Page 44 of The Queen of Ash and Magic

I do as he says, and I feel slightly more pressure as he cuts into the side of my neck. My eyes fly open, and I start to panic. He lays his hand on my forehead, and Mom is beside me now.

“She’s not healing. Stop it now,” Drake demands. Salvor ignores him and keeps focused on me.

“Help her, Salvor,” Eyrx shouts at him.

“She’s okay,” Mom says softly.

I start to feel the prickles and I relax. My breathing evens out and the feeling of my blood escaping stops. “That felt weird,” I say. “No pain. Just pressure.”

“You are a bit slower with healing fatal wounds, but it reduces the severity right away,” he says.

“So, avoid the severe physical attacks?” I ask.

“Yes. You’ll heal but you probably cannot take multiple fatal wounds in a row,” he says as he helps me stand. He goes to say something else, but I snap my head in the direction of the wide-open and pitch-black dark field that leads to the Thalorin wall.

“What?” Drake asks.

“Someone is coming,” I say.

“Are you…”

“Someone is coming,” I repeat. I can sense their presence getting closer. I can sense everyone around us, but there’s someone new.

Mom and I cast a spell to send beams of light from our hand so when we raise it, we can see a small group walking toward us. Everyone is instantly on high alert as they stage to protect the wall. Julianna moves back and disappears while I stay between Drake and Eyrx. Mom and Dad are also with us. We have two shifted soldiers with us and the group comes into view so we can shut the lights off. I stay shifted because I feel safer this way.

“We mean peace,” a woman calls out. “We won’t attack.”

“Name,” Drake demands.

“Iliam Jakar,” she says. “I was voted as the representative to come and speak with the king and queen.” When she gets to us, she and the two others go to their knees to bow.

“You can stand,” I say simply. When they do, I step close and shake her hand. I instantly trust her but I don’t know why.

“What is it?” Eyrx asks.

“She’s trustworthy,” I say. “I can sense that she wants peace.”

“What do you want?” Drake asks.

“The citizens of Thalorin are deeply appreciative of the offer for Vulkara to take us in. We have come together since the royal family has disappeared. We voted to send all of the elderly and children to safety, with the rest of us choosing to stay.”

“Why?” Drake asks.

“To put it simply, we want justice,” she says. “For hundreds of years, we have been kept in absolute poverty while the royal family has invested all of their time and resources into making themselves more powerful in an attempt to not be dependent on the citizens to produce and provide for them. The laws are made to allow anyone to be punished for any reason, up to and including death. We are tired of watching innocent people die at the hands of the military and starvation. We are kept in a state where our powers are weak due to malnutrition, so we have no way to fight back. The papers that were dumped in our streets made us realize that we should be fighting until the very end. If we die, at least we will be fighting for a better life. The cruelty that Queen Lysa and her biological mother endured at the hands of the royal family should be punishable by death.”

“What is your plan?” I ask.

“We rise against the royal family and help capture them,” she says.

“What resources do you need?” Drake asks bluntly.

“Nothing,” she says. “Opening your country to provide us with a safe place is resource enough. We will handle our farming.”

“No,” Drake says. “What do you need.”

“We… have nothing, Your Highness,” she says quietly. “Over the course of the day, we have lost our crops, and the livestock is starting to die off. Everyone is afraid to drink the water in fear of it being tainted.”

“Lysa?” Drake asks me, wanting my opinion.

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