Page 23 of Forged in Flame and Shadow

The healer arrives, but they’re fae rather than dryad, and I can tell Leon is disappointed when all they can offer me is a balm and bandages for my cuts.

“All this magic and you’d think they could get someone with actual viatic power,” he growls as he sends the healer away with their tail between their legs. “These mages—they think they know better than everyone sometimes.”

He untwists the jar the healer brought and dips his finger into the balm. Then gently—more gently than I’ve ever seen him do anything—he runs it across a cut on my neck.

I inhale at his touch, intensely aware of his skin against mine.

“Sorry, did that sting?” he asks.

“Just let me do it,” I say, taking the jar from him. “In fact, I can go back to my room now. And if it’ll keep you from throwing a fit, you can check it for intruders first, then personally stand guard outside the door, if that will satisfy you.”

“It will,” he says, then pauses. “But there’s something I have to tell you first.”

My stomach clenches. Leon always has something to ambush me with—some new revelation or piece of news I’m not going to like. It’s no wonder my first reaction to his words is nerves.

“If it’s going to piss me off, I’d rather wait,” I say. “I’ve been knocked around enough for one day.”

“It’s about why you’re here.”

I stare at him. For days now, I’ve suspected there’s something else going on, but looking for answers on my own nearly got me killed. Now Leon’s just going to come out and tell me? I want to laugh at the ridiculousness of it.

“Funny, because I seem to remember you telling me I was here so I could get better at protecting myself,” I say, setting the jar of balm down loudly on the bedside cabinet. “Something about it being for my own good?”

He searches my face as if trying to judge how much danger he’s in. Good, let him be worried.

“That’s true, An—” He stops himself with a cough. I know he was going to use the name I forbade him from ever calling me again, and he stopped himself just in time. But it reveals that he’s still using it in his head. I guess it’s silly for it to annoy me so much, but it does. I don’t even get control over my own name.

“It’s true, Morgana,” he tries again. “Idowant you to get better at protecting yourself. But you’ve probably realized there are other reasons why we’re here.”

I want to yell at him for holding this back from me. I want to demand to know why I only “deserve” to know this answer now. But even more than that, I want to know the answer, so I bite my tongue and listen.

“Perhaps I should have found a way to tell you earlier, but frankly I didn’t know if it would make a difference. You were so set on going to find your friend, and I…had my own obstacles.”

I manage to stay silent, not wanting to kill this moment of honesty before it has really begun.

“I’ll need to start two years ago for you to really understand,” he says, rising to pace across the room. “That was when we had a rare celestial event in Filusia. A starfall—you’ve heard of them?”

I nod, though such events are rare and I’ve only ever read about them: hundreds of stars all crossing the sky at once.

“This time, a piece of celestial stone actually fell to earth.”

I gape at him. “A star fell in Filusia? Like in the old stories about Agathyre?”

The Miravow is the result of a huge starfall thousands of years ago. The fallen stars that landed there were the seed that gave root to the vast enchanted forest which protects the dryad nation. They even named their capital after it.

“Yes, at least part of a star. At first, we believed the nation had been blessed.”

His face darkens at the memory. “However, it turns out that not all gifts from the gods are so benign.” He turns away from me, looking out the window. “My grandfather wanted to make sure the star stone was protected, so he sent my brother Fairon to the fall site. Fairon’s sensic power is distraction. He can repel people from a place using his magic, so he was the perfect choice to make sure the stone was claimed first and foremost by the royal family.”

I can already hear it, the pain in his voice when he mentions his brother. My hands tighten in the sheets beneath me, bracing for what comes next.

“It turned out that the stone was very powerful—and very dangerous. The celestial magic that infected it wasn’t like any we’d seen before. It was dark and all-consuming. It struck Fairon down with an illness we haven’t been able to cure.”

I swallow. “Is he…?”

“He’s still alive, but only just. My grandfather destroyed the stone, and we’ve placed Fairon in a sanctuary protected by old, powerful magic linked to the royal bloodline. Staying there has kept him grasping onto life. But this infection is still slowly smothering the spark of life inside him, and I fear it won’t be long before it’s snuffed out entirely.”

He turns to meet my gaze as understanding dawns on me.

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