“Where?” Markella asked, her heart pounding.

“Toward Arva… Ten men,” said Louppos.

“Our neighborhood?” said Kevis, his eyes going wide.

“You don't think they're going to arrest my grandparents? After what I said in class?” Louppos said, tears springing to his eyes.

“They'd have given them a warning, they wouldn't send a whole squad for that…” Kevis countered. “Markella? Where are you going?”

She couldn't focus on the two boys' argument. Nor on Louppos's fear. “I have to see… where they're going,” she said, already moving toward their neighborhood. She had to know who the enemies were.

“Why are you so curious? Wait, I want to know too,” said Kevis, and followed her.

She knew there was no point trying to stop him. Louppos ran after them as well.

The road from the school was wide and sloping. But once you reached Arva, you lost yourself in its countless narrow lanes. Through those alleys Markella now ran and wove, trying to break out onto the main street and find the Royal Watch.

As they neared the paved road that cut through Arva, she saw a gathered crowd and drew up short, panting.

“Where are they off to, on a day like this?” said a woman.

“Must be serious, for that many Watchmen to come out of the palace,” added the man beside her, looking off to his right.

In the distance she saw the glittering uniforms of the Watch and the crest of the House of the Falcon streaming in the wind. They marched fast and in step, heading toward the side where Arva gave way to the forest.

No… Not there!

“Come on! Let's follow them quietly, so we don't land ourselves in trouble,” said Kevis, and Markella followed mechanically. Her mind was already somewhere else.

The three of them followed the Watch, and soon they reached the crossroads where Markella said goodbye to them every day.

The blood froze in her veins. She couldn't breathe. Her legs dragged her after Kevis of their own accord.

“Markella, they turned into your lane… It's only three or four houses down from there,” Louppos observed, full of curiosity.

Kevis looked at her. “You live in a dangerous neighborhood!” he said, smiling.

But she did not smile. She ran ahead and hid behind the great pines that ringed the houses in that little corner of Arva. The other two hid near her, each behind a trunk.

Her chest heaved wildly. The Watchmen advanced without pause. They did not stop at the first house, where two elderly people lived. They pressed on. The next was the house Markella feared.

And there, the Watchmen took their positions.

Five of them lined up before the door, and the rest vanished among the trees, surrounding the little two-story house.

“This can't be right! They've made a mistake! Markella, why are they going to your house?” she heard Kevis's agitated voice.

“I don't know…” she stammered.

Two of the Watchmen kicked in the front door with ease. Mother wouldn't have barred it yet — she was still waiting for Markella to come home.

If only I'd come back sooner…

Her eyes filled with hot, silent tears. Her hand clawed at the rough trunk, her nails digging into the resin-slick bark. The two Watchmen came out, dragging Mother Ellanimi by the hair.

Markella's body shook. Her mouth had gone dry. Her knees gave out. She dropped to the ground.

“Mother…” she whispered.

One of the two Watchmen went back inside. The other stood over her mother, fallen to the ground, her eyes on the dirt.

“Ellanimi Sayve. You are charged and placed under arrest for the offense of concealing from the king and the people of Aseri that you are a descendant of the nation of Rovia. By the sacred laws of our land, every Rovian descendant is an enemy and must be removed from our soil,” the Watchman declared.

But he was not finished. “You are further charged with the use of magic, having by forbidden means altered the color of your eyes so that your origin would go unnoticed. You will be tried, and our King will decide your sentence.”

Her mother's eyes were still fixed on the ground, and she did not react.

“This can't be…” she heard Kevis say, just as Louppos let out a stifled cry.

Tears blurred Markella's eyes, but she saw the Watchman who had gone inside come back, saying something.

“Where is your daughter?” the other one then asked her mother.

To that question, Mother Ellanimi answered. She raised her head slowly and looked him in the eye. She was far off, but her eyes were not wet. They held the same fire they'd had when she spoke of the small stones.

“The gods did not bless me with children.”

The Watchman lunged and kicked her mother in the stomach.

“No!” Markella cried, smothering her scream in her palm.

“Don't look at me with your filthy Rovian eyes, witch! Where is your daughter, Markella Sayve?” the Watchman screamed.

Her mother clenched her fists and rose again. Blood dripped from her lips. And she lifted her gaze once more — to look him in the eye.

“I have borne no daughter. And I know no Markella Sayve!”

The Watchman did not hesitate to kick her once more. “Bind her! We'll find the girl later. Back to the palace!”

In seconds, manacles locked around Mother Ellanimi's wrists, and heavy ropes began to drag her down the road. Surrounded by the men of the Royal Watch, her mother walked toward the last place she deserved: the Royal Prison. She walked with her head high. However much blood dripped from her lips, however much the Watchman's kicks had hurt her, she walked proud.

Markella was frozen with shock. The tears fell without stopping. Would she ever see her mother again? What would her sentence be? Her mind refused to work. Still on her knees, she began to shake her head from side to side. This was a lie. A bad dream…

What woke her from the nightmare was the movement behind her.

Kevis began to walk slowly toward her. She could hear his steps on the fallen pine needles. His rhythm was the rhythm he kept in training. The one he used when he was readying an attack.

She turned her head slowly toward him.

He was looking at her.

Not the way he had looked at her for years.

“Were you lying to us? All these years?” he asked her. His voice was broken.

“No! I never lied, not once!” Markella answered.

She glanced at Louppos. He had covered his mouth with both hands and was weeping.

“Your mother. She didn't deny being Rovian. So what does that make you?” Kevis asked again.

What am I? I have no idea anymore.

“I am not Rovian!” said Markella. It was the only thing she knew for certain.

It was as if he no longer heard her. “And do you use magic too? To change the color of your eyes?”

“Kevis, these are my eyes! The green eyes you always tell me you love!”

“Markella!” he shouted her name. For a moment he feared the Royal Watch would hear his voice. “Why did you do this to me? How am I supposed to face my parents now?”

“I am not Rovian!” Markella repeated. “But even if I were — what would it matter?”

She expected no answer. But at last she could say it out loud. The boy who had adored her stood before her demanding explanations. And she, for the first time in her life, could not reason her way to a single conclusion.

Kevis took another step closer. His eyes had narrowed to two slits. Fear and hatred warred within them.

“I'll do it myself. With my own hands I'll hand you over to the Royal Watch, Rovian.”

First, someone had informed on her mother. Now her best friend was betraying her. The Aseri she knew was not perfect. But it was full of good people. That was what Mother Ellanimi always said.

How wrong you are, Mother… No one is good to you once you stop pleasing them.

The tears were still falling. But her body no longer trembled. She remembered every trick her mother had taught her.

Kevis had begun his attack — and Markella was waiting for him.