Page 7 of The Iron Flower

“If Verpacia falls to the Gardnerians,” she says, “Lukas Grey gains jurisdiction over the borders here. We need you to find out where his loyalties lie...and whether he could be convinced to make a break with the Gardnerians.”

My eyes widen in astonishment. “Do you really think there’s a chance of that?”

“Yes,” she says, a conspiratorial gleam in her eyes.

An unsettling thought occurs to me, one I’m at first hesitant to share. “I have a strange compulsion to be honest with Lukas,” I admit finally. “I can’t explain why, but the feeling is...sometimes overwhelming. You should know that.”

Lucretia ponders this. “You both must have strong earth affinity lines,” she muses.

“I don’t have strong anything,” I bitterly counter. “I’m a Level One Mage.”

She shakes her head at this. “Just because you can’t access your power doesn’t mean your affinity lines are weak. Your wand level is just a measurement of your ability to use your magic. That never changes. But the depth of power in your affinity lines—that can strengthen over time.”

I’ve often wondered about my Mage affinities, the lines of elemental magic that course through every Gardnerian and begin to quicken as we come of age. Every Mage possesses a different balance of earth, water, air, fire and light lines—lines that I’m starting to have a vague sense of, ever since I started wearing the Snow Oak pendant. I clasp it now, a disquieting flush coursing through me.

“Can you feel your affinity lines?” I ask tentatively. I know Lucretia’s a Level Four Water Mage, but being a woman, there are no silver lines marking her Gardnerian silks.

“All the time,” she says. “Sometimes it’s like an ocean of power rushing through me. Sometimes it feels like small streams of water rippling over the lines. I don’t have much of a sense of my other affinities, though.” She furrows her brow in question. “Do you have a strong pull toward earth?”

I nod. “I crave the feel of wood. And...if I touch it, I can tell what its source tree looked like.”

I remember the image of the dark tree that shuddered through me when I kissed Lukas. “When I’m with Lukas, I can sense that he has a strong earth line, as well,” I confess. “And...it seems to rouse mine.”

“What do you know of our true lineage as Gardnerians?” Lucretia asks me carefully.

“Professor Kristian told me Gardnerians are of mixed ancestry,” I brazenly answer. “We’re not ‘pure-blooded’ at all, regardless of what our priests tell us. We’re part-Dryad, part-Kelt.”

She nods her head in assent, her lip twitching up in response to my enthusiastic blasphemy. “Like the Greys, your family comes from a particularly strong Dryad line. The telltale sign of that is a strong earth affinity. And powerful Dryads can’t lie to each other.”

“Well, that presents a significant problem, don’t you think?”

Lucretia grows thoughtful. “Perhaps you can focus on what you find appealing about Lukas Grey. That could offset this compulsion and draw him in.”

The unspoken suggestion is clear, and I flush as I remember Lukas’s seductive kisses, the intoxicating draw of his magic flashing through me. I’m instantly cast into shamed conflict.How can I set out to draw Lukas in when I have such strong feelings for Yvan?

But you can’t have Yvan, I harshly remind myself, the image of Yvan embracing Iris painfully fresh in my mind.So, stay close to Lukas. For the protection of everyone.

“All right,” I tell her, fingering the Snow Oak pendant, a branching rush of heat pulsing through me. “I’ll maintain my connection to Lukas Grey.”

MAGE COUNCIL

RULING

#156

The Iron Test must be applied to anyone crossing the border in or out of the Blessed Magedom of Gardneria.

CHAPTER TWO

REUNION

The sharp glare of sunlight off the thin coating of snow makes my eyes smart.

I peer down the Verpax City street, past the clamoring horse and pedestrian traffic, toward the miller’s warehouse and beyond, my breath misting the air. The long edge of the snowcapped Southern Spine pierces the clouds like a jagged blade.

A sense of fatalistic resignation washes over me. The political situation is so bleak, but amid it all, the heart-stoppingly beautiful Spine still rises up. It’s so magnificent, it almost hurts to look at it.

I set my heavy box of medicinal vials in the crunchy snow and lean back against a tree, surveying the line of glistening white peaks. Calmed by the solidity of the tree behind me, I pull in a deep breath and rest a hand on the rough, bumpy bark, a summertime image of the glossy-leafed Lacebark Elm suffusing my mind. With my other hand, I unconsciously reach up to grasp the Snow Oak pendant.

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