Mage Assassin Chapter 7 (Love interest intro)

It was quiet in the street beyond our estate wall, but there was always someone out and about in Ocadia, no matter the hour. Four older, peasantish folks could be seen both to the left and right as I exited our grounds. Another man was refilling the oil in the street lanterns near the blacksmith’s shop, and he was a burly man, with hair that fell to his shoulders and a naturally snarling facial structure that suggested he’d had a hard life.

I nodded to myself and made my way over as the burly man descended his ladder, and then I swung into him and bumped my arm with his back. The man lost his footing, and I grabbed his shoulder at just the right point so the skin of my hand grazed his neck.

“Oi, watch it,” he growled.

“Sorry.” I smirked as I righted the man, and I continued to walk without another glance.

As soon as I reached the end of the blacksmith’s shop, I quickly turned toward the back alley and walked with haste to the edge of the forest.

I felt myself begin to change in appearance with every step, and I started to get shorter while my breaths faltered a bit. The man I was mirroring was an unhealthy man who had weak lungs, and his legs would not take me as fast as I wanted them to, but his arms and chest were sturdy enough to leave me with plenty of strength.

I followed the path around the forest’s edge and waited for a sign to enter, but the more I headed south, the darker and less inviting it became. Still, I continued along in my mirrored form and talked to the trees as I went. I moved stealthily along the edge of the mostly sleeping kingdom until I eventually found myself in the far southern quarter where the majority of the welders and mechanics were still sleeping. The smoke in the air was stale at this time of day, and the streets were generally deserted.

Then I heard it.

The subtle whispers from the forest that urged me to enter.

I turned and looked into the thick shrubbery that reached to my waistline. I glanced behind me to see if there was anyone in the area, but all around me was darkness. I pulled out my short sword and started slashing away the brambles in my path, and they retracted with a shiver, but allowed me to enter.

As soon as I did, their hushed breaths started to sound louder.

I turned back around to check where exactly the noise was coming from, and I saw the brambles regenerating behind me.

I could barely see more than the rustling shadows closing me in, and I couldn’t hear anything apart from the echoes that wisped around trees. Still, I started to trek deeper, and as I did, my head suddenly became lighter and my body became numb.

The forest was fighting me.

I held my hand out, reached for something to hold onto, and found some bark. I was only a mage, and with no power to fight off this kind of energy. My throat was starting close up, and I tried to gulp for air as I braced myself against the tree.

“It is I,” I whispered into the night. “The one Master Abbot has spoken to you of.”

The forest must have known it was me, or it never would have let me in to begin with, but I guessed the body I mirrored was what angered it enough to attack. It wasn’t assassin material, and I squirmed as I waited for the forest to release me from its hold.

“I swear to you, I am Dex Morgan,” I hissed. “Do not kill me, I am here under Master Abbot’s protection.”

The air in the Forest of Hud started to loosen its grip around my neck, though the pressure still felt immense. I coughed and spluttered, but I managed to stand up straight again after a few moments passed.

“Thank you,” I gasped and sheathed my short sword with shaking hands. “You may guide me to my destination, the Ardere of Ignis, and see for yourself that I have no interest in destroying your trees. I have no desire to take any animals, either. I am just passing through.”

The pressure in my lungs was completely gone now, and the nettles on the floor started to collapse as the grass flattened as well. Then the glow of worms and fireflies started to wink in front of me, and the shadowy path to my destination seemed clearer. The fireflies didn’t make a sound as they flitted around the enchanted trees, and they looked like a million tiny stars. The glowworms were the same color as the river when the light reflected on it, and they arranged themselves in two lines for me to walk down the middle.

I had a pathway to follow all the way through, without any trouble.

“Thank you for your assistance.” I nodded to the forest floor and above my head.

Master always had connections, but I wondered just how he had managed to make a deal with the Forest of Hud this time, and what price he paid for it. The forest could receive no money, it had no reason to be given food, and was completely self-reliant, but there must have been something in this deal for the unforgiving place.

I walked for what felt like hours through the forest as I followed the flowing path of the fireflies and worms. My borrowed feet became tired and full of blisters, and my back ached like an old man’s while my stomach started to grumble. I veered off the path just long enough to find a branch that had already snapped off, and I used it as a cane to relieve some of the pain and carried on.

“I am hungry,” I sighed out loud. I hadn’t really said it for the trees, but as soon as I spoke sillness fell over the enchanted forest for a long moment, and even the fireflies froze in midair.

I held my breath, but suddenly, a barrage of yellow eyes shone from the tree tops. The forest must have told the creatures to stay quiet on my journey so as not to scare me, but now, they awoke and started to scream.

The eyes started jumping from branch to branch over my head and down the trunks. I couldn’t see how big the creatures’ bodies were, but their screams cut through the air and seemed to pierce even my skin. They were coming closer to me, and then closer again, and I tried to shoo them away, but the more I did, the less scared they were.

Then things started to drop around my head. They looked like balls, and when they dropped, they landed with a thump.

I skirted around the first few, and I was worried I must have said something that made the forest retract its deal to help me, but then I noticed, from the light of the glowworms, that whatever the yellow-eyed creatures were throwing looked like fresh fruit from the trees above.

They kept throwing them in my direction and screaming as they did so.

I knelt to the floor, carefully moved the swords and daggers out of my way, and ripped into the ripe fruit. I didn’t know what they were, but they reminded me of hawthorne and honey. I teared into them and plunged my hands into the soft innards, and I scooped out the food and tossed it into my mouth. I did this with another five offerings while the glowworms wriggled around me, and I was surprised to find myself completely regenerated with this light meal.

“I am full,” I said to the yellow eyes in the treetops. “Thank you.”

A slight breeze abruptly rippled through the forest, and within a matter of seconds, the eyes went dull again, and the world around me was quiet. I seemed to be alone again with the fireflies and worms, and the little guides pressed onward.

I continued to walk with a full stomach, and the memory of the creatures with the bright yellow eyes stayed in my mind. I could hardly believe how far I’d travelled into this strange place, and without the weight of the magic on me, I felt able to observe as much as I could.

Granted, it was still utter darkness beyond the glow of my guides, but I could smell the sharp scents of the enchanted woods, and its presence was almost calming to me after another half hour or so passed. The ground was spongy under my boots, and the breeze was gentle like a fairy’s kiss. Every frond that grazed my fingers felt like silk, and the few thorns I passed seemed to bury themselves out of sight so they wouldn’t harm me.

It was almost as if the forest was a loving place when it wanted to be, and I was musing about what it could be like to live within it when a golden light began to glow through the trees ahead.

I was still hidden in the thick foliage, but there was no denying what awaited me.

It was a field that looked like it was made of pure gold, and it was so bright as I neared it that I had to shield my eyes. I stopped before I came too close to exiting the cover of the trees, and I quickly donned my first uniform.

It was the knight’s outfit from the Kingdom of Altaya, and I was relieved to find the chainmail wasn’t too loud. It actually didn’t sound like anything heavier than simple fabric, and it fit my bulkier form well while my sword belt hung neatly around the midsection.

Then I balled up my cloak, buried it in my satchel, looped the bag on my shoulder, and inched closer to the golden field ahead.

It was hard to see clearly because the color was so blinding, and it practically lit the early morning sky as if the sun had already risen. I knew this must be the field of gold I remembered hearing about as a child, but as I looked closer, I realized the field wasn’t really made of gold at all.

Instead, it was all smoldering like enchanted embers.

The burn looked almost tame and indestructive, like it was sleeping, and I wondered just how many years it had constantly been lit for.

I peered over to the far left and saw the palace of Ignis that the Master must have been speaking of. I was probably around half an hour’s walk away from there. Houses were built around it, but the mighty field of gilded embers stretched all the way in front of me and beyond. To my right side was a more humble shack that was unremarkable, except that it was surrounded with flames and had fire burning from the rooftop.

I hunched over the shrubs to make sure no one was around before leaping into action.

It was still somewhat dim in the forest’s treeline, but from what I could see, none of Ignis’ followers were patrolling this area. The glowing field was pristine and abandoned, and I wondered why I had never been able to see the glow from the Ardere in the Kingdom of Ocadia before. Most likely, they’d come up with some kind of deal that kept the Ardere completely solitary out here.

Since no fire beings were in sight, I decided to maintain my appearance as a wandering knight, and I carefully stepped along the side of the field and to the unassuming shack on my right.

A tall wooden fence about ten feet tall surrounded it, and outside the fence was a circle of fire balls that were plump and aggressive.

Further along, I saw an opening in the fireball wall, and as I slowly got closer, I was surprised there wasn’t even a gate. It was just a gap in the two barriers with no other protection, and it looked like anyone could freely walk in.

This didn’t comfort me.

Anyone with a wall this violent and no need of a lock at the entrance was probably dangerous enough to devour any being who strolled in. For all I knew, this Ember Priestess could stand twelve feet tall with the strength of thirty men in her hideous, flaming arms.

I placed my hand on the hilt of my broadsword as I checked my surroundings once more. I listened for any sound, but nothing beyond the soft rippling of flames echoed around me.

Then I stepped forward and readied myself for an attack at any moment, and the gap in the fireball wall and fence led to a plot of grass that was surprisingly not on fire. Instead, it was lush, green, and fertilized, and it led to an open garden space at the back of the shack. The entire area inside the barricade didn’t look at all as small as I suspected, and the grounds appeared to be larger than the estate that housed all of us assassins.

To my side, a set of stairs led up to the cabin that stood on four stilts, and a quaint platform ran around it. The structure was made from aged wood, but the flaming roof appeared to have been forged from fallen stars. All around it were glowing, golden boulders that looked like planets just picked out from the sky, and beyond these, the grass was as green as algae even with so much heat in the area.

Still, despite the spectacle of the place, and considering the entire Ardere belonged to a former god and his disciples, I was expecting more.

The castle at the other end of the golden field was so much more extravagant than this place. In comparison, the shack was meager enough to belong to an exile rather than a priestess.

I shook off these thoughts and kept my wits about me as I pressed my body as close to the wooden fence as I could manage. The fireball wall on the other side was so hot, the air warped around me, and I could feel my skin was almost blistering from being even these ten feet away from it.

I looked up to the house, but it seemed empty. The windows were just as dark as the forest I had come from, and I kept my hand poised on my hilt as I silently went further into the garden.

I disliked this entire setup.

Offering myself up for discovery on purpose was something I rarely did for my work, and not having my bow on my back unnerved me even more. Unfortunately, my orders were clear, and it was for the best that I carried on with the initial plan, even if every one of my nerves was tightly wound.

Then I turned around the corner of the shack, and I saw a figure sitting on the platform.

Her back was to me, and she had wings folded against her spine. They were black and shaped like a bat’s wings with sharp hooks at the top, but they appeared to be made of a substance similar to the skin of a naga. They were almost iridescent, and the longer I studied the wings, I noticed they radiated a reddish tint.

They also belonged to an absolutely beautiful woman.

This I could tell without even seeing her face.

Whoever this woman was, she wasn’t flaming at all, and she looked human in shape and size. She sat with her legs parted, and her back perfectly straight, and her black hair was thick and long as it billowed from her head and pooled down onto the platform below her. The strands were so long, they wrapped around her battish wings, and the hair tucked under the black skirt she wore.

The fabric of her skirt was cut high at two points so I could clearly see her sleek pale thighs, and her sparse leather bralet tied behind her and seemed barely capable of sheathing the way her narrow waist accented the symmetry of her curvaceous figure.

I couldn’t help but stand there in awe of the being I had just laid eyes upon.

And I hadn’t even seen her face.

She was gracefully shaping off a dagger into a perfect edge, and she reached out and touched the tip with her long, paper white finger before she continued to work at the metal. Then she pushed the knife to her wing, and both the metal object and her wings began to glow blue, then red.

I was so mesmerised by the strange and exotic sight that I briefly forgot my task here, but it may have been the stifling heat getting to me. Sweat beaded my brow as my borrowed lungs struggled to fill themselves with the dry air, but I blinked myself from my daze as my sweaty palm tightened on my hilt.

I had no idea if I’d stumbled into the wrong place, but before I could make any move, before I could even plan what to do next, the beautiful creature on the platform spoke without even turning around.

“You trespass,” she murmured above the sound of flames.

My breath caught in my throat, and she whipped her head around.

Her eyes were a deep, amber-red, and she had black freckles painted across her small nose. Her pouty lips looked soft like dew drops, and her cheekbones were as sharp as the blade she held in her hand. She was absolutely stunning to behold, like no being I’d ever seen in the kingdom, but her features were too flawless to be of this world. Her eyes red-amber flashed too much with power, and they held more heat than I’d been prepared for.

In that instant, I knew this was Cinis.

This beautiful creature was the one I’d been sent here to kill.

Suddenly, her stare started to burn red, and her black hair started to glow like embers while her wings did the same. Then she stood up, and strolled along the platform toward me.

The leather bralet I’d been admiring earlier tightly wrapped around her ribs while leaving her toned abdomen and ample cleavage exposed. I couldn’t recall ever seeing a woman built as full and luscious as her, and her skirt wasn’t much more than scraps of leather in the front and back. Other leather straps clung around her thighs like an intricate garter, and the rest of her skirt whirled around her pale, perfectly muscled legs as she moved.

I couldn’t even think straight because of her ethereal beauty, but I apparently never had any element of surprise against her, anyways. She’d somehow known I was approaching, and now, I had to act.

Cinis wrapped her long, dark fingernails around her dagger and looked at me with her head tilted down and her eyes locked on me.

“Who are you?” Cinis asked in a surprisingly polite manner.

She had a husky voice that was deeper than I expected. Most of the other female descendents were catalysts of beauty and love, and they had higher, more lyrical tones because of this. Cinis’ voice sounded like it had been burnt, but the smoldering timbre was soft in a way that made it hard to swallow all of a sudden.

Then Cinis’ wings unfolded and blocked out the firelight around her. She was a truly intimidating sight to behold, and when I didn’t reply, she stepped even closer and leaned toward my face as she let out a long, soft sigh.

“Since you won’t speak, I will start by answering the question written all over your face,” Cinis asserted in a stern tone. “I sensed you were coming through the boulders. My embers tell me everything, but surely, you should have known I am tied to the ember fields, or you would not have come to find me at all.”

“I did not know,” I admitted, but I certainly wondered now why the Master hadn’t told me.

Then I realized he couldn’t have known. He would have mentioned it first thing, so why had Ignis’ representative never warned us this was the case. If Cinis could track those who approached her domain, it should have been the most important detail they brought to the table when they decided to hire our services.

Something was off, and my instincts bristled as I briefly eyed how locked into the priestess’ grounds I was.

I had heard plenty of tales about the titans, gods, demigods, and deities. They were known throughout the whole kingdom and retold time and time again. Some of them depicted the heroism of these holy beings, but other’s painted them to be cunning tricksters with a thirst for glory.

I narrowed my eyes at the thought, but it was too blaring to ignore. I felt too blocked into the situation for comfort, and now I was face to face with a descendant whose powers were a mystery to me, and who had the upper hand within her own domain.

And yet, this apparently conniving and vicious woman hadn’t even tried to attack me when she could.

Not yet, anyway.

“I’m not sure I believe you did not know.” Cinis smiled the tiniest bit, but the gesture only made her more intimidating to behold. “I can tell you’re not from around here. What are these horrible garments you wear?”

“I am from the kingdom south of here,” I lied without skipping a beat. “Altaya. I seem to have lost my way in these wild woods. Then I saw the glow of these fields and thought I might find some guidance.”

“I believe you even less now,” she immediately replied.

“You can believe what you want,” I said in my calmest voice. “But I am truthful. I was enlisted by my kingdom to come north and speak to the king.”

“I see,” Cinis murmured, and she twirled her knife’s handle around her elegant hand. Then she backed away slightly, and her smile widened the moment she caught her knife in a firm grip again. “And what kingdom would it be that you’re travelling to?”

“Acadia,” I purposely stumbled.

“Ocadia,” Cinis corrected me.

“Ahh, thankyou,” I said with a slight nod, and then I feigned a befuddled glance around. “I’m afraid my journey through the forest has muddled my mind a bit.”

“That is known to happen,” Cinis allowed. “But why would you need to see the king of Ocadia? Atalya and Ocadia don’t converse on friendly terms. They haven’t for decades.”

“I was just told that the king wished to converse with us concerning Altaya’s northernmost border,” I informed her, and I began to wonder again why she hadn’t attacked me. I was playing a sitting duck, but perhaps she was toying with me. “I am nothing more than a messenger, and once I have gathered the king’s word from Ocadia, I am to deliver my findings back to the south.”

“I can see your uniform is from out of town,” she admitted. “But somehow I am still skeptical.”

“I am only lost, and meant no disrespect in trespassing here,” I continued. “Can you guide me, perhaps?”

“Your garments are from the south kingdom, but you entered this Ardere from the northeast,” she spoke with a perfectly arched eyebrow. “And from what I can hear, you think I am not smart. This displeases me.”

“No, that’s not--” I tried.

“Silence!” she demanded, and her husky voice grated in her throat as her freckles began to glow a heated orange. “I know this forest, and I know precisely where it is you hail from. It is certainly not Atalya.”

“Miss, as I said, you can believe what you choose,” I stood my ground and prepared to draw my sword any moment.

Cinis’ freckles began to pulsate with her breaths. She looked livid, and I could feel the heat radiate from her body, which meant she was likely too worked up to pay enough attention. In a few more minutes, she’d be blinded by her emotions, and I would strike.

“Well, I believe you are a changeling!” she hissed, and I blinked in immediate confusion. This was not what I expected her to say next. “Your kind are always trying to steal my embers with your filthy hands. I know what you seek. I see through this disguise you wear now.”

“I…” I paused while I tried to decide if I should simply strike and be done with the woman, but my interest was piqued.

I wasn’t a changeling, but mirroring was somewhat similar, and I never expected this woman to guess I was disguised in all my being, not just the clothes. I probably should have slashed her by now, too, but too many variables weren’t in line. The nagging in my mind about this setup wouldn’t let me unsheath my blade just yet. I needed a clearer path forward. I needed to be certain my actions were necessary.

I wasn’t a blind murderer. I was a professional.

“Miss, I am not a changeling,” I finally replied. “I am only a knight who--”

“Hah!” Cinis barked as she bared her perfectly white teeth at me. “Your foolishness betrays you, changeling. Always thinking you’re clever, always thinking your powers will protect you!”

The priestess stalked closer, but still, she did not brandish her knife at me. She just stooped a little to look me straight in the eye, and I tried not to notice how much more beautiful the god-descendant was at this distance.

Cinis’ eyes actually had galaxies painted in the pupils, and her flaming freckles reflected amber on the apples of her cheeks. Her decolletage rose and fell with the movements of her breathlessness, and in that moment, I swore I had never seen anything that compared to her.

But I was supposed to slaughter her.

“I have news for you changeling,” Cinis murmured as her iridescent wings bore down on me from either side. “You may try to steal a thousand embers from this place, but you will never gain my powers in doing so. So many before you have tried and failed, but your kind never return home, do they? Haven’t you wondered what’s become of your lost comrades all these years? Haven’t you wondered what I do to the hundreds who have tried to take my life?”

“What do you mean?” I found myself asking.

Cinis leaned in even closer and smiled. “I feed them to the flames, changeling. But I assure you, this is a kindness.”

“I doubt anyone would see that as a--” I began, but Cinis plumped her lips and shushed me, and as she trailed a heated fingertip along my jawline, I had to remind myself to keep a tight hold on my hilt.

“I know, it’s awfully wicked of me,” Cinis purred with a mock frown. “But it is your own fault. Your kind are so greedy and simple-minded. You think if you killed me, these fields would somehow continue to burn.”

I furrowed my brow at the statement, and Cinis’ freckles burned even brighter as her expression shifted to one of pure hatred. There was a hint of enjoyment flashing in her eyes, though, and her lips twisted into a deadly grin.

“I am not so easily destroyed, changeling,” she growled. “Even if you were strong enough to best me, the fields would devour you for it. They would turn molten and flood the entire forest the moment you stuck one of those pretty swords into my chest. This is how I know you are a foolish little changeling. You did not even consider the wrath that would descend when you brought so many blades into my domain.”

My stomach dropped at the statement, and I could tell without question that she meant every word. The heat of her powers radiated from her and warmed me all over, and I could see the boulders around us glowing brighter as her wings began to burn a blistering orange.

Then she flapped her wings just once, and the boulders blazed with flames for a brief second.

Cinis was connected to this place, and I had been minutes from flooding this forest with the wrath of her field.

This was a set up.

I took a gulp and stepped back away from her by a few paces, but the Ember Priestess jumped down from the platform around her shack. Her ample breasts jostled for several seconds after she landed, but I tried to ignore this as she stalked after me.

“I mean you no harm,” I said, and I meant it. “I am no changeling. I am merely lost, but I will find my own way from this place. Forgive me for…”

Cinis chuckled and shook her head before I could finish. Her wings billowed red, and her fingertips gleamed blue. She was heat itself, fiery and full of rage. Then she lunged at me with her knife glowing as hot as she was.

I dodged the attack and swiftly unsheathed my broadsword. Then I rushed toward the fence, caught my boot on the wooden slats, flipped, and barreled straight at her.

The woman was thrown off my by maneuver, but she recovered her confusion quickly. She dove to strike again, and I parried with her smaller blade before I swept my leg around to trip her up. She was faster than I anticipated, though, and she jumped up to easily dodge my leg before plunging her blade down into the ground at full force.

She had only been centimeters from impaling my swinging leg.

“You’re not getting away so easily, changeling!” she hissed in a sultry voice.

“I am not a changeling!” I growled back. “I will leave in peace if you’ll only stop attacking--”

Cinis lunged again with her weapon aimed directly at my heart, but I blocked the attack with a firm strike from my sword. The first hit only caused her to hiss in irritation, but the second landed at just the right angle to force the handle out of her grip,

The glowing knife flew through the air as she shrieked with fury.

Then I saw a hint of nervousness sweep across Cinis’ face as she stumbled backward and looked at the blade I had poised between us. It was only for a brief moment, but she almost looked innocent despite her glowing and batlike wings. She looked cornered and flustered and furious, and my gut clenched at the sight.

I wasn’t meant to be here. This woman wasn’t meant to die by my hand.

Then Cinis’ expression shifted to a livid mask once more, and she raised her finger tips toward me.

They were glowing blue at first, but then flames billowed from her heated flesh. Her wings ignited and her eyes burned as red as her flames, and it was like something switched in her. She looked like a true descendant of the gods, and she let out another shriek as she sprinted toward me.

And I couldn’t kill her. Not if I wanted myself and all of Ocadia to live through this.

My heart slammed in my throat, and I moved to run off to the side of her path, but she was much quicker than I was. This priestess was blessed with the blood of her holy ancestors, and I couldn’t escape her now. I would have to somehow fight her off.

I swiped my blade backward to throw off her trail, but she deflected it with her wing and kept pursuing. Then I saw her pounce in the corner of my eye, and I ducked, whipped around, and swiped at her legs.

Cinis yelped and stumbled to the ground.

This was my chance.

I chucked my broadsword aside and dove on top of her, and I pinned her to the ground by her arms. My legs wrestled with her violent kicks until I had her legs locked under mine, and she did her best to slash her flaming fingers at me. I could hardly contain her while heat radiated straight through me, and her wings struck forward to pelt me in the head.

“Shit!” I growled as the heat of the wings scalded my cheeks.

They weren’t any hotter than her flesh, but they were hot enough to singe my borrowed hair, and the sharp edges would thrash me to pieces if I didn’t act fast.

“I am not a changeling!” I tried once more. “I am only a man--”

“Liar!” she shrieked and bucked.

My hand was forced from one of her wrists, but I yanked my head back to dodge her flaming fingertips. Then I planted my free palm on the wing she had poised to bat me next, and I gritted my teeth against the pain.

Her heat ran through my palm as the wing became hotter, but I couldn’t help but notice they were much smoother to the touch than they looked. They felt like a mix of satin and velvet, and they were both strong and delicate at the same time as they began to scald my palm.

I couldn't hold her down for long like this. I tried to stabilize myself as she jolted her body forward and backward in an attempt to get free, but the Ember Priestess was truly uncontainable.

Cinis’ fury was mounting by the moment, but I couldn’t kill her. I could only try to stay alive and hope I escaped without either of us losing our lives today, and I tightened my hold on her wing and arm as I glared down into her furious eyes.

“I will destroy you for this changeling!” the descendant roared at me. “I will burn you in the fires of--”

I released her wing as soon as she was distracted with her threats, and I whipped my shortsword from my sheath before I drove it down directly beside her head.

The Ember Priestess shrieked and flinched in fear, and I took the opportunity to recapture her free arm, pin both her hands to her chest, and lock her wings down with my elbows. Now, I was within centimeters of her face, and she opened her eyes wide as she realized I hadn’t killed her.

The tampered, pig’s blood blade was actually only three inches from her skull, but I’d made sure the blade landed in a way that it couldn’t cut her if she whipped her head around.

“You’re not going to kill me today,” I seethed to the woman beneath me. “I have come too far in my life to die now, and it appears you have, too. My coming here was a mistake, and I--”

“You have no choice but to die,” Cinis hissed in my face. “You can’t stay on top of me forever. You will either burn to death or grow too tired to hold me down. You are a weak changeling, and a thief, and--”

“I am not a changeling!” I roared as my frustration mounted.

“You lie!” she shrieked. “You are too strong for this meager body you possess, and I can sense your deceit! You move too quickly, and you are armed for muder! Show yourself or, I’ll--”

The woman tried to take a bite right out of my nose, but I jolted back and barely managed to keep her pinned.

“Enough!” I snarled and thrust my arms tightly against her, and the woman seethed silently beneath me.

My breaths came fast and ragged as I realized we were both trapped in this situation, but there may have been one chance for an out.

Cinis clearly despised changelings, and it sounded as if she had good reason to. They’d attempted to kill her on multiple occasions, and while I had come here with a similar intent, I had no wish to destroy her now.

I simply needed to live and escape the wrath of this descendant without unleashing a molten flood, and if proving I wasn’t a changeling was the answer, then so be it.

I had never revealed my true form in combat before, but this time, it was my only option. I looked nothing like a hideous changeling in my true form.

“Enough,” I panted in a somewhat calmer tone. “You are correct in some respects. I am not as I appear, and I will reveal myself to you if only to convince you I am no changeling and mean you no harm.”

“Lies,” Cinis hissed once more, but I was already shifting.

I kept my body firmly pressed against her glowing one as my skin began to tingle all over, and bit by bit, my mirrored form began to fade. I felt myself getting taller with less stout of a belly. My lungs began to function better as my jaw realigned to a sterner cut. Then my white hair fell into my eyes as the straggly strands of the burly man vanished, and in a matter of seconds, I was myself again.

The freckles on Cinis’ face abruptly stopped glowing as she stared at me.

I knew my change would confuse her, but I hadn’t expected her to go completely limp under me. Her plump mouth went slack as she stopped fighting me, and I noticed her gaze flick down to my lips and shoulders for the briefest second.

“This can’t be,” Cinis stuttered after a moment. “Your eyes have stayed the same, but everything else about you is different. Powers like that don’t exist around here. You’re… you’re not a changeling. You can’t be. Wh-What are you?”

“I can explain,” I cautiously said, and I tried to sidestep her question slightly. “But first, I must confess I was sent here on purpose, and I am truly sorry I came.”

“It’s dark magic, isn’t it?” Cinis guessed as her eyes flared. “This was your plan the whole time, to change like this so you would see me as startled. Well I’m not startled. Far from it! So what if you can change from someone ordinary into someone very handsome! I’m not going to succumb to someone like you. I will not just falter at your knees! I am too strong for such weakness.”

I tried not to smile at her stubborn fib, but I didn’t point out how very startled she’d looked only seconds before.

It hadn’t even crossed my mind she would have mistaken me changing back to my former self for a ruse, but there was a part of me that bounced with joy at the fact that she saw me as handsome enough to try it.

Cinis was certainly the most beautiful and fearsome woman I’d laid eyes on in quite some time, but I was still more focused on trying to stay alive long enough to leave her presence unscathed.

Even though her ample breasts were pressed so firmly against my arm.

“It’s no dark magic, and I didn’t intend any of that,” I tried to say in my calmest tone. “I only wished to be honest with you. I am a mage. A rare one, perhaps, but only a mage. I swear this to you.”

Cinis stared up at me as her scowl faded slightly, and she eyed me up and down for a long moment while I very gradually eased up my hold on her arms and wings.

I still kept her in hand while I tried to work out how to pull my tampered shortsword from the ground near her head. One wrong move, and she could snatch it and end me right here, but she didn’t look like she even remembered the sword was there anymore.

Still, the Ember Priestess didn’t look tame in the slightest, and she let out a tense breath as she leveled her gaze on me.

“Go on then, mage,” Cinis snarled in a husky tone. “What are you doing in my domain?”

I drew a deep breath.

It was true I wanted to be honest with her, and I had many questions with regards to this entire job. I had a feeling she may be the one who could answer those questions better than any representative of Ignis would, but she was also capable of melting my flesh with one swipe of her smoldering fingers if she wanted to.

The longer I contemplated all this, the less hostile her eyes became, and I found myself staring into the strange galaxies in her pupils as my concerns slowly ebbed away.

Then I opened my mouth to tell her the truth, but the clever descendant beat me to it.

“You’re my assassin,” Cinis accused.

I froze for a second, and then I nodded slowly as I kept a careful hold on her, but she didn’t even flinch at the confirmation. Cinis didn’t go rigid or attack me, either. Her eyes just narrowed into threatening slits as her breasts rose against my arms to draw in a long, steadying breath.

“Name the one who hired you,” the Ember Priestess seethed, and her irises flashed like fire.