Six weeks passed before the next stranger arrived at our border, and this time she came alone, on foot, wrapped in a traveling cloak the color of dried leaves.
I was in the training yard when word reached me, sparring with Kade under the watchful eye of a new instructor my father had hired to help me channel whatever strange power still lived beneath my skin.
Progress had been slow but steady. I could summon the silver light on command now, though holding it steady for more than a few minutes still left me lightheaded and shaking.
Rowan jogged across the yard, breathless, Mira trailing close behind him with the easy familiarity of someone who had spent the past six weeks becoming a permanent fixture at his side.
"There's a woman at the gate asking for you specifically," Rowan said. "Sh
