“The First Prophet? She has been dead for over half a century!” Water spatters violently as my mother scoffs at my question.

My heart drops into my stomach.

“I must tell Braizen. We’re here on the small chance she could tell us how to break the curse.”

“He lies!” My mother swings her fist down and raises a wall of water. It collides into the river hard enough to spray droplets around me on the stones.

“He knows that she is dead! He knows there is no way to break the curse! He has tricked you into coming here, don’t you see?”

“No, Mother! You don’t understand. Braizen and I…we’re…Well, the way we feel about each other…He wouldn’t lie!”

“You poor girl.” Her rippling eyes drill into mine. “The Braders are ruby-covered snakes. He has lied to you, and now you will suffer for it. Unless you leave at once!”

I don’t understand. I look up at her, my heart fraught with colliding emotions.

“Do you see, my sweet Idalia? He has ensnared you with his charm and coaxed you with his deceit to bring you here! He has used your heart against you!”

No! It can’t be true. She can’t know what she speaks of.

“Braizen led me to Aeradian, Mother! He would’ve allowed me to marry Lachlan. It was my choice that brought me back here. If the Woman of the Woods doesn’t exist, if what you say is true, I must tell him. We’ll return to Aeradian together and live out our lives there…happily,” I struggle through the sentence, still an embarrassed child yearning for her mother’s acceptance.

“Together!” There’s a small moment of silence before the water rages again, and a heinous laugh leaves her lips.

“You poor, insolent child. I did not realize the magnitude of your father’s failure until now.” Fear snakes up my spine as she ascends, towering above the river. She points a stiff finger at me.

“How easily you have been swayed towards the enemy, like a sheep drawn to a wolf. He has swindled you, just as he has many before you! The Braders seek to be your undoing, and he is succeeding! He took you to Aeradian so that he could write to his father and ask for more men! While you slept through the night, he led his father’s troops straight to their prize. They have come for you, Idalia!”

“He wouldn’t do that.”

“Ha!” My mother scoffs from far above me. “Look for yourself; then you will know! Just there beyond those trees!” She snaps her finger towards the east.

The distant trees bend and break on her command, creating a clear path for me to see, if only for a moment.