Page 120 of The Iron Flower

“Why are you purple?” I blurt out.

“I’m a Light Mage, Elloren,” she says, growing serious. “A Level Four Light Mage. My light affinity lines are strongly oriented toward purple, so when I started casting light spells...” Sage looks down at her violet hands and shrugs. “The color stuck.”

My lip twitches up. “So now you’re a purple Gardnerian?”

She stiffens slightly at the word and draws up taller. “I’m a purple Light Mage.”

“And...this is your baby?” I nod at her stunningly unique child.

Sage’s mouth lifts into a smile filled with pride. “Yes. This is Fyn’ir.”

So, this is him. This sweet, purple, winged babe. The hunted Icaral of Prophecy.

“Stop where you are!”

I turn at the sound of Ni Vin’s sharp voice just as she, Diana and Valasca burst into the clearing. Valasca and Ni Vin come to a sudden halt just before the rune-barrier, their eyes immediately lighting on the translucent Watcher hovering over Sage’s door and the glowing white wand in my hand. Beside them, Diana immediately relaxes her stance as she calmly surveys the entire scene.

Suddenly, it all clicks into place in my mind—exactly what the Amaz and Vu Trin are so afraid of.

You will strike her down if she seeks to harm what is ours.

Incredulous anger wells up inside of me.

“You didn’t seriously think I would harm her baby?” I ask Valasca and Ni Vin, feeling stunned and more than a little bit outraged. “That’s why they attacked me, isn’t it? They think I’m the Black Witch, here to fulfill the Prophecy.”

“You have a weapon,” Ni Vin weakly points out, her eyes riveted on the Watcher with reverential awe.

I look down at the glowing wand in my hand. The White Wand.

The White Wand.

Holy Ancient One.

I hold the Wand out to Sage and immediately feel the lack of it as she somberly takes it from me. I shoot Ni Vin a look of challenge. “There. Now she has two wands.Anda rune-dagger. I’m completely unarmed.”

“Leave us,” Sage tells all three of them, her gaze set tight on me.

“We are charged to protect the Icaral,” Ni Vin insists, her voice tinged with confusion, as if her world has been suddenly turned on its head.

Sage’s expression hardens as she sets suddenly fierce eyes on Ni Vin. “He’smychild, and I asked you to leave us. We are both bearers of the Wand, and I wish to speak to Elloren.Alone.”

I stare at Sage in wonderment—what happened to my timid, obedient neighbor?

Valasca gently sets a hand on Ni Vin’s arm. “Do you see it, Ni?” Her eyes flick up toward the Watcher.

“I see it,” Ni Vin admits shakily. “No one else will believe it, but I see it.”

Valasca says something to her, too softly for me to hear, and Ni Vin nods. Valasca looks back at Sage and me. “Go,” she says respectfully. “Speak with each other.” She glances at the Watcher one last time, then both she and Ni Vin walk back into the forest.

Diana flashes me a wide, gleaming smile and follows them into the darkness of the trees.

I turn to Sage, feeling like I’ve landed in a dream as she quietly returns the Wand to me. I take it from her and slide it back into my boot, heartened by her trust.

My gaze drifts to her little boy. “Fyn’ir? That’s not a Gardnerian or Keltic name.”

“Fyn’ir’s father is Smaragdalfar.” There’s a note of bold challenge in her tone.

Smaragdalfar? Her baby’s father is a subland Elf?“But, I was told—”

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