Shadow Heir

Pagiel wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Yes, sire. Once I would have trusted you implicitly, but now ... now I know your loyalties are with her. I don’t question your choice. It’s your right. But it also means I can’t believe you’ll always act in my interest.” He sighed and then looked up with a grim and unhappy resolve on his face. “Forgive me,” he said.

That was my only warning. He wove his spell too quickly, more so than I would have imagined possible. A forest hardly provides the right conditions for a haboob, but he created a complex wind pattern that was nearly the same. And it was strong. Dirt flew up from the ground. Trees were ripped up. We were affected as well, blown backward and forced to scramble for our footing. I caught hold of a tree whose roots were still holding it strong and managed to keep myself upright.

Pagiel used the diversion to flee. I couldn’t address him right away because I devoted all my energy to stopping the maelstrom he’d created. My magical senses burned, and I could detect every thread of magic, every molecule in the air around us. The magic was a mirror of my own, courtesy of our shared genes. I matched it, answering each glimmer of the magic with a nullifying force. It was a complex process, like trying to unravel a tapestry. I hated the delay but needed to undo this magic before it killed me, Jasmine, and Dorian. When I finished and the world stilled, I glanced around, expecting to find Pagiel gone.

Instead, I found him encased in a prison of earth and stone that had risen up from the ground, cocooning him up to his neck. I sensed him pulling his magic to him, probably in an effort to blast Dorian’s handiwork away. I quickly slammed up walls of air, turning the air pressure up to crazy heights that were uncomfortable for the rest of us but ensured Pagiel wouldn’t bust out anytime soon.

Pagiel fixed his eyes on Dorian. “Your Majesty. Please let me go. You said you would help me!”

“I am,” said Dorian, a hard expression on his face. “I could easily keep building this structure until you suffocated. I don’t want that. I want you alive.”

“Then free me,” Pagiel begged. “You always supported the legacy in my family. Will you really drag me back like a prisoner?”

Dorian hesitated long enough to glance briefly at me. “Things change. This is the better fate.”

My heart swelled, and the last piece of fear within me shattered. Dorian had been telling me the truth. He could have easily let Pagiel go, letting him continue on with the prophecy. Instead, Dorian had stood by me. His love for me really was greater than the dreams of conquest he once held.

My epiphany was short-lived when a giant fox came tearing out of the woods. He leapt straight for Pagiel, jaw open for the boy’s semi-exposed neck. In an instant, all the plants and trees in a huge radius withered and water shot from all directions toward Kiyo. It wasn’t enough to incapacitate him, but it did throw his attack off course. He harmlessly hit the side of the rock formation and was knocked back, skillfully landing a short distance away. He blinked the water out of his eyes and then shook droplets off his muzzle.

Jasmine, who had been freed in the earlier storm, was on her feet and allowed the water she’d summoned to fall to the ground. “Let him go, Dorian!”

It was probably the most conflicted I’d ever seen Dorian. Letting Pagiel go might mean we’d never catch him. Keeping him imprisoned made him an easy target for Kiyo.

“Do it!” I cried.

Like that, the walls of rock and earth shattered, giving Pagiel just enough time to dodge Kiyo’s next attack. The boy fell to the ground, but by then, I was back in control. I pulled up the water Jasmine had called, turning it to a mist that swirled in the wind. I moved the whole creation, surrounding Kiyo in a thick cloud he couldn’t see through. A moment later, I felt the wind and air pressure intensify. Pagiel, whom I’d expected to disappear, was still around, adding his magic to mine. Maybe he didn’t trust us, but he also wouldn’t leave us to Kiyo’s attack.

As the mini windstorm increased, I could sense the pressure closing in on Kiyo. That was Pagiel’s doing too, and I realized there was a very good chance Pagiel would kill Kiyo in the process. In fact, I had no doubt that was Pagiel’s goal. I was still a gray area for Pagiel, but he knew with black-and-white certainty that Kiyo was a threat. I could’ve counteracted the magic but was struck with a dilemma: Should I? After all the problems Kiyo had caused, wouldn’t it be better to be rid of him? And wasn’t it Pagiel’s right to defend himself against an assassin?

I had once loved Kiyo and had a connection to him. That was a hard thing to overcome, but I daresay he’d done plenty to make it possible.