Caeden jumped off the airship before it fully landed and rushed across the strip to the guest’s quarters. He knew it would be useless to dwell on regret, but he should have been here – not in Landon re-establishing trade communications. His father was misguided, and he had been a fool to follow his orders.

He leaned against the cool stone once inside the castle interior. Reaching for his water skin, he took a few large gulps. It did nothing to ease the dryness in his lips.

Unending heat and no rainfall in weeks. The Casimir Empire’s crops would not survive this weather for long. They were well on their way toward suffering through a drought. Not to mention the Fire Spirit's rage should it decide to lose the last remnant of its patience. That it had not already told him that there was still hope. Ava was alive and still clinging on.

He pushed further in but stopped at the sound of his brother’s angry drawl.

“Your duty was to shadow her, imbecile! Not follow after every person that catches your fancy,” Kael bit out at his guard.

The guard kneeled, head bowed, before Kael. His head tilted slightly at the sound of Caeden’s approach, but his eyes never left the crown prince’s travel boots. Caeden had seen the elf in passing before, but his brother's right hand kept himself hidden and out of sight. He was non-existent to most.

The vivid eyes and star-shaped pupils of the elves gave them an all-knowing perception among the other races. A perception he had never bought into, except for this one. This elf’s eyes had always given him the chills.

Kael quietened when he spotted Caeden’s approach.

“Leave me before a flail you alive,” his brother dismissed the guard with a wave.

The guard stood and walked off, disappearing behind his illusion.

“My apologies Kael, I have no time to greet you. I will seek you out soon.”

“A moment, Caeden?” Kael asked, grabbing his arm before he bolted up the stairs. “Ava is stable – or as stable as the Adept Graeyson can get her.”

Caeden stopped and walked back down the stairs as he gave his brother a querying gaze.

“Ser Morley is not with you?” Kael asked, brows furrowed.

Somehow Caeden knew that was not what he had stopped him for. Why the sudden change in tack?

“No, I left him here to watch over Ava and Oswin while I dealt with Haalfkinguit.”

“He failed in that respect, clearly,” Kael spat out.

Caeden knew there was no love lost between the Knight Commander of the Royal Guard and his brother. Ser Morley had chosen to throw his lot in with him instead of the crown prince after all, but he did not expect Kael to harbour such undisguised vitriol toward him.

“He is currently investigating the attack,” Caeden offered, uncertainly.

It was Morley who sent him news about Ava’s attack, requesting his urgent return.

“Datura!” Kael commanded and the elf shimmered into visibility again.

“Yes, Your Grace,” the elf answered.

“Go assist Ser Morley with the investigation,” Kael ordered, turning to climb the stairs and leaving his guard to find his own way.

“How long have you been back?” Caeden queried.

“I arrived two hours ago. I was on an airship back yesterday when the Fire Spirit unfurled itself and a flame barrier fell over the borders of the Ashen Fields.”

“And the evacuees?” Caeden asked. He had seen the fiery dome over the fields on his way back. It did not bode well.

“Safe. But the barrier radiated such heat that Elwood’s orchards were set ablaze. We had to turn back and assist with the forest fires. Nook Town is cinders. Many people will not have homes to return to once this is over. Worse still, the barrier is encroaching further over time – the Empire has a time limit.

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“Forget Haalfkinguit, Caeden. Once Ava is on her feet again, the Fire Spirit must be dealt with. Firearms will not feed a hungry nation if this drought continues. If it is not burned to ash first.”

“We are of the same mind. But the emperor…”

“Leave the old man to me. You worry about Ava and getting her back into the fight again,” Kael continued up the stairs but stopped. “Oh, there is something more. Datura reported that three of the five attackers were common thieves and bandits, most likely hires. But the two remaining had the bearing of knights.”

“Then the mastermind is royal,” Caeden thought, staring queryingly at Kael. “Do you wish to investigate this further? Your mother could be implicated.”

“No more than yours. It was she who arranged this little excursion on such short notice, and with so little guard. I may not be a knight Caeden, but I know the sacrifices that come with honour and duty.”

Caeden grimaced as he followed behind his brother. It was likely, loathe as he was to admit it. But she knew the stakes involved, knew his mind, it would be hard to believe his mother would be so foolish. Holden’s doctrine to his knights was clear, regardless. No one man’s ambition is greater than the Empire’s prosperity. It kept the powerful honourable and the weak protected. If the Queen or his mother had willingly and knowingly endangered the Empire, he knew what his duty would be.

They entered Ava’s quarters and found Adept Graeyson behind a table filled with smoking vials and notes. To his surprise, the twin sorcerers, Eliza and Elise, were bent over another table filled with books and parchment.

He heard their presence in Castle Rymsworth had become detrimental to King Raeburn’s recovery. To ease his discomfort, they moved back to the Mage’s Guild for reassignment. It was interesting that Oswin had chosen them to assist in his study.

“Forget the formalities until Ava is well,” he said as they immediately dropped their work to bow in greeting. “Where is Oswin?”

He scanned the room.

“Two city guards came to the castle to question him. It seemed serious. He is in the guest waiting room down the hall answering their questions, Your Grace,” Eliza responded.

“Does this have something to do with Ava’s attack?” Kael asked.

“We cannot be sure. As far as we know, given Ava’s status as Imperial Guest, the investigation was handed over to the knights to conduct. Sending a city guard to question Oswin about it seems strange,” Elise responded.

Caeden looked at Kael and wondered if his brother knew anything about it. It was unusual for the city guard to interfere in knights' business without good reason. His brother grimaced and shrugged his shoulder, clearly at a loss as well.

“Update me on Ava,” he commanded, waving away the discussion.

“She is resting in the room beyond – stable but still weak,” Graeyson said, indicating the closed door leading to the ensuite bedroom. “Her bloodwork is simply fascinating, for lack of a better word.”

“As is the poison she has been afflicted with,” Eliza interjected with a half-smile, drawing an alarmed side eye from her twin.

“Explain,” Kael demanded.

“Well, Your Graces, initially Oswin and I assumed she had an innate resistance to magic and disease, which was why she lasted as long as she did while afflicted with the Dark Plague. But, according to her bloodwork, she has one other – poison. We call the combination of the three, Blight Resistance,” Graeyson explained. “This information seemed to confound Ava, and she has denied it. But bodies adapt when new external factors are introduced or change, whether we are aware of it or not – as I suspect it did when she was infected.”

“We think the poison was tailor-made for her with this in mind,” Eliza interjected. “It is an infusion of disease and poison with a touch of profane to guide both. The poison eats at the stitches of the entry wound while the body fights the disease. It would kill an average human in a matter of hours. With Ava though, her resistance can fight all these effects off, for a time. A battle of attrition. Whoever created it was hoping that she would weaken from the disease or blood loss through her wound to a point where she cannot fight against it anymore.”

“We are managing to help her by slowing its progression to a crawl, but without a sample of the poison itself, we cannot cure it. Both Ava and the poison are unknown, testing curatives on the battlefield that is her body could be fatal,” Graeyson added.

“There is something more, Your Grace,” Elise added, grimacing with uncertainty.

Caeden’s heart skipped. Gods, what more could there be? The empire was under the threat of an angry fire spirit and the only woman who could stop it was at death’s door. There was not much more he could deal with.

“There were reports at the scene of the Frost Spirit’s activity. Ice and Frost took out two of the attackers and a homestead. But we do not think that is the case. The injuries and frostnip along Ava’s arms indicate magical strain and fatigue. It only occurs among magic wielders who use spells they are not proficient in or reach their magical limit.”

“Are you saying Ava was wielding magic?” he asked, incredulously.

“It certainly seems that way. I have tested her. Multiple times. All of them indicate that Ava has no magical capability. She should not be able to access the magical font in the first place, let alone cast spells using it. The very idea beggars belief!”

Caeden's brows furrowed and he moved to Ava’s bedroom door. If Ava were capable of magic, she would have had numerous opportunities to wield it in the past, purposefully or not. What has changed?

“Your Grace, if I may ask a favour of you. Have her drink this, please,” Graeyson asked, picking up a cup and rushing to his side.

The cup was filled with a grey fluid with blackened specks floating within. It smelled of burned milk.

“Ava may still be fighting but her will is faltering. Her bloodwork results did not only yield her resistances, but they also did not match against any existing race. She did not take well to this news.”

“What? What does that mean?” Kael blurted out.

“Put plainly, she is a new species – not born from the union of two others. If there are others of her kind, they are unknown to us.”