I hung my head as I walked beside her, my thoughts an absolute mess. How could this be possible? I was counting on this, the mastermage said it was the only way to fight Dragath’s magic—without it I would never be able to free my mother. And although my grandmother promised to help me free her, I was under no illusions she would keep her promise. The fae were known to find loopholes in their oaths, and I knew how sharp my grandmother was. If she had the power to free someone from the Dark Dagger, surely she would have freed the other fire-fae warriors and rebuilt her army.
Something didn’t feel right. I had to find out more before I gave up this quest for the Dawnstar. But I decided to take the dowager’s advice and keep quiet about what I was looking for.
Whenever I found time to go to the library alone, I searched for anything that mentioned the Dawnstar. Once I got used to the eerie space, I began to feel more comfortable and had a good idea which corridors led where. So I continued searching for any mention of it day after day, but I never found anything.
Once the dowager was satisfied I had adequate control over my spirit magic, she wanted to explore my water talent. At first it was hard, separating droplets of water from the rest, letting them float upward, and joining them together to create a ball.
“Good,” she said as I stood beside a fountain in the garden and manipulated the water within it. “You can mold the water into any shape you want, like you do with glamour.”
I fashioned the water into the image of a bird, a sparrow made of liquid, and guided it around the gardens. A noise startled me, and the water sparrow burst into droplets that drizzled down on the head of a gnome who was busy pulling up weeds at the far side of the terraced gardens.
“Sorry,” I called out.
The gnome sputtered and swore at me, but when he saw the dowager standing at my side he bowed his head and got back to work.
“Good,” said the dowager, “but your concentration is weak. Now I want you to try something different. Move the water from one fountain to another.”
Extending my magic, I lifted droplets of water and deposited them in the other fountain.
“Now turn it to ice.”
“What?” I tried to focus on the water, but it splashed out of the fountain, spraying the little gnome gardener again.
“Sorry, sorry,” I shouted, holding up my hands.
“Let’s try it once more, shall we?” said the dowager, a smile playing at the corner of her lips.
I repeated what I had done before, moving the water from one fountain to the other.
“Now push your magic into it and lower the temperature,” the dowager instructed.
I willed the water to freeze. To my excitement, it did just that, slowly forming a perfect little ice bridge between the two fountains.
“That was impressive.” The dowager inspected my work. “Usually fire and water don’t go well together, and the gift of ice less so.”
She waved her hand and the ice bridge that I had created disappeared, melting back into the fountains.
“You’re good with water magic too,” I pointed out.
She gave me a wry chuckle. “Yes, I suppose I am. They didn’t call me the ice queen for nothing. But I don’t possess fire magic like you do. For a fae to be born with both ice and fire in equal fury is quite remarkable. Your mother didn’t have water magic. You and Izadora are the only ones who have all five powers of the fae. The fire-fae are less than a handful, and the water-fae are nearly extinct.” She paused and lowered her voice. “I have spoken to Izadora about removing your amulet while you train.”
“And?” I held my breath.
“She has agreed. But only while training, mind you. She feels it is safer for you to keep it on at other times.”
I nodded. Finally!
I started using portals all the time after that. I told myself it was practice, but it was also a much quicker way for me to get from the training field and back to the palace for my magical training with the dowager. I was determined to do my best. I had a purpose in life, a goal, and I would not back down or run away as I might have done before.
Now that I could remove my amulet for longer periods of time, I began to discover depths to my magic I didn’t know I had. I could feel a change within me, not only physically but mentally as well. As I trained with my fae powers, my hearing heightened, and so did my sight. In the few weeks I had been here, I was more aware of everything around me, I needed less sleep, and I didn’t get so tired anymore. I ran up the stairs to my room, clearing them two at a time. I no longer used a portal to get there, considering the exercise as part of my training that only made me stronger. Although I pushed myself to what should have been my limit, I could still do more.
One night Skye came to see me in my room. That was the first time she had come up to the tower.
“Nice room,” she said, looking around when I let her in. “I like how you have decorated it; love the reading nook and window seat.” She went over to the windows to glance outside. “What a beautiful view, Aurora. This is amazing!” She stared out over the hidden valley of the fae. “I’ve never seen the city from so high up. Look, you can see the whole valley.”
I let her talk and sat on my bed,
