Head still reeling from Mai's admissions at the wisteria tree, Rina let Mai lead her to a part of the formal gardens near the precipice edge. The sunset blazed across the ocean, licking up the forget-me-not blue of the sky, and Hecata watched on, a curious silver crescent dangling from a star-speckled chain. Gravel crunched beneath their feet, and rose and lavender-scented the air. The marble palace glowed like a third moon, many-pillared and decked with trees, vines and flowers.

Mai didn't stop here, though. Instead, he took her through a gate built into a tall hedge. They entered an enclosed garden of green grass circled with round white stones that shone like moons. On the far side of the lawn stood a marble building, as large as a manse in the merchant district, but windowless.

Mai walked to the centre of the grass, to a briar bush. "My mother loved wild roses," he said simply, reaching out to cup one of the red blooms. "She always let them grow free, not wanting to tame them."

Rina noticed an engraved plaque at the base of the plant and peered over to read it the in the darkening light.

Kiera

Princess of Eurora

Queen of Denea

Beloved of King Raia

Mother of Emperor Mai

"My father teased her, said she was mad," he continued. "The gardens in Nebia are nothing compared to those in Hypat. 'We have the best gardeners in the world!' he'd say. But she still insisted on keeping one untamed red rose from Eurora and letting it grow as it would."

Mai's mouth twisted. "Her body rests in the mausoleum—" his eyes darted to the building "—but this is where her heart rests."

"I'm sorry, Your Magnificence, but I—"

A pale hand cut through the air. "Don't speak to me like that." There was an edge to his voice that made Rina gulp. "Didn't I tell you, the same blood runs through our veins? And you have the blood of the strongest magician known to Denea." He didn't say more, but Rina heard the unspoken words: the destroyer of Denea. "Your descendent was conceived to take my crown. If Arkis and Elia hadn't been so reckless, things might have been very different."

A seed of dread sprouted in Rina's stomach. She wasn't a threat—but if he truly believed what he said... Was this a test?

He glared at her, and Rina forced her mouth to form words. "If—if what you say is true, why would you take me, of all people, here?"

He began to pace. "Because she didn't get the respect she deserved from your ancestors." He paused and faced her. "You can change that."

Rina took one step back. "I don't understand."

He took a step toward her. "I'm not going to hurt you."

The hood of his cloak was still pulled back, and the silken material ate the growing shadows, turning it as inky black as the ringlets of his hair. The Carnelian Crystals in his diadem flickered with bloody light under the dying sun. She could not forget who he was.

"I know that," she said, not trusting her own words.

"Come then. Do this—for me."

He held out his hand, and, reluctantly, she put hers in it. His fingers coiled around her, preternaturally cold, and she shivered. He seemed paler than before as he drew her hand to the roses, though perhaps she just imagined this. Carefully, Mai moved their hands through the thorny stems and placed them on a thicker branch.

"Close your eyes."

She did. His breath was warm, and it skittered across the back of her exposed nape.

"Can you feel it, the plant?"

"Yes—of course."

He squeezed her hand and pushed her palm harder against the stem. "Not like that." A hint of agitation ran through his voice. "Feel it, beyond the physical."

She closed her eyes again and steadied her breath. In her mind's eye, an image of the rosebush formed, but unlike the still bush she'd approached, this one sparked with life.

"Now see. Look past the veil, to the other place."

Slowly, she inched open her eyes, holding back her focus. The branches and stems wavered like sea kelp on the other side of a gossamer curtain. And she saw them. Tiny little shimmers of yellow light. They radiated, moving up from the main branch to the stems, sputtering out at the leaves, or collecting in the petals and dying in small bursts. She became aware of a pulsing that moved in time with the writhing flickers of life. Constant and rhythmic. Her body began to heat as if she danced to the rhythm, and she grew hungry. Saliva pooled in her mouth. She was hyper-aware of Mai behind her.

Do you sense it, too? his words slithered into her mind.

She nodded and somehow felt his smile.

Try to shape it.

She worried her bottom lip and moved arms that were not her arms. A part of her being stepping out of her physical form, out of the corporal world and into that other spectrum. The light crackled as her phantom hands skimmed the briar bush, setting the hairs on the back of her neck on end. She grasped a glowing stem like it were a thread, and another, weaving them together. She pulled and tugged, extending the fibres, adding more and more light until she wove a rope, then halted, uncertain what to do.

Don't stop. Don't think.

She shivered again at his breath. Light trickled from the crystal at her chest, gathering into her phantom hands, and she added this to the fibre, making it thick and strong as the flow of power from within her became a torrent. A rush of energy slammed through her and took over her spirit form, while saliva ran down the chin of her flesh body.

Her phantom fingers moved faster and faster, knitting and bending and shaping new branches, carving buds and blooms and thorns, until exhaustion hit with the force of a storm surge, breaking across her shadow body, and pulling her true body down, down, down. Her joints groaned. Her blood and muscle hardened into stone, the frail bone and sinew buckling under its weight.

Mai held her upright. Shh, my dear. There was a crunch of flesh and he hissed. A moment later she felt his skin, coated in a warm, metallic liquid at her lips.

Recoiling, she tried and failed to stop him.

"Drink." His voice was a command that echoed through her marrow, and she was powerless to say no. So, she curled her hands around his wrist and sucked.

Fire raced through her veins. The stone melted, evaporated, and she was light again. She was the spark of life. Her body beat with a sensual pulse. With life. She dropped his wrist, knowing if she didn't, she would turn to him and do something sacrilegious. His arms wrapped tighter around her waist as if she would float away.

Show me what you can do.

She brought her attention to the spirit tree and turned all the vitality inside her to weave something worthy of Queen Kiera's legacy.

She was vaguely aware of her feet leaving the ground. Mai still pressed behind her—his chin resting at the corner of her neck and shoulder, whispering encouragement in her ear—as her spirit form worked frantically, braiding and flexing the green-tinged light to her will. A part of her knew Mai's lifeblood would last so long, and then she would need to dig into her depleted reserves. She only had so much time left to show him her devotion and penance.

Time frayed. Reality blurred. Only entwined light, Mai's whispered encouragement and his body remained. Until the world spun and dissolved into a halo of colour that stretched, retracted, and dragged her down into a dark hole.

☆☽○☾☆

The electric hum of cicadas filled the night when Rina woke. The ground was cold and damp. Her eyes flew open to darkness. No, not complete darkness. Máni's amber light dripped into the—cave? She sat up, and a silken blanket slid from her body as her eyes adjusted to the gloom. She discerned the shadowed shapes of leaves against the night sky.

Gripping the blanket in one hand, she stood, shivering. As she made to wrap it about her, she realised it was a cloak. Mai's cloak. She scanned the space, but he was gone.

A break in the blackness showed her a way out of the structure. With the unsteady steps of a newly blind person, she shuffled toward the exit, arms extended before her, and emerged in the fresh early morning air, redolent with the scent of roses.

Across the clearing, a mage lamp hung in the air. It began to bob, the figure holding it materialising. A pale-faced acolyte. Anya.

The girl's bright-blue eyes were turquoise in the lantern-light and widened in shock.

Rina's skin prickled. Pivoting on the balls of her feet, she turned, making out wild roses, the twisting branches and stems woven into a living, multi-tiered pavilion.

"Mai is magnificent," Anya breathed.

Rina looked at Anya and swallowed. "Praise Mai."

The girl frowned as she took in the cloak. "I'd hide that if I were you."

"He left it for me."

Anya snorted. "Exactly. Envy twists the mind as much as the Taint. Don't be a fool—when you get to your room, put it somewhere safe."

Rina nodded. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me for pointing out common sense."

☆☽○☾☆

Rina turned the handle of the door to the women's room, the silence heavy in the pre-dawn. As she opened it, something crashed, and a wail cut through the air.

★☾●☽★

Hi all, thanks again for reading. It is appreciated. More Mai. What do people think? Is the creep radar on, or is he "magnificent?" Perhaps time will tell. 

There is plenty of action and drama ahead. I hope you enjoy it! 

Please consider leaving a comment or hitting that star. 

Jas oxox