Page 161 of The Shadow Wand

Caledonian Forest, Gardneria

Valasca and I stare at each other, both of us washed in the portal’s flickering sapphire light, the only sound the insects chirring. Tiny lights flash in the cool night air as fireflies zip around and wink their beckoning glow.

“So,” Valasca says from where she leans against one of the clearing’s boulders, her stance casual, but her gaze weighted with steel. “You’re the Black Witch.”

I nod, holding her hardened look. “Are you tempted to kill me?”

Valasca spits out a laugh that doesn’t reach her eyes. “No.”

“Is it because I have this?” I reach down and pull the Wand from the side of my boot, peel away the top of its cloth wrapping, and hold it up. It has a subtle glow, often seeming like there’s an ethereal light trapped inside it. Like someone has encased starlight in the very center of a wand.

So beautiful and mysterious. Yet so powerless in the scheme of things, I mournfully consider.

Powerless compared to Vogel’s Shadow Wand.

Valasca studies the Wand reverentially for a moment. Her brow creases as she shakes her head. “I know you’re not with the Gardnerians, Elloren.”

My tone takes on a bitter cast. “So, you believe in the Wand but you don’t believe in the Prophecy?”

Valasca inhales and regards me squarely. “I think the Prophecy comes from the trees.” She glances at the night-blackened forest before setting her dark eyes back on mine. “And from what you’ve told us, it seems the trees are not inclined in your favor.”

“That’s an understatement.”

“All the divination tools the Seers use, Elloren...they all come from the trees. Your priests cast sticks etched with sacred symbols. The Noi scry from Black Ginkgo leaves. The Ishkartan cast wooden lots. I could go on and on.” She straightens and walks to me. “But the point is, it’s allwood. It’s all from the trees. So the trees must know about your power and fear you for it. Because of what your grandmother did and what the Gardnerians are currently doing to large swaths of the wilds.” She nods as if in agreement with herself and shoots me a smug look, as if she’s pleased with herself for figuring this all out. “I think the various takes on the Prophecy are based in truth, but I think they’re biased.”

“Are you saying,” I ask her, stunned, “that you think all these Prophecies are...prejudiced against me?”

“That’sexactlywhat I think.”

I blink at her, my mind cast into turmoil over the ramifications of that possibility. Different versions of the same, flawed Prophecy being upheld by practically every religion in both Realms.

“So, what do we do now?” I ask, deeply thrown. “With both Realms and the wilds set against me.”

Valasca flashes a rebellious grin. “We subvert the Prophecy. We get the Black Witch out of the Western Realm, and then we prove the trees and everyone else wrong.”

I think about the killing sea of fire that I can conjure. Ni Vin’s dead horse. The vision of the field of battle, countless people dead on it. “They might not be wrong,” I caution. “My power...it’s horrible, Valasca.”

She steps closer, her jawline firming. “And we’re going to need every bit of that horrible, awful, terrible power to crush Vogel.”

I shake my head emphatically. “You don’t understand. My power is worse than my grandmother’s. And the trees...” I glance at the night-darkened wilds. “They know it. So they’re actively fighting against it. I think that’s why they’re trying to bind my magic in some way.”

“So, we bring you somewhere far away from them.”

Back to the desert.

I rewrap the cloth around my Wand and slide it into my tunic’s pocket. When I meet Valasca’s gaze once more, she’s studying me with a probing look.

“I noticed your fastmarks have changed,” she says with some wariness. “You and Lukas...you’re lovers now?”

I nod, heat prickling along my neck in response to this admission.

“I’m assuming your Sealing was a mutual decision, based on how you’re acting around each other?”

I take a deep breath. “It was. I’ve grown to really care for him in a short amount of time. And you should know that he hasn’t been aligned with the Gardnerians for a while. I learned that he saved me from being fasted to Damion Bane.”

Valasca’s face tightens with shock.

“You know what Damion’s like, then?” I say.

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