The shock on Emaru’s face probably matched Alara’s. She didn’t move or make a sound as their eyes met, but her lips were pulled tight and her eyebrows sunk low on her face. Alara had seen the look of disappointment on her guardian’s face many times before, but even after all she’d been through, she still felt the sharp stab of shame.

“Emaru!” Alara’s voice seemed to shake the older woman out of her stupor.

“Alara,” she said. “I thought you were dead.”

This was the first time she’d ever heard Emaru’s voice crack. The councilwoman had always been careful to present a strong front. So seeing even the slightest sense of humanity in her was enough to completely disarm Alara.

Without thinking, she flung herself forward, throwing her arms around the woman who had raised her.

She felt Emaru’s own arms tightening around her, a warmth she had never felt before. Something inside of her unraveled.

“El’dyo,” she said. “I don’t know what’s happening anymore. I just missed home, and I wanted to come back, but Khuna and Micos—”

“Shh shh. Everything is going to be okay. I’m just glad you’re back.”

Alara let herself sink into Emaru. She could count the times the older woman had comforted her on one hand, and in that moment, it was all she needed. The exhaustion and confusion and grief of the past few weeks melted away.

Behind them, Alara heard a groan, and she pulled away to see Runeo pushing himself off the ground. Immediately, she stepped toward him. His face was twisted in pain, and he was clutching his side.

Emaru gripped her arm tight with her hand. “Stand clear, Alara.”

“No! He’s…” Alara stopped, unsure of how to even end that sentence. How could she make Emaru understand?

He’s not bad. He’s one of the good ones. He’s a friend.

“Alara.” Emaru’s voice was sharp and her grip almost painful.

“But—” Before she could finish her thought, Runeo was to his feet, hands thrown forward, ready to fight. Emaru sent another wave of wind and it cracked against him. He flew back and folded in on himself, coughing.

Alara tugged against Emaru. “Stop it!”

“Back away, Alara.”

“No, listen to me!”

Emaru snatched at her wrist as she tried again to stop the woman from throwing an attack. “Stop this, you stupid child!”

The flame inside Alara flared to life, and her body glowed with heat. Emaru let go with a hiss and Alara stumbled back.

“I need you to listen to me,” Alara said as she tried to tamp down the power flaring inside her.

“Honey,” Emaru said, “I know you’ve been through a lot, but you’re not thinking clearly. I was so scared when you fell over the cliff. I thought you were lost for good.” Her eyes shone and her teeth flashed in the dusky shadows. “But you were so much more resilient than even I could imagine. You will make a wonderful councilguard and a powerful mage in whatever way you want.”

Alara’s eyes went wide at those words.

“Yes,” Emaru continued. “You’ve shown your strength, your power, and your drive. No one could doubt that now. No further tests would be needed to prove it.”

“I’d be a mage?” Alara said. Through everything she’d been through, she’d almost forgotten at how it all started. How close she was to failing out. And that whole struggle could pay off.

“You’ll be a councilguard,” Emaru said.

“Councilguard…” Alara repeated the word under her breath. Given the circumstances, she shouldn’t have cared, but she felt a lump form in her throat all the same.

Emaru leaned to look over Alara’s shoulder. “But councilguards can’t let bruyas run wild in Cielo. We need to keep the Haven safe.”

Alara shook her head. “Runeo isn’t dangerous.”

Emaru’s lips twitched ever so slightly at her words. The emotion was brief, but clear. She had been on the receiving end of it more times than she could count. “You’re tired. We can discuss this all later, but you need to step away.”

But Alara didn’t move. It was an easy decision. A single step to the side is all it would take to achieve her dreams. But she didn’t move. She couldn’t move.

Runeo stumbled back up from the ground, a trickle of blood running from his ear.

“Alara,” he said. “Move, so I can take care of this.”

“No.”

“She took Micos. She took my brother.” His voice was cracked and brittle.

Alara’s stomach twisted, and she looked back at Emaru’s face, flushed with anger.

“Did you know?”

“What?” Emaru asked, her anger just barely suppressed.

“What they’re doing to the bruyas? Wiping their minds? Killing them if they don’t fall in line?”

Emaru’s shoulders went rigid. “We do what we need to protect our realm.”

“I thought we were helping them,” Alara said, feeling stupid even as she suggested it.

“We are helping them. Sometimes it’s better when people don’t remember.”

“When you take away their identity.”

“You’ve spent too long letting the bruyas and traitors,” Emaru spit the words out as her eyes flashed to Runeo and Adelmo, “fill your head with lies and nonsense. We protect those with magia from themselves. And we protect the blameless from their influence. From their capacity to corrupt. You’ve always known that. Sometimes that takes sacrifice.”

Alara let her hand fly up to run along the ridge of her scar. She had always known that, hadn’t she? Her shoulders slumped, and she looked over to see Adelmo, eyes shining with disappointment and fear as the resolution melted from her face. She turned away from him, not wanting to see his thoughts so plainly written in his expression—accusing her. And she stepped to the side.

Emaru’s lips lifted into a smile. “That’s better.”

Alara sagged as the councilwoman casually flicked her hand, raising Runeo in the air. He gasped and choked, as if hanged by his neck. Alara watched, pale, her breath stuttering as the bruya’s face went red. His eyes searched hers out, but they weren’t filled with the anger and hate she expected to see there. In them she saw a plea, the same plea he wore in the dungeons as she had pulled him away from Micos. Heat shuddered through Alara’s body.

“You’re strong, I’ll give you that,” Emaru said. “Stronger than the bruya whose mind we cleansed. Your brother, was he? He begged us to let him go before we fixed mind, but he’s happier now. I promise.”

With a crack, the flame inside Alara’s chest burst from her and the air sizzled with heat. Emaru dropped Runeo with a small gasp and turned on her, eyes wild.

Alara’s mind buzzed, and any sane thoughts quickly dissipated amid her fury. She shot her hand out, sending a flame toward the woman. In the back of her head, she realized she was using the fire from the boundary spell to feed her magia, and a rush of power thrummed through her blood.

Emaru fell back as the flame bit into the air where she had just been. But she recovered quickly and sent a burst of wind at Alara, knocking her off her feet.

She hit the ground and felt the air stutter out of her lungs. She didn’t wait to recover before she threw her magia, sending tendrils of sizzling flame to wrap around the councilwoman.

But Emaru flicked her hand casually, and the heat dispersed.

“What are you doing, child?”

“I should have listened to you sooner. I shouldn’t have been holding back my powers.” Alara sent another flame at Emaru. It spun behind her, but she still blocked it with ease.

“It’s a lesson you learned too late. Perhaps when we cleanse your memories, we’ll do a better job of teaching you.”

Alara growled as she sent another flare of fire toward Emaru. It shot out, fast and hot, and she smiled with satisfaction as the councilwoman stumbled as she dodged it. A second flame had Emaru falling to her knees, face turning red—though with anger or embarrassment, Alara couldn’t tell.

Emaru didn’t even seem to move her arm, but suddenly Alara was flying backward, feet off the ground. She crashed into a tree behind her and felt the crack of flesh on wood shudder through her. Though she didn’t have the air in her lungs to cry out, her entire body screamed.

Adelmo stumbled toward her, his face pale and drawn before a streak of air sent him stumbling back. Emaru didn’t even bother to look his way, her eyes focused solely on Alara.

“It would be such a waste if I was forced to kill you, Alara. Come to your senses.”

“This is what the Council has become?” Alara’s ribs ached with each syllable uttered.

“You don’t understand the Council at all. This is what it needed to become to survive. To keep the citizens of Sombria safe. To maintain peace.”

Emaru raised her hands toward Alara and she felt her stomach clench, waiting for the blow. Her own hand reached out automatically, the thread of magia weak, but there.

Then too many things happened at once.

Alara felt the wind from Emaru’s attack raging toward her at the same time she saw Adelmo jump between the two of them, his spear raised toward the councilwoman’s heart. And then the sparks of magia that Alara had thrown were caught in Emaru’s wind. The air between them exploded in fire and heat.

Alara flew back against the tree and the world went from white to black.