In the quiet of her room, nestled amongst furs, Rosabel can't seem to stop shaking. Her teeth chatter, her fingers are numb, and her pulse is a constant throb in her ears. The fire roars in the hearth, but she still feels cold.

Rosabel has always known what her mother is, even if for a long time she didn't understand what that meant. But she understands now. Her mother is powerful.

And so is Rosabel.

She closes her eyes, tears trickling down her temple and into her hair. Her mother wanted to take her away, but why? What did the kings and queens of Tacree do to make her mother so desperate to protect her?

Rosabel doesn't want to know. Today has made her realise she's content not to know why she's so revered, she just wants to do what she's told and leave it at that.

The creak of her door breaks through her bubble of quiet and Rosabel glances over her shoulder. A blond head peaks around the door, strands falling into dark eyes and Rosabel lets out a breath as Ari enters.

"My mother said you were upset," he says as he closes the door behind him. Rosabel turns away and sniffles, wiping away her tears so he doesn't see them. She listens as he kicks off his boots and then she huffs as she's jostled on the bed. He bounces closer to her and leans over her to inspect her face. "You've been crying."

Rosabel buries her face in her pillow. "Go away, Ari."

"What was that?"

She sighs and pulls her face out of the pillow to glare up at him. "I said, go away."

"Sorry, still didn't hear you." He leans back against the headboard, setting a book on his lap that was tucked under his arm.

"What are you doing?"

"Reading," he replies, shoving his hair from his eyes and tilting his book towards the light of the candle on the bedside table.

"Why are you reading in my bed?" She twists around onto her other side to face him.

He shrugs. "Because you're sad. What does this word say?" He lowers the book to her and points at the word that she narrows her eyes at.

"Vicious," she reads before rolling onto her back with a heavy sigh.

"Thanks." He continues reading and Rosabel watches him from the corner of her eye. They've known each other since birth and their marriage was arranged long before that. She knows what her own qualms against it are as she questions who she really wants to spent the rest of her life with and if that's even a man, but she's always wondered if Ari is opposed to being stuck with her.

She wouldn't want to be stuck with her.

"Ari," she begins and sits up. His gaze flicks to hers. "Would you want my destiny?"

"Your destiny?"

"Yes. My destiny. You know, the thing my father can't stop going on about?"

He shrugs again. "I suppose your destiny is no different from mine. Protect our people and all that."

Rosabel frowns at his words, picking at the fur in her lap. "Then why is everyone fighting over me? We're not so different."

"Maybe it's because you're three years older."

Snorting, she shakes her head. "I wish it were that simple."

"What happened?" Ari asks and closes his book. "Mother didn't tell me anything."

Rosabel spears her fingers through the fur, the softness of it sliding against her palm as she contemplates how to answer him. What does an eight-year-old boy know of witches and destiny? What does she even know of it all? How can she answer when she knows so little of what's going on, when she wants to know even less than little?

"Rosa?" he presses and she meets his brown eyes.

"She wanted me to go with her."

"Go where?"

"I don't know. I think she was trying to protect me."

Ari rubs his lips together as he thinks on her words. "Should you go?"

Rosabel frowns at him, the question being one she hasn't asked herself. Should she go? For all her life, the words fate and destiny and duty have been tossed at her. Protect her people. Become powerful. But protect them from what? And why must she be the one to be powerful when she's seen her father race after an elk and tear through its throat in his other form?

Should she go? Should she change her fate?

Rosabel shakes her head. "I must stay with my father. He'll guide me."

Ari's eyes flick between hers, a crease between his brows. But it fades and then he smiles. "Good, because who would make our bed if you're going?"

Rosabel hits him in the face with a pillow as he laughs. "You're a menace," she says, but a smile plays on her lips and a part of her is glad he doesn't mind sticking around her.

So many people see her only for her duty, her power, what she can give them. But Ari has always seen her as the red-headed girl that he can pester. She's glad for him and if she ever lost him...

Rosabel sucks in a breath, those familiar fears crowding her thoughts so suddenly that her chest aches.

Without putting much thought into it, she reaches to her bedside table and grabs the dagger hidden within.

Ari sits up a little straighrer. "Rosa, I hope you know I'm just joking."

She rolls her eyes and holds out her hands. "Give me your wrist." He just stares at her. "Do you trust me?"

"I don't know," he replies but gives her his hand. She presses the blade to his skin and draws blood. "Ow!" He tries to yank his hand back but Rosabel tightens her grip.

"Hold still or it's going to be wrong and then you'll probably blow up or something."

"What?" Ari exclaims but his struggles cease.

The sygil is small and minimal and Rosabel carves a mirror of it into her own wrist, wincing as blood drips onto her furs.

"I think your mother's visit today made you crazy."

She doesn't bother saying that he's probably right. Seeing Renata made her ask questions she's never asked before and she's terrified. She has her place in her world and she doesn't like having it shaken up.

Once the sygil is complete, Rosabel sets down the dagger and watches them both ignite. Ari stares at it with wide eyes.

"What is it?"

"A sygil," she says. "My mother has been teaching me about them. If one of us dies, the sygil will go out."

"Why did you do it?" he asks, meeting her gaze again.

Rosabel uses her sleeve to wipe away the blood on his wrist. "Because something is coming and I have a duty that I don't know if I'm ready for."

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

Rosabel finds herself in the gardens of the castle, stroking her fingers along golden leaves, boots crunching on those that have already fallen. It's been days now since she last saw her mother and she's been hauled up in her room, hoping the woman doesn't steal her away in the night. It seems like something she'd do.

"Rosabel."

Glancing up at the voice, Rosabel is greeted by the queen who walks towards her, a gown of pale blue linen draping over her shoulders and sliding over the uneven stone path. Rosabel bows, her breath catching in her throat.

Fingers curl beneath her chin and the queen raises Rosabel's face. She bends down, the necklace of seashells around her throat clinking. Her plump lips have a small smile as she looks down at Rosabel, the kindness in her deep brown eyes always catching Rosabel off guard. She expects the queen to be as hardened and as stern as the other royals and it's a surprise when she's not.

"Come, sit. I wish to speak with you." The queen settles herself on a stone bench, flattening the layers of her dress, and Rosabel hesitates before sitting beside her. "Your mother has left."

Rosabel's eyebrows raise and she meets the queen's gaze.

"She knows when she's no longer welcome."

Lowering her face, Rosabel nods, uncertain what she's meant to be feeling. Glad? Glad that she doesn't have a mother who can stay by her side and read her stories as Ari's mother does? No, she doesn't feel glad, she just feels... empty. Like there's a piece inside of her that's missing, a space that her mother is meant to occupy, but she doesn't.

"Why did my mother want to take me away?" Rosabel questions instead of voicing the strange hollowness within her.

"Because she doesn't have faith in your strength like we do. She doesn't believe that you're strong enough to bring peace to our people."

"How do you know I'm strong enough?" There's a bite to her tone, one she's never dared to have when speaking to any of the royals. But Rosabel doesn't even know what her other form is yet, how can she possibly know how strong she is when she doesn't know that?

"Because we've made sure you are. Your parentage has gifted you powers beyond any of us."

Rosabel stands, her teeth grinding together as frustration rears its head. Would she have felt this frustration a few days ago, before her mother came and made her realise that the price the royals are asking her to pay might not be one she can pay?

No, she wouldn't. She would swallow her argmuments, go to her classes, and continue taking what scraps of freedom she could get.

"You say that like I'm meant to know how to wield such power. I don't even know what it is."

"Your father will teach you. We will all teach you. You have nothing to worry about."

Rosabel opens her mouth to argue some more, but the blare of a horn strips her of her words. Both the queen and Rosabel look towards the castle when there's a pause in the noise. Then two more horns sound and Rosabel's gut plummets.

"Mother," the queen whispers and leaps to her feet. "They're here."

"Who's here?" Rosabel asks, but she doesn't get a reply. The queen grabs her upper arm and tugs her through the garden, running towards the castle.

Rosabel knows what three horns is. She's never heard it, but she knows. Attackers are here and they've already reached the city walls.

Past rushing servants they run and into halls of stone darkening with the setting sun, everyone too panicked to bother lighting the candles. Rosabel gasps for breath, struggling to keep up with the queen's long stride, struggling to wrap her head around the choas erupting in the castle.

"Ira!" the queen calls and then her great aunt is beside her. "Take Rosabel to the docks. Get her to safety, no matter the cost."

"Yes, my queen."

Rosabel is exchanged. Ira takes her arm now and they begin running again. She looks back to see the queen directing the servants, telling them what to do.

Ari. Where's Ari?

It's a question she voices, looking up at Ira's lined features. "Where's Ari?"

Ira just drags her outside where a gathered stream of servants and nobles from the castle are running through the gate and into the city. Like fish that have finally managed to make a hole in the net and are all wriggling to escape at once.

"Where's Ari?" she screams over the shouting around her, demanding to be heard for once in her life. But she knows. He'll be hiding away with a book, tucked where no one can find him. "Where's Ari?"

Arms wrap around her and then Ira is hauling her across her shoulder. Rosabel kicks and struggles, shouting for Ari as Ira runs with the flow of the crowd.

They stream into the city, a flood of people darting through the market and into the alleys, searching for an escape. Ira leads a group of people between buildings, all the while she has a secure hold on Rosabel and doesn't let her go, no matter how much she thrashes.

Ira takes her to the right, towards the city walls, more still joining them. Rosabel can't escape the strength of her arms, continuing to flail and rage.

"The queen will get him, Rosa," Ira hisses as they reach the wall, one of the city guards already slashing through vines and kicking rotted boards away to reveal a passage through the  stone. They stream through, Ira's shoulder digging into Rosabel's gut. She stares, wide eyed, at the city they leave behind. Screams trickle towards them. So many screams. And black blooms towards the sky as buildings are set alight.

Why is Tacree burning? Why are her people screaming? No answers come to her silent questions and they sprint through the cornfields, leaves slapping at her calves where they dangle. All around her, shape-shifters run with them, dashing towards the safety of the trees. But Rosabel lets out a cry when she sees the dark shapes that pursue them, cloaks flapping in their wake, steel glinting in the last rays of the setting sun.

Ira whips her head back and sees what Rosabel does; that they're being pursursued. "Go!" she orders, flinging out her hand. "Protect the princess."

"With honour," one of them shouts back and a group of them stop running to stand and fight the approaching soldiers.

Many of the shape-shifters don't have weapons. Many just bare their teeth and raise their fists.

"They will die," Rosabel cries out, thrashing against Ira once again. "Call them back."

"They have duties too," Ira replies, panting with breath. All too quickly, the shadows of the forest is embracing them and Rosabel loses sight of her people.

They follow the rushing river that flows from the eastern shore, many joining them from escaping the city in different ways, leaping over logs, dodging brambles, and soon they have amassed a small group of people all sprinting towards the docks.

But Rosabel doesn't see the queen, nor does she see Ari or her father. Her lips move in silent prayers to the Mother, but she has no faith she'll be heard. All she can do is cling to the back of Ira's cloak and hope these attacking soldiers show mercy.

When they reach the eastern shore, the moon glitters on the water's surface, the sound of crashing waves a hopeful greeting.

Ira sets Rosabel down and she finally manages to draw in even breaths, but those breaths are stolen from her in a sharp gasp when she sees what awaits them on the shore.

Her people break away from the darkness of the trees and onto the moonlit beach, stopping when they come face to face with the figures that line the white sand. Hundreds of soldiers await them, standing in neat rows, the moon's silvery light reflecting on the steel tips of their spears and the smooth surfaces of their shields.

Rosabel sees their colours more clearly now, the crimson and black of their cloaks, the dark metal of their armour.

The Sharlik Empire. They stand between the shape-shifters and their only means of escape.

Ira's hand tightens around Rosabel's arm and she knows only a miracle from the Mother will save them now.