‘Demanding, are we?’ Ashes shrugged, pulling away, her hands pressed to her cheeks, feigning innocence. ‘Time will tell how much you’ll come to regret that.’ A mocking laugh bubbled over her full lips as she spoke.

‘Soon, princess,’ she cooed. ‘We’ll see each other again soon.’

The shadows grew from her, blocking Sapphire’s view, and when they cleared, she was gone, leaving only the bright moon above her. Long after she had disappeared, Sapphire could feel the witch’s warm touch. The brush of her shadow had left a black speckle across Sapphire’s skin.

The thought of Ashes consumed her, and she did not move from the rock until the sun peeked over the horizon, chasing off all the shadows. The water she stepped into washed away the witch’s touch. But nothing could banish Ashes from her mind.

When Sapphire arrived back at the castle, her body exhausted from the long swim, the thoughts remained. She had floundered like an untrained toddler. Ashes had outpaced her at every stride. She brushed her thumb against the back of her hand, face warming at the memory of the girl’s touch against her own skin.

Little lamb.

Princess.

The sound of the taunts rolling off the forked tongue was like needles against her skin.

She blinked hard a few times, attempting to banish the image of the witch from her mind, but she remained – smirking, and sinister, and beautiful.

The admission forced her off the bed, heading for the washroom closet to take out a journal. If she was going to be consumed, it might as well be by the history she so desperately wanted to know.

Evera had slipped her more journals over the last few days. Always careful to deliver them when she was in her room, careful that they would not be found. Sapphire had taken to reading them when she couldn’t sleep, which was often.

There was a lot more anger in Eriobis’ history than she had ever expected. Mikel, a member of Evera’s family, recounted the anarchy. The clash of factions, the battle for territory, a world on fire, underwater, frozen, and destroyed. The coven at the heart of the pulsing undercurrent of a chaotic undoing.

Beasts of shadows are said to roam the land at night. The council advises people not to linger outside as darkness falls. No one has seen one, but it’s as if you can feel the panic of the people growing, swelling to an unbearable level.

I fear what is to come.

She turned the page.

They found a witch bloodied and beaten. She died while being transported to healers. No older than fifteen, she begged for her life with her last breaths. A tide has turned, something has shifted. Darkness is here, and I’m not sure what will follow.

A new entry began.