father and then Airlie that we should leave
our isolated home and travel to a nearby town? After Father’s
early responses, I hadn’t dared suggest the capital, but a small
village hadn’t seemed so ridiculous a proposition. He had
always remained adamant, however—claiming we were safer
in our home. And Airlie had held the same line for two years—
only she claimed we had to respect our father’s wishes.
I had been over the moon when she !rst announced our
intended relocation to Tarona. I had always dreamed of seeing
Tartora’s capital. But when the weeks passed by and we spent
our time gathering a ridiculous pile of supplies we would never
be able to carry, the excitement had ebbed, swallowed by the
belief we would never actually leave. But now, apparently, the
unexpected arrival of Evermund and his group had propelled
her to action. I just wished I knew why.
Not that I intended to repine. Whatever the cause, for the
!rst time, we were leaving our home behind with no intention
of returning.
Should I feel sad? Or melancholy, perhaps, to be leaving
behind our parents’ graves? I couldn’t muster the emotion.
Father had loved us—I didn’t doubt that—but he hadn’t been
one to encourage sentimentality.
The memory of Airlie’s desperate declaration that she
wouldn’t go without me sparked a bloom of warmth in my
belly. For all my frustrations with my sister, I loved her with a
17

!erceness my father had never managed to evoke. From my
earliest memories we had turned to each other for the affection
that he seemed to !nd so hard to display. She was not just the
only family I had, she was also the only home that mattered.
There was nothing to tie me to what we left behind.
The mage’s words about destroyed villages made me scan
our surroundings with heightened awareness. Given my late
arrival on the scene, and the subsequent pace of events, I still
had no idea how our temporary protection had ended up burn‐
ing. Were we in imminent danger of crossing paths with
brigands?
A scuffed section of ground caught my eye, a familiar object
clearly visible, although it had been abandoned half under a
bush. I nearly called out for us to stop but a moment later
thought better of it. Craning my head around, I tried to keep the
spot in sight as it disappeared behind us.
A muttered complaint from the guard behind me—a man
whose name I had yet to catch—made me straighten again. As
soon as I looked forward, I encountered Airlie’s glare.
I returned it without hesitation. I didn’t need her warning. I
hadn’t said anything, had I? I might not have my sister’s trick of
commanding a room, but I had always kept up in our studies,
despite the age difference between us. I didn’t need further
reminders not to go blabbing our business to these unknown
mages.
And what right did she have to glare at me, anyway? I
wasn’t the one behaving strangely and keeping secrets. I was
the same old Cadence I had always been—the one with such
terrible aim that our father had never bothered to craft me a
bow of my own. The one who had to gather berries while Airlie
hunted.
Maybe it was petty of me, but I had always suspected my
ineptitude fueled my sister’s great pride in her archery skill—
and in the adult sized bow Father had gifted her at the age of
18

fourteen. She loved that weapon, so why had it been aban‐
doned beneath a bush? And why had she shushed me when I
noticed it was missing?
Positioned downwind, she would have seen the smoke long
before I did. But she would hardly have abandoned her weapon
in such a situation—quite the opposite. Panicked on my behalf,
she would have clung to it all the more tightly.
I mentally reviewed the scene I had just glimpsed from the
back of the horse. Already we were well past the abandoned
bow, joining a little used road that led away from our distant
home and toward the nearest town. But I could still picture the
scuffed ground easily enough. And now that I was paying atten‐
tion, I realized that the bow and quiver of arrows hadn’t been
the only abandoned items. I pushed my mind, questioning my
memory, but the image was clear. The small leather pouch my
sister always kept attached to the quiver had been there—but
lying several feet away, its contents scattered across the ground.
Almost as if it had been used...
I jerked back hard enough to hit the man behind me,
provoking another protest. I murmured an apology, having
been so caught up in my memory I had forgotten his presence.
But even now, my racing thoughts barely slowed enough to
acknowledge him. That pouch had been our father’s !nal gift to
Airlie, one she wore with determination and pride. It was one of
the tools she always swore would keep us safe.
Thoughts of brigands melted away as I considered the
evidence before me. Airlie had been at the shack when the men
arrived, although she should have still been out hunting. I had
assumed the smoke brought her, just as it brought them. But
now I knew Airlie had opened the pouch where she kept the
items needed to transform her arrows into "aming projectiles.
And then she had abandoned the evidence among the trees.
There was only one conclusion. I stared at my sister’s back.
Why had Airlie burned our makeshift home? Had she heard
19

Evermund and his men before I did? Had she lured them to us
on purpose? If so, it wasn’t the work of a single impulsive
moment.
My earlier musings took on new weight. Despite her words
to me about staying in our home, Airlie truly had been living in
a constant state of readiness for us to leave—readiness to take
some action I still didn’t understand.
Everything I thought I knew about our life shifted, tilting
and sliding beyond recognition. Our father had always been a
secretive man, but I had thought Airlie and I open with each
other. Now, for the !rst time, I wondered what other secrets my
sister might be hiding. ...