Jem looked out of the window to see four horses converging on their carriage. They looked like bandits, and for a moment, Jem wondered if this was a trick, if they were about to be robbed.

One of the men was tall and muscular, and another was as squat and strong as a mountain, his hair shaved close to his head. There was a boy who looked even younger than Jem. And there was a woman! Her hair was up in a braid, and she looked just as fierce as the others. All of them wore clothes that were rough and dirtied, with makeshift repairs and adjustments made along the way.

Jem stared at them as they fell into rank behind Matias. The young one met Jem’s gaze and gave her a friendly smile. The woman next to him reached out and swatted his arm, then turned to glare at Jem. Jem shrunk back in her seat. Matias nodded at the group, giving them some silent signal to fall back and ride behind the carriages.

Jem remembered the sparks she had seen fly from Matias’s hands and wondered if all of the mages could do that.

“How is this possible?” Jem asked. In her wonder, she forgot to be polite again. “Didn’t the mages all die out hundreds of years ago? Why are there suddenly five of them now, out of the blue?”

“My father had sources who told him the mages didn’t die out,” Lukka replied.

“They didn’t?” Jem sat with her mouth agape.

“Hundreds of years ago, the nobility began to feel threatened by the power the mages held,” Lukka continued. “Many were killed, but there were stories about how others simply went into hiding. The nobility told everyone the mages had died because it was easier that way.”

“Mages have been living in secret this whole time?” Jem asked.

Lukka nodded. “At least that’s what my father believed. The reason I was out on my ship is because he had sent me to find them. I was part of the third group he sent out.”

“The third? What happened to the first two?”

“We lost track of the first group. We sent a second to find out what happened to them, and they discovered that everyone had all died, seemingly in an explosion of some kind.” Lukka leaned forward in his seat. “Or so we thought. It turned out that a handful of the first group of soldiers—Matias and the other four with him—somehow absorbed the magic that had been hidden away at Mt. Teluria. He told us the story after rescuing us from the pirates. He told us little else, though.”

Lukka leaned back in his seat and smiled. “Kind of nice that we didn’t have to go all the way to Mt. Teluria to find the mages. They came to us. Granted, there were pirates involved, and I could have done without that, but everything worked out in the end.”

Jem sat back and tried to process everything she’d just been told. She remembered the day her father came home to tell her that Matias was dead. The general had been completely cold. He hadn’t offered any comfort, even when Jem had collapsed onto the floor, sobbing. Instead, he had just said that she should be glad of this outcome, and now she was free from the mistake of her marriage.

The general never told her what mission Matias had been on, or how he’d died. There was a small part of Jem that had feared her father had sent Matias to his death on purpose. But she was never brave enough to ask that question out loud. She tried to glean some information from her father, but after he dismissed her initial questions, Jem had accepted that she’d never have answers.

Well, she had some of them now. And a hundred more questions. They tumbled around in her head until they arrived at the palace. When the carriage door opened, Jem was surprised to see Matias standing outside of it, offering his hand to help her down.

Jem swallowed and placed her hand in his, feeling his familiar, rough, warm skin. At his touch, her whole body seemed to burst into flames once more. But as soon as her feet touched the ground, Matias dropped her hand and turned away. He nodded to the other mages, and Jem watched them walk toward the stables.

General Vespertine strode up to the prince, ignoring both Matias and his daughter completely. “Is your father prepared to receive us?” he asked.

“I sent word ahead,” Lukka replied dryly. As if on cue, a man came out of the massive doors and bowed to the prince.

“The king is waiting for you,” he said. “I am to escort you all to the throne room immediately. Please follow me.”

Jem lifted her skirts to walk up the steps and through the towering front doors. She glanced up at the towering ceiling as the small group walked through the enormous hall. She’d been here a few times before, for state functions, but she never got used to how ornate everything was. The hall they were walking down was lined with tapestries, telling the history of Eyvind. The closer they got to the throne room, the further back in time the tapestries went. They were practically at the end of the hall before the mages appeared in Eyvind’s story.

Jem paused at one of the tapestries. It showed a group of mages, standing in a circle, combining their magic to create what looked like a shield. Jem sensed a presence beside her and turned to ask the prince a question, but her words dried up when she saw that it was Matias standing nearby. He glared at the tapestry.

“Can…can you do all this?” Jem asked hesitantly.

Matias just scowled. “Come,” he said. “Everyone is waiting.”

Jem glanced down the hall to see the group gathered in front of the throne room doors. All of them turned back to look at her. She’d lingered too far behind. She lowered her head in apology and hurried to meet them.

The doors opened and Jem followed everyone inside.

King Mather sat on his throne, a commanding presence even in his stillness. Queen Belinda sat on another throne next to him, and standing on the other side was Lukka’s older brother, the crown prince, Soren St. Leon. He was a carbon copy of his father, the same quiet authority radiating from his figure.

Jem and the rest of the group approached the throne and bowed deeply. When they rose, the king spoke.

“I received a message from my son that he had found the kingdom’s new mages. I am intrigued and wish to see them for myself.”

Matias stepped forward and bowed. “My king,” he said.

King Mather looked at him carefully, then turned to his son Lukka. “How is this possible?” he asked.

Lukka told the king the same thing he told Jem in the carriage—that Matias and four others had been found after an explosion at Mt. Teluria and that they had somehow absorbed the magic.

“Why are the others not here?” the king asked.

Matias clenched his fists, but only Jem seemed to notice. “They are weary from their travels, Your Majesty. I sent them to stable their horses and rest.”

The king looked closely at Matias. “And they trust you to speak for them? Are you their leader?”

Matias nodded once. The king turned his attention to General Vespertine. “And General! What are you doing here? A part of the regiment that brought the mages back to the capital?”

Jem’s father looked both confused and slightly angry. “N-no, Your Majesty,” he said. “I came about…a marriage dispute.”

King Mather frowned. “And what does a marriage dispute have to do with my mages?”

General Vespertine sputtered for a moment, so Prince Lukka stepped in. “The general’s daughter is married to Matias, Father.”

The general managed to find his words. “Your Majesty, it is an elopement that was never consummated. I came to request its official annulment as it has been well over two years since the marriage in question occurred and is thus null.”

Lukka stepped forward again. “Father, would you really deny your new mage his lawful wife?”

“Ah,” the king replied. “An unusual circumstance.” He looked thoughtful, then leaned over to whisper something to Queen Belinda. She gave an inaudible reply, and he nodded. He spent a few more minutes gazing into space, turning the matter over in his mind.

Jem waited with bated breath. Everyone else in the room seemed tense, too, waiting to see whose side the king would take.

Finally, the king laughed. “I do not think this will be a problem.”

He didn’t elaborate, so General Vespertine stepped forward. “An annulment, then?” he said hopefully. “Due to non-consummation?”

King Mather smiled, and Jem’s stomach dropped. She might not have recognized this new Matias, but to have her marriage annulled would be to have him torn from her a second time. She wasn’t ready for that.

“If the marriage was never consummated,” the king said, “then the answer is simple. My decree is for them to consummate the marriage now.”