The White Forest (Mages and Kingdoms Book 2) Read Free

deep within her throat. "No, I suppose plucking you down in the middle of a world of mages has diluted your impressionability." The old woman's expression sobered. "Moonstone is my own creation, born of my strong reading ability and my naïve curiosity. I worked at night in the back of the palace behind the garden shed. I hesitated to light my work with a torch as my mind already knew I tinkered with something dangerous. I pounded it with a stone by the light of the moon alone and thus named it so."
    She placed a weathered hand on Amelie's arm and turned to face her fully. "Amelie," she spoke. "I used my creation to help Seth. Being half human, his resistance would have been weak by mage standards and I could make it strong. Her highness, Princess Elmeda, wished it for his safety. I promise you, I would not have used it to enhance your power under my own free will."
    Amelie's eyes narrowed. "But you did. My mother said you used it for me."
    "Aye, Princess. I did." Henna's smile was wan and not the burst of pleasantry Amelie had grown accustomed to. "To be blunt, I do not seek only men to share my bed. The persuasive power your mother held while pregnant with you had its sway with me. I did as she bade while believing myself to be in love with her."
    Amelie pursed her lips in sympathy. "My mother had many faults," she said gravely, still sore from missing her but recognizing the wrong of it.
    "Your mother was much like my son. She worked for something good in the wrong ways."
    The sound of chopping wood met Amelie's ears and she saw Simon and Serena working together to build back up the store of firewood. Serena with a flick of her hand positioned the wood and Simon brought an axe down, splitting in two.
    A smile stretched across Serena's face. "You have nothing to prove. I could split this wood with a single thought. You needn't sweat."
    Simon grinned, wiping his brow in between swings. "Let me be a man, sister," he commanded playfully. "I like the feel of the wood separating under my strength. It's a chore I don't mind."
    All smiles and playfulness fled from Serena's face as she realized Amelie and Henna had returned.
    "Then pick it up yourself, too," she told Simon brusquely before retrieving a pail of water and carrying it inside. Simon waved at the women and shook his head as they drew closer.
    "Pay her no mind," he said of Serena's hasty departure. "She is slow to trust new people. She'll come around. She's very protective of what we're trying to accomplish here."
    Here was the cabin situated on the edge of the White Forest where Henna, Simon, and Serena housed hidden mage children. Five children in all and growing in number, Amelie had learned of their existence the first day she arrived in the forest.
    Amelie didn’t know what to expect as she followed Simon into the forest that day, tired, starved, and depressed beyond measure for all she had lost.
    She remembered the brilliant white of the powdered snow, but none of the chill that should have come with it.
    “I didn’t feel cold,” she remembered telling the man who met her in the cave.
    “Only humans feel the chill,” he’d answered. “We are not done traveling yet. Come with me.”
    He took her hand and whispered again that same enchanting whisper that tingled the hairs on her neck. Brilliant gold haze surrounded him as he spoke furiously. Amelie desperately wanted to know what was being said, but she could see the concentration on his face. Whatever he was doing, it was taking much effort. She kept her lips still.
    Though they had stopped walking, the air around them changed. When he finished his chant, the haze cleared and they were once again in the cave. But Amelie could feel the change. A glance out of the mouth of the cave revealed that the powdered snow was gone. There were animal sounds – birds and bullfrogs and a dog barking in the distance.
    The man’s hand felt cold in hers.
    “You expended a lot of magic,” she said, remembering what Rankor