bastard

Garbled sounds escaped from Elyssa. They sounded more like growls than words.

Propriety be damned.

I sprinted to her and wrapped my arms around her.

And dissipated the magic surrounding her.

She yelped then collapsed against me.

But the magic was silent.

“The dragons,” she whispered as she turned back to the windows. “They are coming, and they are angry.”

“Why should they be angry? They’re the ones eating us and destroying our homes and crops. Seems like we should be the angry ones.”

“We have something of theirs. Something they want back. Something they will level everything in their way to get.”

“What could they possibly want to badly?”

Her eyes unfocused, and I regretted asking.

I wasn’t certain what I was supposed to do. The duke had to know.

Yet…

Was this why he’d brought me here as a knight?

To keep watch over his daughter? To protect her from it?

By the Architect, there was so much magic.

“They call, Aidric,” she whispered. “Every night, their song grows louder. I…”

“You’re a mage,” I said.

She lowered her head. “I am sorry.”

“Me, too.”

She turned to me, and her magic nearly knocked me off my feet.

Her magic.

I was trained to fight such magic.

But I couldn’t fight her.

Elyssa stood in front of the large windows, the moonlight bathing her.

And magic.

So much magic.

I started to call for the guards, to find the mage ensorcelling her, then remembered Gillian.

“Elyssa?”