Page 221 of The Iron Flower

Commander Vin’s face tenses. “No, I did not. I’m sorry.”

“All the others,” I press, caught up in a sudden clutch of anguish.Ariel. All the refugees now trapped in the Western Realm.“I could have done something.”

Her mouth becomes one tight line. “I could not be sure of your intentions or of your character. Only the White Wand gave me pause...”

“Pause in what?”

She eyes me with stark focus. “Pause in cutting you down.”

My thoughts cyclone, her words hanging in the air with terrible resonance.

“Once your power quickened,” Commander Vin says, “you needed to prove yourself by coming tous. And I needed to watch you for a time—to see what direction you chose. You are a dangerousweapon, Elloren Gardner. And every seer of every land has scried the same Prophecy.”

“Of the Black Witch and the Icaral she’s supposed to defeat,” I offer up stiffly.

“Yes,” Lucretia says with a slight nod. “Possibly you. And Sage Gaffney’s child—the only male Icaral in the Western Realm with intact wings.”

I turn to Yvan with a meaningful look. His eyes flash to mine, flaming gold at the edges. He reaches up and starts unbuttoning his shirt.

Commander Vin cocks her head to one side as everyone in the room eyes Yvan with confusion. He shrugs off his shirt and lets it drop to the floor. Then he leans his head down and closes his eyes.

His hair brightens to flame red, like fire catching on a candle’s wick, his ears forming Fae points, his black wings coming to life and unfurling.

Shocked gasps echo throughout the circular room as Commander Vin’s eyes widen.

Yvan takes my hand firmly in his as his wings fan out and flap once, a defiant look flashing across his face as we hold on tight to each other.

“Well, now,” Commander Vin says, quickly regaining her rock-solid composure. She slowly walks around us, her eyes riveted on Yvan’s wings. “This is a particularlyinteresting turn of events. The two points of the Great Prophecy are allies. Lovers, by the look of things.” She pauses in front of Yvan. “What do you know of your powers, Yvan Guriel?”

“Very little.” Yvan describes what he can do, the faces of everyone surrounding us becoming impressed and heartened. But I notice another undercurrent at work here, the sorceresses’ eyes narrowing with apprehension as they glance toward me.

And fear.

Commander Vin shakes her head incredulously. “The two most powerful beings on Erthia, ignorant of how to harness or use their full powers. Incredible.”

Her eyes flick over to the other sorceresses, then back to me. “Are you ready to fight both the Gardnerians and the Alfsigr, Elloren Gardner?”

“Yes,” I say adamantly, unease spiking as I note the dubious looks on so many faces, and the fact that she leveled this questiononlyat me. “We’rebothready to fight the Gardnerians and the Alfsigr.”

“In that case,” Commander Vin says, “it is high time you were both well trained. Elloren Gardner, you will come with me and a portion of my guard.” She looks at Yvan. “Yvan Guriel, you will travel east with our Kin Hoang division.”

Panic rears inside me, and my eyes fly to Yvan’s, our hands tightening protectively around each other’s.

“We’re staying together,” Yvan stolidly insists, rebellion firing in his eyes.

“You cannot,” Commander Vin counters. “You must see that. We have to separate you.”

I glance around, feeling suddenly cornered as I realize what they’re trying to do.

They want to make it harder for the Gardnerians to kill us both. But they also want to protect Yvan, the blessed point of the Prophecy, from me.

In case I turn into the Black Witch of their nightmares.

I inwardly rail against Commander Vin’s cold, unflinching logic, even as I grapple with the fact that, in part, she’s probably right.

“I won’t leave you,” Yvan protests, his eyes burning gold.

You need to. For your own safety.“Yvan, this is bigger than us.”

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