Not all auras shone brightly enough to be seen through walls, which was a mercy. Rook had trained his ability to see further, when he exerted energy to do so. That wasn’t at all necessary now. The moment the screaming started, the aura of the person inside flared like a dying star, exploding with radiant light. Reflexively, he tried to cover his eyes with his hand. It did nothing, of course – magesight and physical sight were entirely separate things – but reflexes were hard to break. Kiernan frowned in concern. He couldn’t see what had happened.

“Are you okay?”

“Who’s in there?” Rook asked.

“I’m not sure,” the prince said, starting towards the door, “I picked her up last night. I thought she was Irida Amaya at first, she looks just like how I remember her, but Irida would be older, now.”

Rook’s blood ran cold. He was quite confident that Irida was long dead. Until this day, he’d believed her children to be dead also. If he had been mistaken, there could be dire consequences.

“Show me,” he said.

Kiernan led him into the lodge. The girl was tied to the bed. She was probably beautiful, Rook mused, under normal circumstances. Now, her face was twisted in a rictus of pain. He looked critically for a resemblance to the Queen of the Dead. He himself had been only a child when Irida had disappeared, but he’d learned a great deal about her since, and he’d seen pictures of her many times. Still, it was difficult to determine whether there was a relation. Rook was prepared to bet, though, that if Kiernan thought her recognised her, he was correct. Kiernan called out to the guard he’d left in the lodge to watch her, commanding him to find a healer.

“She was fine when I last saw her,” he said, sounding concerned.

“She’s Snapped,” Rook said, “A healer won’t help her.”

He didn’t have to ask why the prince had restrained her. Angry sparks in her aura told him that if she could have left to wreak havoc, she would have done it. He watched her aura for a long moment, drawing out what information he could. She was powerful. Very powerful. The fact that she had only now Snapped was a testament to just how much raw magical strength she would be able to wield when she awoke. Magic was useful, but there was a price for everything. The price for magic was particularly steep. As a result, the human body withheld its magical potential for as long as it could, releasing it only when the level of threat was high enough. The more power a person had, the more difficult it was to trigger a Snap. There were powerful, or fortunate, potential mages all over Apera who would live and die without triggering their magic, but most mages Snapped in their childhood, the first time they encountered adversity. Naturally, children from harder backgrounds tended to Snap sooner. If this was Irida’s daughter, he was sure she’d experienced more horrors than most, yet here she was, an adult woman who had only now Snapped. He frowned as he realised what he was looking at. At first, he thought he must be mistaken but the aura didn’t change no matter how long he looked. This woman was not a subtle mage.

“She’ll be alright?” Kiernan asked, oblivious to Rook’s discovery, “I felt bad for tying her, but she seemed quite disoriented last night.”

“She’ll be okay,” Rook confirmed, thinking fast, “What do you plan to do with her?”

“Can you find out who she is by looking at her aura?”

“Not unless it’s an aura I’ve seen before – and it isn’t.”

“Oh,” Kiernan said, disappointed, “Then I suppose I’ll take her to father after all. I didn’t want to tease him about the Amayas if I was wrong, I know how dearly he’s missed Irida. Do you suppose this could be Tynan?”

Rook looked at the girl’s face.

“It seems unlikely,” he lied, “Not all pretty blond girls are Irida’s daughter.”

Kiernan shrugged, unperturbed.

“Father will know.”

Ether. Rook followed the prince out of the lodge, and back to the castle. The whole while, his mind worked furiously. He needed to find a way to get Tynan Amaya away from the king.