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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Kealie felt invisible her entire life until this one moment.
A moment where what felt like half of Luverie's royal Guard stormed through Natansia turning everything over, scouring for her. Not to rescue her, not to save her, but to capture her for fleeing the Castle against her mother's wishes.
If only her mother knew how bad it truly was.
She saw the men march toward her in short, measured steps. Even as they drew closer, Kealie only thought of one thing.
"You need to go," she said, turning to Nixian and holding his gaze. A gust of wind brushed the sandy locks out of his face. "There is still time for you to escape. Return to the Sea, to your people and your father."
The newfound Prince lifted a brow at her order. "Our father," he corrected. "And no."
"You need to leave before it's too late," Kealie stressed, her voice breaking at the thought.
"No."
She didn't know why but she shoved into his chest, grabbing handfuls of his shirt and glaring. "Nixian you don't know what they'll do to us, to you..."
"There are a great many things you don't know about Aelusia and its people, Kealie," Nixian began slowly, taking her wrists in either hand and removing them. He was gentle but firm. "But I hope to be the one to teach you."
Terror ripped through Kealie in a way she'd never experienced before. Imagining the torment he might endure for this reckless decision, taking him away from a country of people who surely loved him.
Nixian stood for a world she could not create. He came from a land where love knew no bounds and villagers lived in harmony.
In peace.
She felt her teeth grinding at the thought of something destroying the only hope she'd come to know.
"They found us," he whispered to her.
"Over there!" One of the men shouted, pointing straight for Kealie.
"What are you doing?" She hissed up at him. "Why are you doing this?"
Nixian didn't even flinch. "We all make choices, decisions we must live with. Mine led me to you. Yours to me," he said. "Don't back down, now."
The words rattled through her, coating her in cold shivers of electricity and light.
"Fight for what is yours," Nixian told her.
Kealie knew.
Knew that her life was her own. A treasure and a purpose, an honor worth protecting even if her family had never seen it that way.
The guard was on them now, only a few yards away now.
The orders echoing through the air cleaved Kealie's heart in two.
