Page 25 of The Starlight Savior

And yet he perished instead.

“Did my mother write too?” Her voice cracked around the words.

Eva shook her head. “Just Oscar.”

The weight of Saige’s discovery was heavy on her shoulders. But she didn’t have time to let such knowledge bother her. She couldn’t ask her father or mother why he was investigating the mist or included her name. They were dead. The people who could answer her questions stood right in front of her, waiting for the news to sink in.

Saige pulled up the sleeves of her dress. “I came here to learn. To gain some sense of control. If my father dedicated himself to fighting against the mist, then I will too. But I can’t do that with these on.” Her stomach lurched as she outstretched her hands.

Eva’s smile widened. “There she is.”

Eva took Saige’s hands into her own. Her fingers traveled across the edges the same way Conor had removed the chains, as she muttered a few words. The metal glowed, illuminating the symbols dark blue. Saige tried to decipher the jagged lines, swirls, and sigils, but couldn’t. Which one was mute and which was heal? It was difficult to grasp the magical symbols that made up the world.

As the magic worked, Saige shifted in her seat. The news of her father’s letters didn’t sit right with her. Her father wasn’t the type to write to magical kingdoms beyond. He was a blacksmith, not some soldier or scholar. Nor did he share a bit of care towards the mist lurking across the borders.

When her cuffs stopped glowing and clicked open, Eva made a sweeping motion with her hands towards Saige’s ankles. Saige sat on the handmaid’s chair, lifting her bare feet. Eva followed the same steps, dragging her fingers across the metal until the symbols appeared, glowing bright, and the cuffs warmed her skin.

When the cuffs fell from her ankles, Saige longed for the weight to return. She was consumed by light once again.

Chapter 11

Saige had almost forgotten what it felt to burn brighter than the sun. Light flooded her vision as she collapsed to the ground, knees hitting the stone floor hard.

The burn of magic always began deep in her chest, traveling through her heart and down her arms. It ran along each fingertip, fiery light protruding through her hands. Her throat ached as a guttural moan escaped her lips. Thoughts of endless destruction pummeled through her mind, fueling the ache of her pain. Anything she touched would burn. Destroyed from the inside out, day after day.

How had she missed this feeling, even for a moment?

Strong arms wrapped around her shoulders. Her body reared back into a wall of muscle as she continued to burn and scream and feel more than she ever wanted to feel.

Someone cooed softly in her ear, urging her to calm down. The smell of smoke filled her nose. Her father was here, holding her.

Dark hair and blue eyes flooded her vision. Her father’s smile. His rough laugh. The feeling of calloused hands guiding her through the bursting streets of Oswan.

“Come back to us,” a voice said in her ear. She reached her hands up, grasping at her father’s arm.

“Papa,” she murmured, “please.”

“Come back, Saige,” he said again. The arms tightened around her. “Breathe.”

She sucked in, air burning her lungs just right.

“Again.” The voice was more stern this time.

Through her nose, she breathed in and exhaled slowly through her mouth, her mother’s voice dancing in her mind. The light around her faded. The burning feeling prickling her skin began to soothe.

She opened her eyes to see the hearthrug below her, handprints burned into it. The light still danced in her palms, but the feeling didn’t ache as much. Black and purple appeared in the corner of her vision. Wrinkled sleeves and dark hair falling over someone’s face. Conor.

“What are you—” Saige began, her voice barely a whisper.

“I told you to fucking wait!” Conor quickly moved his arms away from her body, rushing to his feet. “She clearly wasn’t ready for that!”

“I didn’t think—” Eva shouted, her voice coming from across the room. The handmaids cowered around her, bodies shaking.

“Of course you didn’t! You just wanted her pretty and prepped for the king. She told you she knew nothing of magic. You expected her to be able to manage that? What happens when she knows more?”

With a shaky hand, she pushed herself off the floor. At the sound of her grunts, Eva strode from across the room. “Let me help you, dear.”

“I’m fine,” Saige said, waving them off. Heat still burned beneath her skin, the flush on her cheeks betraying more than exhaustion. She dropped her gaze, unwilling to see what her outburst had left behind on their faces.