Page 23 of Anchor

Wrong, wrong, wrong!

My eyes closed on instinct. I knew I was going to die, and maybe I’d spent all my will to fight while in the Roe, or maybe I knew for a fact that there was no winning here because I wasn’t searching for alternatives. I wasn’t regretful that I didn’t have weapons on me.

All I cared about was that I was going to die without seeing Taland, without making sure that he was okay.

Then my magic sprung to life.

It slipped out of my skin, and it waspainful. It took so much out of me, so suddenly, like that sword of the Whitefire woman had cut right through me.

I screamed, and the sound of it surprised me, too. I screamed because of the sharp pain and my eyes opened and I saw the ball of light burning in the middle of my palm, while red flames danced around it.

Redflames, not orange like mymagic.

Red flames that were fading away by the second together with the pain, while the light I’d called forth with that spell remained, bright. Brighter than any light I’d ever made before. More powerful.

My magic is not my magic anymore.

Tears in my eyes. I looked up at the Whitefire woman, sure she’d be coming to kill me now because that magic was not my magic. It was different, all right—so different. And even though it recognized my ring as my anchor, and even though the spell brought forth light just like it was supposed to, those flames were notmy magic.

And the Council members had seen it. They had all seen it with their own eyes, and most of them—Mud and Greenfire andBlackfire—had stood up, too, to see better. Their eyes were on my hand, my light.

There was no denying it at this point. Now, I died.

Except…

The Whitefire woman hadn’t moved yet. Her sword was still resting against her leg, the tip of it touching the marble of the floor. She hadn’t raised it.

“That’s enough.”

The words fell from her lips, but it took a good couple of seconds for them to make sense to me.

That’s enough, she said instead of killing me. Justthat’s enough.

I closed my fist and took my magic back, the magic that wasn’t mine at all. That’s what it felt like—someone else’s magic. Different and heavy and way too intense, and when I pulled it under my skin, it hurt again. It hurt like I was being burned by actual fire for a second, and then it was gone.

This time, though, I was prepared for it, so I didn’t scream. This time, I just raised my chin and held the woman’s blue eyes and I waited for her to move.

“It worked.”

This from the Mud councilman, who was already moving around his table, and he didn’tfloatoff the platform like his colleague. He just jumped onto the marble floor and came closer, looking at me with a dumbfounded smile on his face.

“It worked.”

It didn’t,I wanted to say.My magic is not red; it’s orange. It didn’t work.

Why is my magic red—why?!

I bit my tongue until the taste of my blood filled my mouth.

“It did, apparently,” said the Whitefire with a sigh, and she moved her hands to her back again, just like before. When she stepped closer to me, her sword was gone.

The sword that was going to cut my head off was gone.

“Congratulations, I suppose. Your magic has been restored to its previous state,” she told me, and the rest of the council members nodded.

“It is powerful, too,” the Redfire said, and now she didn’t look at me like she hated me. No—she looked at me like she wasimpressed.“Well done, girl.”

Was she serious?

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