Sealed within Kealie Gothalis are the secrets of a magic destined to flood her kingdom.
Trading her Mortality to disguise the heritage her mother fears most, Kealie is gifted with a blessing. She need only do one thing; keep her kingdom in the dark...
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After an hour of hiking past the Dylle Sea's jagged cliff face, Kealie had memorized the back of Nixian's head. The waving curls of brown hair against his neck defying gravity, the agelessness of his features, the Nerydian qualities she wasn't allowed to possess.
Kealie didn't know how long she'd spaced out, stumbling after him and barely sparing a glance to the ground. Not until it ended abruptly.
She felt her nose smash into Nixian's spine before she could figure out what happened. All of her forward momentum collided with his strong back and worsened the pounding in her skull.
Kealie hissed instinctively, rubbing her face and trying to peer around his arm.
"I hope you're serious about this Caster," Nixian muttered. "Because getting into this city is going to be challenging."
"What are you talking about-?" Kealie asked, her question falling flat as she laid eyes on a large cluster of guards standing outside Natansia's gates.
Their midnight blue uniforms faded to black in the moonlight, but she knew exactly what she would see on those insignia's. Luverie's emblem. The Country's personal sigil.
She swallowed uncomfortably, unable to hear anything of importance with her human ears.
"Are they looking for you?" Nixian asked.
Kealie felt like shrugging it off, downplaying the task force as little more than coincidence so as not to worry him. But she couldn't.
He'd gotten her this far, she supposed she could do the rest alone if she had to.
"Likely," she whispered. "This is the only place I could go to find answers, but she knows that..."
"She?"
"My mother," Kealie said, frowning. "Queen of Luverie."
Kealie watched the look on Nixian's face transform, morphing into something she understood. Though washed over with confusion, the thoughts flooding his mind were disoriented and scattered.
He connected the dots and dismantled the beliefs crowding his head, continuing to reassemble them over and over again until something made sense.
They didn't have time to discuss this.
"We have to go in through the coast," Kealie explained, pointing to the rocky shoreline.
Nixian's brows furrowed slightly. "How do you know there won't be guards waiting at the ports?"
"Because they hate the ocean," she whispered, masking the pain and sadness growing inside her chest. "They hate anything to do with Aelusia and its people."
"She's made an enemy of the sea?"
Kealie shrugged. She didn't know.
Her mother answered to no one and would never explain herself if questioned. Naida allowed her rotting heart free reign over those who came from the ocean and into her country.
