‘What would I need to do,’ Sapphire said softly, ‘to fulfil the prophecy?’

Ashes bowed her head, her hand falling from Sapphire’s chin before pressing her palms together, praying for something Sapphire didn’t understand.

‘The barrier.’ The slight tremor in her voice betrayed her. ‘The final words of the prophecy say that you’ll be the one to tear it down.’

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

She wished her surroundings looked more familiar, but truthfully, she wasn’t entirely sure she was in the right place. It was still dark, and much of Aleburn looked the same in the moonlight.

Still, as she stood there, she sensed that this was the place where she had awoken months ago. The place where this had all begun. Anger, regret, heartbreak coursed through her. They felt toxic and all-consuming as she stared out into the flat lands before her.

A prophecy. An Anointed One. A stolen child.

Araxia and Kip had been lying to her since the day she had arrived. An angry sob overtook her as she remembered the first time Araxia had looked at her on the training ground. A look so full of love and support born from a demented history. She recalled the first time she realized she looked like Araxia. She remembered the first time she had called her mother.

The memories made her feel ill.

Liars. Traitors. Murderers.

Unjust and unfair – and she had fallen for all of it. She had trusted them. She had allowed them in, allowed herself to be their daughter. She had forgone her questions and suspicions, and she had done so because she was weak. For so long she had dreamed of a family, and at the first chance of having one, she had buckled. A fool draped in jewels and priceless fabric.

A strangled scream passed her lips and her magic flared, the ground around her bursting into flame.

She was not a Canmore. A Canmore couldn’t set fire to the world. The fire swelled at the realization, devouring the very ground she stood on. Everything in sight was taken by the flames. Her flames. Not the flames of a Canmore heir.

She raised her hand, and felt the rain come next. It extinguished the fire, soaking her dress, and she gave in to her buckling knees, sinking to the ground.

The people hadn’t believed in her when she arrived. The people had been wary.

And they had been right.

She was a fraud. She was a danger. She was born of what they all feared.

As she lay there, the rain intensified like it was listening to the sound of her broken heart. But the sadness was slipping away quickly, replaced by pulsating anger. The rain shifted to a hungry storm. Lightning split the sky in two.

She sat there and watched the world tremble under her own creation and she laughed. A broken, manic sound that filled the tense air around her.