Page 40 of The Dark Mage
She took a few bites and swallowed against her constricted throat before asking, “Forwhat?”
“I heard a story from a farmer about two weeks ago.”Fael’s eyes lingered on her as she ate, his expression solemn.The same gaze he’d worn during meals for the past week—he hadn’t let her skip eating, even when her appetite had vanished.“He told me about this blackened house.”
His voice softened as he gestured to the farmhouse’s charred remains.“There was once a family who loved each other very much—a farmer, his devoted wife, and their three sons.The middle son dreamed of following in his father’s footsteps, farming the land to feed a family and sell corn and wheat in Delmor.The youngest son dreamed of adventure, perhaps enlisting in the governor’s army in Ishvaen.But the oldest...”
Fael’s voice faltered, and his expression grew grim as he stared over the blackened carcass of the farmhouse.
“The oldest son dreamed of magic.He was a druid, and he loved water.He called the rain, helped his neighbors find new wells, and felt the movement of water under the earth.”
His tone was thoughtful, hushed, like the calm before a storm.
“But though he was always careful, a traveler saw him call a rainstorm.The stranger knew he could profit by selling out the young man to the imperials.I’m sure he made a fine amount.”
Ren’wyn’s curiosity rose, accompanied by a sense of foreboding.What was Fael leading to?
“A regiment came the next day to arrest the young man.He was eighteen.His father and mother refused to produce him—they had sent him into the woods to hide when they heard the imperials were nearby.
“When the family said no, the guards cut down the father to prove their intent, but the other three held their ground.The imperials knew the boy was lost to them without his family’s betrayal, so they locked them in their house and set it onfire.
“The druid ran from where he was watching in the tree line.He ran to bring the rain onto the burning house, his family screaming inside.He ran and didn’t look—and the captain of the guard shot him through the heart with an arrow, waiting until he reached the house.”
Fael’s voice cracked.He took a few slow breaths, curling his fingers into his linen pants.Ren’wyn watched anguish write itself on hisface.
“I hope they didn’t see him die,” Fael whispered.“I hope they believed he was free andsafe.”
Silence fell as Ren’wyn processed the terrible story.She couldn’t stop crying, the gut-wrenching loss and destruction breaking something inside her.Once the tears began, they became a flood.
Fael pulled her roughly into his arms, his own tears hot against herneck.
“Come back, Ren’wyn,” Fael pleaded after they had composed themselves.Crickets hummed in the tall grass, and bees buzzed in the wildflowers growing around the broken, blackened cottage.
“Comeback.”
Loss, fear, and sadness rent her apart—and over it all, she was so, so tired.Fatigue threatened to swallow her whole, pulling her into a black pit withoutend.
“Come back,” he whispered again.
Then, his chest pressed against her as he inhaled sharply.
Her magic had awoken.
Death reached up from the ground, curling over their feet and legs like fog.Darkness spread from the bones of the house, misery and pain seeping like blood from an open wound.
A brutal wind blew ice flakes around them, catching shadow and darkening the sky.Whispers grew louder.Fael’s tears froze on his cheeks, then thawed as he let his own power rise into flame.
Ren’wyn stood, feeling the pull of the Void for the first time since the night of the broken magic.
This was no nightmare.
Here, she was the creature that hid in the shadow and called forth death.
She would not be the victim—nothere.
Fael squeezed her shoulder, and Ren’wyn lifted her hands toward the sky.The bright afternoon sunshine dissolved into black, and in the hull of the old house stood four figures.Their margins flickered as though they still burned.Agonized screams carried on thewind.
Ren’wyn pointed at them, her other arm sweeping against her stomach, then slicing downward.
The shades disappeared—then reappeared in front of her.Fael’s grip tightened on her shoulder.She was his safe harbor, and the thought filled her with strength.
