RAVENNA'S GRIP ON Tylat's wrist tightened until her nails pierced the surface of his skin, drawing blood. Her gaze focused intently on the dagger. "Can I help you?" she asked, her voice surprisingly calm.

Tylat's jaw clenched. His ancient eyes watched the ice that danced around her knuckles. It took him a moment to respond. Finally, he grumbled, "I know the truth."

A million thoughts raced through Ravenna's head. She sat upward, her eyes narrowed. "I must apologize, I'm not sure what you mean," she said. "The truth about what?"

"Do not feign ignorance, girl," Tylat snapped. "Rumors travel through the wind, faster than wildfires. I know all about the murderous wizard and witch traveling from town to town, enslaving those within them and massacring the resistance. I know all about the dark magic that gifts you those powers, girl."

"I don't use dark magic," Ravenna said simply. "And we don't enslave people."

His gaze sharpened. He wrenched his arm free from her grasp and took a step backward. Small pearls of blood trickled down his hand, toward the stone floor beneath him. "You are either incredibly stupid or a horrible liar," he remarked coldly.

Ravenna glared at him. "I don't use dark magic," she insisted. Caelan had warned her of the existence of dark magic, but never told her much about it. All she knew was that it involved spells that dealt with necromancy.

And she had no reason to want to communicate with or revive the dead.

He scoffed at her. His grip tightened on the dagger in his hand. "Dark magic, ancient magic, whatever you with to call it. It is all the same. It is not easily controlled by the weak."

She stiffened. The only ancient magic that she'd encountered was through the spell-book that Caelan had given her. It was so old that it almost had a mind of its own. She hadn't performed many spells from it though. She'd only really taken the time to read through it. Her fingers curled around the edge of the mattress. "I've read through a few ancient spells, at most. That doesn't mean that I am using dark magic."

"You do not know then," Tylat stated.

"Know what?"

Tylat pointed at her with a bony finger. "I see through you and all that you claim to be. You are not human. Not natural. An abomination created from a spell."

It took a moment for Ravenna to realize that Tylat spoke seriously. It honestly took her mind a good second to process the fact that he genuinely meant each word. Each utterly ridiculous and impossible word.

Her face morphed with confusion and her lips parted, a snarky retort ready.

"I've only encountered this ancient spell once before," Tylat snapped, his expression cold, and her response died on the tip of her tongue. "It had been used on a young child. I know exactly what you are, girl. Your magical abilities only exist through the use of dark magic, as dark magic was used in your creation."

A moment of silence coated the room in a thick layer of tension.

"Are you drunk?" she managed to ask.

His lips curled back and the skin atop the bridge of his nose scrunched up. "I will admit it," he said. "You do seem much more in control of your dark magic compared to the child that was brought to this castle."

Ravenna was almost at a loss for words. This crusty old wizard was outright accusing her of using dark magic, all because he believed that she'd been created from some old spell?

Then it hit her. She eyed the dagger in his hands warily, her eyebrows furrowed. "You are a liar," she said, her voice calm. "An expired, old liar. You know nothing of the modern world around you. You proved that at dinner tonight. You simply cannot handle the idea of a woman being able to use magic."

His expression darkened.

Her feet pressed flat against the ground and she stood upward. She arched an eyebrow and started pointedly at the dagger. "You are scared of me. You are scared that I can actually use magic. So you came in here to murder me in the middle of the night."

She jabbed a finger in his direction. "And let me guess. That whole spiel was just the excuse that you'd fabricated for Vyses and Lyth. Is that genuinely what you plan to tell them in the morning? Do you honestly think that they will believe those lies?"

Tylat laughed. "You are so absurd," he sneered at her. Brandishing the dagger once again, he added, "Too absurd to live. I cannot allow you continue your existence. You are unnatural, and a threat to all the living creatures around you."

"I don't intend to perish tonight," she told him. "I will give you a final chance to leave this room, to forget that this ever happened. It would be wise of you to take it."

He lunged at her. The blade arched downward in a swipe aimed for her torso. Ravenna jolted backward. The backs of her calves hit the edge of the mattress behind her. Her hands shot upward, catching the edge of the dagger. Pain pierced through her veins. Blood trickled down her palms.

Tylat moved quick. Before Ravenna could blink, the dagger lashed out at her again. She twisted away. It caught her shoulder, tearing through the fabric that covered her skin.

She lashed out with a fist. Her knuckles cracked against the bone of his cheek. Tylat staggered backward. Her eyes narrowed. Anger tangled with the pain that vibrated through her.

No one had ever managed to get through her ice and actually land a hit.

He swiped out at her again. She ducked and dropped to the ground. She kicked out. Her foot caught his ankles, sweeping his feet right out from beneath him. He tumbled to the ground.

As she jumped to her feet, she realized how he'd managed to actually hurt her.

Her ice wasn't protecting her.

It was as Caelan had said, so many moons ago.

Her powers reacted with her emotions, more specifically with her fear. Each time she'd been assaulted, or even just scared, her ice reacted. It shielded her and protected her from harm. It would move around her, almost as if it were reacting with a conscious of its own. Vyses had given her the talisman to control that.

She growled out a curse. Her ice wasn't reacting with her emotions, with her fear. It didn't realize that she was being attacked. If she wanted protection, she was going to have to consciously summon it herself.

Tylat scrambled to his feet and scurried backward, away from her. His mouth was open, his chest heaving around labored pants. The skin of his cheek had swelled around a small piece of broken bone that had pierced through. Several streams of blood trickled down from the exposed bone, racing toward his chin.

"You bitch," he hissed at her.

Her hands glowed so bright it completely illuminated the room. Ravenna summoned two ice soldiers. They appeared behind her, weapons at the ready. She glared intently at the insane wizard in front of her.

He almost seemed frozen, his feet rooted to the stone ground beneath him. He clutched tightly at his dagger. His hands trembled.

"Come now," Ravenna snorted. She was mildly surprised. There was absolutely no magic in his attacks, which she found unusual considering he was supposedly an oh-so-powerful wizard. "Don't tell me that you've forgotten how to cast a spell?"

He cursed at her. He darted forward with the dagger. She lifted a glowing hand. Massive shards of ice erupted from the ground. One caught Tylat, piercing through his stomach. Tylat coughed out a mouthful of blood. The dagger clattered against the stone floor. The sound echoed through the room before it was encased within pure silence.

Ravenna watched him for a moment. His hands pushed feebly at the ice around his stomach. She frowned at him. "You are unable to wield magic, aren't you?" she asked.

His eyes met hers. She could see the truth. It resonated within the glassy sheen that covered his eyes, the fear of death that plagued him.

Silence coated the room, only broken by Tylat's labored breathing and the gentle hum that she'd been listening to before he entered the room. Only now, as she listened closer, that hum seemed to sputter and fall quiet —almost like the beats of a dying heart.

"I gave you a chance to leave," Ravenna told him quietly. "You should have taken it."

The hum that chorused through the castle walls died as the life drained from Tylat's eyes. She folded her arms across her chest, her hands curled into tight fists. Her ice soldiers melted behind her.

Tylat's body began to glow softly.

Ravenna stiffened. Ice danced around her fists. She prepared herself for another fight.

The glowing faded from Tylat's body, and his facial features began to morph. His eyebrows seemed to grow larger and his lips wider. Thick, dark hair sprouted from his head, flowing down to his shoulders in straw-like waves. His skin seemed to stretch and reshape itself around unusual lumps across his forehead and chin. His broken cheek only added to his obvious disfigurement.

A small gasp escaped her. With a single blink, the man had transformed into someone entirely new. Someone that was not Tylat.

The hairs on her arms stood ramrod straight. She braced herself as she heard the sound of rushed footsteps. She turned toward the door, just as it burst open.

Vyses stood in the doorway, his eyes wide, his expression panicked. He immediately met her gaze and said, "Something has happened. The castle has started to crumble apart."

A tremor shook through the ground beneath her feet. Ravenna's eyes widened and she looked around. Cracks carved through the walls around her. Small pebbles and broken, jagged pieces of stone begun to rain down from the ceiling above.

Then Vyses spied Ravenna's ice, and the unfamiliar corpse attached to it. His eyes widened.

"Oh, by the gods, lass. What did you do?"

hey sweet friends!

I'm still trying to decide if this week's cliffhanger is worse than last weeks. Aha, thank you so much for being patient with me! Sorry that it took so long to post this chapter! Life got a little overwhelming. Thank you all for your support and I really hope you have an awesome day! ❤