I dunked my hands into the water, shaping it into a sphere. I moved it up so it floats above my head.
“How do you do that so easily, Briar?” Nina, a maid to Empress Lorena, asked me as she sloppily pushed her sphere above her head.
“I just asked the water to move for me,” I responded.
“Why would I ask it to do anything? It’s supposed to do what I say.” She says as her sphere loses water.
Her sphere collapsed with a splash, soaking the front of her apron. Nina squeaked and jumped back as if the water had personally offended her.
I bit back a smile. “Because water isn’t a servant,” I said, lowering my hands. The sphere above me unraveled into a thin ribbon, circling my wrist like a bracelet before dripping back into the basin. “It’s alive. It listens.”
Nina wrinkled her nose. “It’s water, Briar. It doesn’t listen.”
“Everything listens,” I murmured, dipping my fingers back into the river. “If you’re willing to speak the right way.”
She huffed, clearly unconvinced, and tried again. Her sphere wobbled, sloshed, and then burst entirely, splattering the stone floor.
“Ugh! Empress Lorena is going to have my head if I don’t get this right.”
“She won’t,” I said, though I wasn’t entirely sure. Empress Lorena had a temper like a cracked whip and patience as thin as parchment. “You’re trying too hard. Water doesn’t like being forced.”
Nina crossed her arms. “Well, it should.”
I laughed under my breath. “Tell that to the river.”
She glared at me, but there was no heat in it. “Easy for you to say. You’re… you.”
I paused. “What does that mean?”
Nina gestured vaguely at me. “You’re good at everything. Magic. Training. Talking to people. Even Empress Lorena likes you.”
“She tolerates me,” I corrected.
“Same thing.”
I shook my head, letting the water slip through my fingers. “Magic isn’t about being good. It’s about listening. Feeling. Letting it move with you.”
Nina sighed dramatically. “You sound like the old mages.”
“Maybe they’re right.”
She rolled her eyes. “Or maybe you’re just strange.”
“Probably,” I said with a grin.
A breeze drifted through the open courtyard, carrying the scent of wet stone and early spring. The sun glinted off the water in the river, scattering light across the walls like tiny stars.
For a moment, everything felt still. Balanced. Right.
A sharp crack split the air.
Nina yelped. “What was that?”
I straightened, heart thudding. The sound had come from the training yard beyond the archway. A shout followed, not playful, not routine.
Fear.
I didn’t think. I ran.
Nina scrambled after me, skirts gathered in her fists. “Briar! Slow down!”
But I couldn’t. Something in my chest pulled me forward, a thread tightening, tugging, demanding.
When I burst into the yard, the world tilted.
Two guards were on the ground. A third staggered back, clutching his arm. And in the center of the chaos stood a boy, no older than fourteen, trembling, eyes wide, hands glowing red with uncontrolled magic.
Wild magic.
Dangerous magic.
His gaze snapped to me.
“Help me,” he whispered.
And something inside me, something ancient, something I didn’t yet understand, answered.
I brought my hands out in front of me and relaxed my stance.
“I will help you.” I said to the boy, his dark curls guarding his eyes. “You need to try to relax.” I told him. Walking closer.
“I can’t!” He yelled as a burst of magic came flying from him. Red flames began to fly across the stone.
People ran from the area. Multiple guards running past me, yelling about how I should leave, too.
I dropped low to the ground and waited for the magic to fade. It always faded.
Once it did, I stood again.
It was just the boy in the yard. A large burned patch of grass was under him. I walked closer again.
“It’s okay, I will help you.”
He turned to me with his green eyes sharp enough to cut. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I’ll be okay. What's your name?” I asked
“Mydrn.” He told me as his shoulders steadied.
“Okay, Mydrn, we’re going to figure this out.”
“Okay.”
“Briar!” I felt the pull of the bond come through as I turned. Castor.
He ran to me, eyes checking for injuries where there were none.
“I heard about a fire…” He said slowly. “That you didn’t leave…But you're not…hurt…how?”
I sent him a thought knowing I couldn’t say it aloud. We will need to discuss something in private.
What?
Who I am.
Castor’s eyes darted from my face to the scorched grass, then to Mydrn, who stood trembling, his hands still faintly glowing. The air smelled of burnt earth and fear.
“Briar,” Castor said again, softer this time, like he wasn’t sure I was real. “You should have run.”
“I know,” I said.
But I didn’t move.
Mydrn watched us with the wary stillness of a cornered animal. His curls clung to his forehead, damp with sweat. His magic flickered around his fingers like dying embers.
Castor stepped in front of me, instinctively shielding me with his body. “Get behind me.”
“No.” I touched his arm, firm. “He’s not dangerous.”
Castor stared at me like I’d lost my mind. “He set half the yard on fire.”
“He didn’t mean to.” I stepped around him, placing myself between the two of them. “He’s scared.”
Mydrn’s breath hitched. His eyes flicked to Castor, then back to me. “I didn’t want to hurt anyone.”
“I know,” I said gently. “You didn’t.”
Castor’s jaw tightened. “Briar, you can’t just—”
I have to Castor. We need to talk about my past.
I sent the thought through the bond, quiet but unyielding.
Castor froze.
His eyes widened just slightly, not fear, not anger, but recognition. The kind that comes when someone realizes the ground beneath them is not what they thought it was.
What about? he sent back the words sharp with confusion.
Something that I should have already told you.
The bond thrummed between us, a low, ancient hum I had spent years pretending not to hear. Castor’s breath caught, and for a moment, he looked at me like he was seeing something he had never seen before, something I had never let him see.
Mydrn shifted, drawing my attention back to him. “Am I… in trouble?”
“No,” I said. “Not with me.”
Castor exhaled slowly, steadying himself. “We need to get him somewhere safe. Before the other guards come back.”
Mydrn flinched at the name.
I stepped closer to him, offering my hand. “Come with us. We’ll help you.”
He hesitated,then placed his shaking hand in mine.
The moment our skin touched, a pulse of something warm and familiar surged up my arm. Not magic. Not fear.
Recognition.
Mydrn’s eyes widened. “What was that?”
I swallowed. “I don’t know.”
But I did.
Somewhere deep inside me, deeper than magic, deeper than blood, something old stirred.
Castor watched me carefully, suspicion and worry warring in his expression. Briar… What aren’t you telling me?
I squeezed Mydrn’s hand once, steadying him, steadying myself.
Everything, I sent quietly. I’m not telling you everything.