Ashes: the one person who had never treated her with caution, never tiptoed around what she wanted to say. The girl who had pressed her up against a tree and kissed her senseless not ten hours ago.

The girl who told her this kingdom did not deserve her.

Her heart ached at the thought of the witch and she hated it. Hated her. Hated it all.

She pushed away from the counter and met her reflection, staring down green eyes that were not her own.

Another sharp pain caused her to suck in a breath, and she clenched her fist tightly to dull the ache. When she reopened it, a small flame bounced in her palm. It danced, casting shadows on the wall of the washroom, and she stared at it with wide eyes.

It did not burn her.

She remained there, watching the flame flickering against her skin, unwavering and under her control. The sensation made her blood run cold; there was something unnatural about it all. She panicked, waving her hand around trying to make the flame disappear but it clung to her.

The world will fall to its knees. This is only the beginning.

She snapped her fist closed at the intrusion, and the flame was gone. She looked around the room, searching for answers, but none came. She reopened her fist once more, but the flame was nowhere to be found – the pain that she had felt was now just a dull throb.

You are powerful beyond your wildest imagination, child.

The voice was so clear that when she dragged her gaze to the looking glass, she half expected to find foreign eyes looking back at her. But she was alone.

The Elders never answered her.

The Elders never granted her prosperity.

The Elders never spoke wisdom in her ear.

The Elders never embraced her.

But the voice did – whoever, or whatever, it belonged to. The Shadow Witch had told her it meant her no harm.

It was time for a new God.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

That night, she sat by the water, staring into the darkness. Footsteps behind her caught her attention, but Sapphire did not turn to greet them. A few moments passed before the woman found the courage to speak.

‘We shouldn’t have ambushed you.’

‘No, you shouldn’t have.’

Araxia sighed and sat next to her, tucking a knee into her chest and resting her head atop it.

‘It is quite common – arrangements like this. But we didn’t want this for you.’

‘Then why do it?’