Chapter 24

“I’m a magic wielder,” I said with certainty. “I’m me.”

Xander scratched his head. I couldn’t be anything else. You could only be one of three things in this world: a shifter, a wielder, or a human. There wasn’t anything else. I was a wielder, plain and simple.

“We’ll have to look more into this. I’ve never heard of something like this happening.” He returned to the bathroom to look at the bite mark once more.

“Was your mother a wielder as well?” Xander shouted from the room.

“My father didn’t have any marks on his body, meaning that she couldn’t have been a shifter, and she showed no magical abilities, so I always assumed she was human.”

“Hmm. Let’s keep this to ourselves until we have a better understanding of what it all means.”

I smiled weakly at him. He was right to keep this between us. None of it made sense.

Xander had taken out a fresh shirt and was putting it on. I had forgotten that he had to go to the salt mines for inspection. And by the pained look on his face, he didn’t want to leave me either.

“Those men down there, they’re with the rebellion, I assume?”

“You assume correctly. The men will stay with you until my return, and if you still want to go into town to change your mind, they’ll escort the three of you.”

“I don’t think I’ll make good company with everything that’s been happening since this morning. I feel like a mess.”

“Don’t worry about it, love. We’ll figure everything out together.”

Once he had finished dressing, I followed him downstairs to see him off. Xander had not allowed the staff back into the house yet. Until we set boundaries with Gideon and his men, the staff would need to keep away. It would be too easy to overhear something and report it back to the duke if one of the three men repeated what happened that morning. We had been lucky that the coachman had left to get something for the horses.

As I entered the kitchen, I could feel our guests’ eyes following me. I asked Diana for some more tea. It helped me pick up my nerves, and I thought that drinking some more might help amass enough courage to come clean about everything. Gideon, Sam, and John all sat at the small table in the middle of the kitchen, picking at a roasted chicken someone had baked and left unattended since Xander shooed all the maids. It had long since gotten cold, but it looked appetizing enough that I grabbed myself a plate and ripped the wing and a few choice parts.

I sat with them, not knowing where to begin. When Diana came back with a mug filled with her delicious tea, I thanked her and waited for her to sit down as well before confessing.

“I’m happy to see that you’re doing well, Gideon. You’ve not changed much. Maybe a little grayer around the temples and grew a beard….” I said. To be frank, I couldn’t find my words. Exchanging pleasantries was my way of snuffing the fire.

“I spent so many years as Ida, I had almost forgotten what it was like to be called Princess Cressida. I was scared. That name meant my death. I’m sorry for my poor reaction. You just caught me by surprise. Not even Xander knew who I was.”

There was no point in hiding my fears. I felt they were valid, considering they had killed all Cardinal descendants during the uprising.

“No need to apologize, your majesty. It was my fault to spring this upon you. It was a shock to me as well. It was like I saw a ghost!” Gideon said apologetically.

“When I heard that slavers and Osprey's men raided the village where I had hidden you in search of traitors, we questioned many survivors, but not one of them could confirm if you had been captured or killed. Osprey left a pile of corpses in the village square. We searched body after body, but we found nothing of you in what remained.”

Diana sat in the corner, listening in on our conversation. Her stare was distant, and she had her arms across her chest. My friend didn’t look fazed by any of it, which only added to my curiosity about who Diana was. Was she also a part of the rebellion? Xander had mentioned that many rebels took work wherever they could and that I wouldn’t distinguish them from the others.

“I only hope that you can forgive me, milady, for not being there to protect you when that happened. I was held up somewhere. I am certain that many of the unfortunate events that occurred throughout those years could have been avoided if I had done a better job.” Gideon said as he pulled his hunting knife from its sheath.

I sucked in a breath as he sliced the palm of his hand and made a fist, letting the blood fall to the ground. I had shot up from my seat, trying to stop his action.

“I, Gideon Finch, swear on my blood that I shall not fail you again. I will serve and protect you to the best of my abilities until death.”

I saw Diana get up and leave the kitchen from the corner of my eye. She returned with her healing kit and cleaned the man’s hand. I thought it had been a little over the top, but I remembered that the men who would come to make their oaths of fealty to my father did something similar.

I had a lot of questions floating in my mind about the rebellion. I wanted to know if there were others like me. I had a hard time thinking that I was the only magic wielder left in Airedah. Surely there must be others. I knew that the rebellion consisted mainly of humans and shifters, but hopefully, there were wielders amongst them too. I needed answers desperately. Particularly with what had happened with Xander earlier.

“I’m looking for books on magic or another wielder. A situation has occurred that needs looking into, and I have nothing to go on since Osprey destroyed most of the tomes and scrolls that contained magic information. Books on magic or another wielder might answer those questions for me. Would the rebellion have been able to safeguard some?”

“We did manage to gather quite a library of books such as what you are describing, Princess,” said John. “My brother used to work in the Arcane library in Cardinal city. He took as much as he and some other men could carry and hid them before they sacked the library in the uprising.”

Diana squirmed in her chair at that mention.

“As for wielders,” added Gideon, “we could save but one. He’s old and not always sound of mind, but we will arrange for your transportation to our headquarters where he is safe. It may be hard to hear this, but most wielders did not survive the first year of Osprey’s reign. We did our best to find them, but most were captured and killed. Those that survived would have lived in hiding, and it would be impossible to find them without them exposing themselves first.”

Dead or in hiding. This conversation had become bleak, and I hated myself for allowing this to happen. I knew there were few magic wielders to begin with. Just in Cardinal city, there were maybe ten, back when I lived there. There were other wielders in some parts of Airedah, but since the magic gene could lie dormant throughout many generations before surfacing in someone, it made my kind uncommon.

“How far is your headquarters?” I questioned them.

“Maybe a week’s ride from here if the weather permits. It's in the city of Perch. The old Starling Castle that was destroyed still had an undisturbed casemate and vaulted undercroft. We were able to enter them when we went into hiding. They are hidden under the castle’s debris, making it an inconspicuous hideout. Only rebels know the way in our out. Many secret tunnels still lay beneath the castle and would come in handy in case we needed to escape.” Commented Sam.

I would have to discuss with Xander the possibility of going to Perch. If there was a wielder there and books on magic, I could continue my training and maybe find some much-needed answers for what had happened with Xander. If only shifters could mark their mate, why could I mark him when I was clearly not a shifter?

“I will discuss with Xander the feasibility of going to Perch,” I said while picking at my chicken. Hearing what those men were sharing with me had made me lose my appetite.

“We have already talked about this with him, your highness. I cannot, in good conscience, leave you here unguarded. We must restore the kingdom. We plan on bringing you with us as soon as Lord Alexander concludes his report on the salt mines.” Gideon seemed anxious while mentioning this to me.

They must have talked about this while I was hiding in my room, and they seemed uncertain I would cooperate. I didn’t know if the rebellion had any intentions of giving me a role in their cause. For years, my only aim was to stay alive and stay under the Usurper’s radar as Ida. The whole reason the rebellion started was to find the long-lost Cardinal and restore her to the throne. Now that they had discovered me, they surely would want me to fight alongside them to overthrow the current monarch. But to do that, I would need to better my skills as a wielder.

Thinking of all this, the only question that kept coming back to me was: did I want to be part of it? My objectives seemed closely intertwined with the rebellion. Unfortunately, I had no choice but to go with them when the time came. I didn’t see any other way around it.

“Very well. When you leave, I’ll come with you.”