Everything hurt.

Isobel blinked, but everything was a blur. There was a ringing in her ears and a strange smell in her nostrils. Her blood was on fire, scorching her as it moved through her veins. It reminded her of when the Orc's Blood poison spread through her, only worse. So much worse.

With a whimper, she tried to look around. The room had been upended, furniture was strewn across the floor amongst the debris and broken stones from the outer wall that now had a gaping hole the size of three men. An icy wind pulled at her hair, but it did nothing to cool the burning in her blood. Castel lay on the floor a few feet away. Fear gripped her for a moment before she saw him pushing himself up.

Where was Devin? The door to the hallway was open. Was he gone already?

"Isobel!"

Someone called her name, but it was muffled as if they were far away. Indistinct bodies poured in through the open doorway. The fight had not been quiet and must have alerted the guards. Two explosions within minutes were a difficult thing to hide. The wound in her abdomen throbbed. The blood seeped between her fingers where she held her hands against the already-soaked dress.

"Isobel?" A hand on her arm startled her. Boreas's face appeared. His gaze dropped to her injury, and he cursed. Turning his head, he called for help before turning back to her. "What happened here?"

"C... Castel?" Even getting that one word out was difficult through the fog of pain.

"We've got him. He'll be all right." Boreas eased her hands away so he could inspect the injury. When his eyes widened in shock, she looked down, too. An unusual green light shone from the cut.

Well, that didn't look right.

Boreas swallowed. He must be thinking the same thing. She giggled, despite the pain. It was strange. Even with the excruciating pain, she felt lightheaded. Almost as if she had over-imbibed on her favourite Andrean wine.

Two guards in armour approached them, and Boreas instructed them to take her to Castel's chambers. When they helped her to her feet, the pain washed over her in a wave so heavy she fell into darkness.

   By the time she came to, she lay in Castel's bed. The pain was still there, but it had subsided and was now more of a dull ache than a fire consuming her. Her mind still felt like someone had wrapped it with a woolly bandage, but it was a relief to no longer be in agony. With a groan, she pushed herself up to lean against the bed's headboard.

"Oh, good. She's awake." Boreas stood on the other side of the room next to Castel, who sat on a stool wearing only his boots and trousers.

Castel's skin bore red marks that would soon turn into large bruises, and one of his arms hung at an odd angle. An ugly gash on one of his cheekbones looked as if it could benefit from stitches. She winced as Boreas lifted the dislocated arm and moved it around until it slid back into place with a sickening pop. The only sign of the pain that caused was Castel's hand gripping the fabric of his trousers so hard his knuckles whitened.

Glancing down at herself, she noted the bandage now covering her midriff. Someone had ripped apart her dress to make access, leaving her in a frayed skirt and odd top that only covered the top half of her chest. If the wound still had the green glow, the linen bandages hid it.

"Sorry," Boreas said, having noticed her inspecting her dress. "There wasn't much time to mind your clothing. You were bleeding out."

She gave him a lopsided smile. "It's all right. I kind of like it. I've seen similar dresses in the south where I believe it's quite fashionable."

"Maybe with slightly less blood and torn edges," Boreas muttered.

"Maybe a tad." The strange feeling of levity was still there, mingled with the pain. Remembering the reality of their situation, the smile faded from her face. "Where's Devin? Did he get away?"

The sombre looks on the men's faces gave her the answer even before Castel nodded. "He ran for the door the moment he realised what was about to happen. When you caused the explosion, it threw him out into the hallway. No one has seen him since."

"He's probably long gone by now," Boreas said, his voice tight. "With your blood, he's got what he wanted, and from what Castel tells me, you were evenly matched. He wouldn't bother sticking around after that."

She touched her abdomen with gingerly fingers. A jab of pain shot through her, and she quickly stopped. "The first explosion," she said slowly, trying to think back on the events despite her mind still feeling jumbled. "It was the Godstone. It did something to my magic. I hit my head and struggled to focus, but it was more than that. It was as if it sapped me of it."

"It did," Castel said as he stood from the stool, wincing from the pain of moving. "I don't know how it did it, but I felt it. Then Kairn—Devin—stabbed you and the dagger was coated in Orc's Blood poison."

That explained the feeling of her blood being on fire. She frowned. But she felt better now. Even if Boreas had given her some of the antidote while she was unconscious, it wouldn't heal her that quickly. She snapped her fingers and a spark of magic lit up the room for a moment, like a flash of lightning. How odd. Orc's Blood usually drained her magic.

"I gave you the antidote," Boreas said, confirming her suspicions. "But I don't know if I even needed to. All that magic you took from Castel, which we believe came at least partially from the Godstone, seems to have eradicated the poison from your system."

That explained the excruciating pain she'd felt. It was the Godstone's magic burning through the poison. The agony had been worth it to still have her powers. She opened her hand and conjured a silvery flame that flickered in her palm. It was hypnotising, watching it reach towards the ceiling, each tendril reaching just a little higher than the one before.

"What is she doing?" Boreas muttered across the room. "She's acting strange."

"I think she's still drunk on magic," Castel said, sounding a little amused. "She took on an absolutely massive amount of magic quickly. I don't think it's all left her system yet."

She closed her fist, extinguishing the flame. "Drunk?"

"It happens to magic users who take on too much magic too quickly. I'm something called a Receptacle." Castel rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "Grand Sorcerer Arawn discovered it when I was young. It's extremely rare."

"How come I've never heard of it?"

"Arawn didn't want anyone to know. He trained me on how to use it, but because magic users have abused it in the past, he kept it a secret. Apparently, previous generations scrubbed all the information they could find about it to ensure no one would know. It's addictive to access that much magic at once."

She swallowed. He was right. She could definitely imagine someone chasing that feeling again. When all of that magic had burst through her from Castel, she felt euphoric. Like nothing she had ever experienced before. If it hadn't been for the magic then attacking the Orc's Blood poison and turning to agonising pain, she would have happily stayed in that moment.

"Because of it, I could withstand more of the torture while we were captives in Highglaive. But it made my captors try harder..." Castel's voice trailed off as he stared into the distance with unseeing eyes. "It became a game for them to see how much I could take before their spells took effect.

"Arawn helped me lock that side of me away once we were free and Deva defeated. I didn't want any part of it." His gaze met hers and the anguish in them hit her like a punch in the gut. "That's probably how the traces of magic lingered in me. The ones that caused the worst of my nightmares. And made me attack you..."

Despite the throbbing pain in her abdomen from the wound, she pushed herself out of the bed and took the steps separating them. Cupping his cheek, she made sure he could see the earnestness in her eyes. "You didn't know. How could you know that would happen?"

He pulled her against his frame, his grip on her almost painful. "I should have realised. But I refused to even consider it, not wanting to think about that part of me ever again."

"You couldn't know," she repeated. "And it's fine now. We removed every trace of that magic."

They stared at each other for a moment as his breathing calmed and his grip on her waist relaxed.

Boreas cleared his throat on the other side of the room. "If you're done with your self-flagellation, what's our next step?"

Castel winced at the wording but nodded. "We should continue preparing for the attack."

"I still can't believe Son of Deva has been right under our noses all this time." Boreas paced from one side of the room to the other with frustrated energy. "We researched Kairn before agreeing to have him on this mission. He had been at the court in Ler for years. We tracked down his family. A nobleman and his wife. I can only assume the man never knew it wasn't actually his son."

It pained her to see him so unhappy. She had come to think of the Spymaster as a friend after her time in Fort Mael. "Devin's been hiding in the open. No one knew what he looked like. You couldn't have known."

"He was away from Ler for a few years, but a lot of men and women were gone during that time. Aiding in the fight to take Messina back or fighting against the roaming bands of Deva's zealots. Never once did I think he might have been missing because he was Deva's bloody son and in Messina helping him!"

In an unusual display of anger, Boreas picked up a clay pot holding some quills and threw it. The pot shattered against the wall. Pieces of clay fell to the floor, with the quills joining them a moment later.

"He was right here the entire time! Killing our friends!"

Castel put a hand on the other man's shoulder, and the smaller man drew a ragged breath. "I'm sorry."

"No need to apologise. He fooled us all." Castel squeezed Boreas's shoulder before releasing him.

"I'm the Spymaster. No one is supposed to fool me."

"No one is infallible," Isobel said. "Devin has obviously lived most of his life as a regular citizen. How could anyone think he was anyone other than who he said he was? Who he has lived as?"

"Right." Boreas straightened. "This is not the time to dwell on the 'could have's. What are we planning to do now other than prepare for an attack?"

"I need to return to Messina as soon as possible," Isobel said, and she could feel Cas's hand on her waist tighten slightly. "Grand Sorcerer Arawn must be made aware of these developments, and this information is too delicate to send via an owl that could be intercepted."

"Won't Devin and his men attack Fort Mael as soon as you leave?" Boreas asked. "They may not need you any longer, but we're still in a strategic location. The presence of you and Cas together might be the only thing currently deterring them since you seem so evenly matched."

"They might. But they also might wait. They have what they want—my blood. If they take the fort now, they will have to hold it against our attempts to retake it. They might decide to hold off for now."

"You'll have to excuse me if I'm not reassured," Boreas muttered. "I'd hate to see you leave and have Devin's army at our doorstep within days, with no sorcerer to assist us."

She nodded. It was a reasonable worry. "I will contact another sorcerer to take my place and wait for them to arrive before I leave. There's one I have a way to contact without going through Highglaive."

Now that they knew Devin had a Godstone, she couldn't leave them undefended. Usually, only the Grand Sorcerer could assign tasks, but there was no time to contact Highglaive. And she knew exactly who they needed. The person she had left her Godstone with.

~~~~~~

Author's note: I'm sorry for all the delays in posting. I ran out of pre-drafted chapters quite some time ago, meaning I am now scrambling to find enough writing time every week to write a new chapter. Unfortunately, that means that occasionally, I do end up posting late because I simply haven't had time to write. Also, I'm aware that this story needs some fixing as I'm not entirely happy with some things, but that will have to be a problem for future-Emily... Thank you so much for sticking with me and this story ♥