Chapter 33: Who Are You?

Five nights had passed since Eldrin awakened.

He had turned the quietest hours of the day into his own training time.

From eight in the evening until one in the morning, he gathered mana. The process was painfully slow. He would sit alone with his eyes closed, following the unfamiliar current through his body and trying to learn how to retain it rather than letting it dissipate.

By the fifth night, the number finally changed.

Mana: 20

Eldrin stared at it for a while.

Twenty wasn’t impressive. He had read enough about awakened mages to know that much. Still, four nights earlier the number had been zero.

That counted for something.

After one in the morning, he began working on his abilities.

The books had given him plenty of advice, though none of it had been particularly useful in practice. Every author seemed to describe the first steps differently. Some emphasized mana circulation. Others insisted that visualization mattered more. A few argued that the key was understanding the nature of the Pathway itself.

Eldrin had tried all of it.

Nothing happened.

Night after night, the result was the same.

He was beginning to understand why noble families sent their children to academies. A teacher could watch you make a mistake and tell you what you were doing wrong. Eldrin had to make the mistake himself, then search through three different books to work out what it might have been.

He looked at the display again.

Shadow Step — 0%

"All right."

He rose and crossed the room.

A patch of darkness lay beneath a stone pillar several feet away.

That would do.

Eldrin stared at it.

He imagined himself there.

Nothing.

He tried again.

Still nothing.

The mana inside him dropped slightly.

19

His jaw tightened.

Again.

The number fell to 18.

Eldrin rubbed his forehead.

He had been at this for days.

He was tired, hungry, and increasingly irritated.

One more attempt.

This time he stopped thinking about the skill itself.

He stopped thinking about movement.

He fixed his attention on the destination.

The exact patch of darkness.

The five feet between them.

The shadows around it.

The shape of the stone pillar above it.

He held the image until everything else began to fade.

Then something answered.

His mana moved.

The display flickered.

Shadow Step activated.

The world lurched.

There was no sensation of running. The distance simply seemed to disappear beneath him.

Eldrin stumbled out of the shadow beside the pillar and caught himself against the wall.

He stared at the place where he had been standing.

Then at his own hands.

"Hah..."

He bent over, breathing hard.

It had worked.

Five feet.

Only five feet.

But he’d done it.

No instructor.

No demonstration.

He had spent four nights failing until he finally understood what the ability wanted from him.

A tired smile appeared.

"Got you."

His legs gave him little time to enjoy it.

Eldrin sat down against the wall, meaning to rest for a minute.

The next thing he knew, someone was shaking his shoulder.

"Wake up."

He opened his eyes to a blurred ceiling.

He had no idea when he’d fallen asleep.

When he tried to stand, every muscle protested. His knees buckled almost immediately, and he caught himself against the desk.

"You’ve been pushing yourself too hard."

Eldrin blinked sleepily.

"I know."

He managed to straighten.

"I’ll sleep in the library."

..

He took one step toward the reception desk.

Then another.

His body had other plans.

.....

[POV — Ennessa]

Ennessa set the report down.

"So you found nothing?"

The man standing across from her shook his head.

"Nothing reliable."

"At all?"

"We confirmed that the two of them entered Maria through a slave port in the former Novaryn territory. Beyond that, their records become extremely difficult to trace."

Ennessa looked at the report again.

"Where were they from before that?"

"We don’t know."

"Family?"

"No confirmed records."

"Village?"

"Nothing."

She leaned back in her chair.

That bothered her.

People did not simply appear at a slave port.

There should have been something before it. A village, a merchant caravan, an estate, a border crossing something that left a record.

"Have they said anything?"

"They claim they don’t remember clearly."

Ennessa tapped the edge of the paper.

"After this long?"

"They were displaced during the fall of Novaryn. It’s possible slave traders memories are incomplete."

She wasn’t convinced.

She closed the file.

"That’s enough. You can go."

The man bowed and left.

The door shut behind him.

Ennessa remained seated.

She had spent past few days collecting little pieces of information about Caiden.

None of them made him less suspicious.

His behavior didn’t fit an ordinary farm boy.

And now he’d awakened.

Too many things.

She stood.

There was only one way to settle it.

Ask him.

The library was quiet when Ennessa arrived.

She pushed the door open and stepped inside.

A few books drifted between the upper shelves under Rowan’s control, but the old librarian himself was nowhere in sight.

Her eyes moved toward the reception desk.

Caiden was asleep.

He had fallen forward over a stack of books, one cheek resting against his forearm. A page of notes lay beneath his hand.

Ennessa slowed.

He looked exhausted.

More than usual.

Then his fingers twitched.

His breathing changed.

"No..."

The word was barely audible.

Ennessa took another step.

His brow tightened.

"Leave him..."

His breathing grew ragged.

Then suddenly.....

"NO!"

Eldrin jerked awake.

He pushed himself upright so quickly that the chair nearly tipped behind him.

For a second he stared blindly ahead.

Then he saw her.

"Lady Ennessa..."

"Stand up."

He obeyed, though his movements were slow.

Ennessa waited until Eldrin had steadied himself.

"Sit."

He glanced at the chair behind him but didn’t sit.

"I can stand."

"I wasn’t asking."

Eldrin slowly sat.

Ennessa remained standing across the desk.

For a moment, she said nothing.

Eldrin watched her carefully.

He had learned enough about her over the past year to know that silence from Ennessa usually meant she was deciding how much she wanted to say.

Finally, she spoke.

"Who were you before you came to House Korrandis?"

Eldrin’s answer came after a short pause.

"A farmer’s son."

"In Eldia?" Ennessa added.

"Yes."

"Where?"

He hesitated.

"A village near the eastern border."

"Which one?"

"Raven."

Ennessa’s eyes narrowed slightly.

She watched him for several seconds.

Then she pulled out the report she’d been reading earlier and placed it on the desk.

"I’ve spent the last few days looking into your background."

Eldrin’s eyes moved to the paper.

"I couldn’t find your village."

He said nothing.

Still nothing.

"And the people I questioned at the port couldn’t remember much about you."

Ennessa leaned back slightly.

"Do you understand why that’s strange?"

Eldrin swallowed.

"I suppose it is."

"Do you?"

He looked at her.

"I don’t know what you want me to say." Eldrin asked.

"The truth would be a good start." Ennessa said.

Ennessa noticed the hesitation.

Then she changed direction.

"Who is Zarian?"

Eldrin’s face changed before he could stop it.

Just slightly.

But Ennessa saw it.

She had been watching for exactly that.

"He’s..."

Eldrin stopped.

"Someone I know."

"That’s not much of an answer." Ennessa said.

"He looked after me." Eldrin replied.

"When?"

Eldrin stared at the floor.

"For a long time."

Ennessa’s voice softened, "Does he matter to you?"

Eldrin looked up immediately.

"Yes."

There was no hesitation that time.

Ennessa nodded once.

"That’s what I thought."

She leaned forward.

"So let’s try this again."

Her voice was calm now, almost conversational.

"I don’t need every detail of your past."

Eldrin looked at her cautiously.

"But I do need to know whether you’re a danger to my family."

"I’m not." Eldrin replied.

"You entered our private archive."

"I know." Eldrin said.

"You awakened inside our estate."

"I didn’t choose where it happened."

Ennessa held his gaze.

"And yet every time I look closer, I find another thing that doesn’t fit."

Eldrin didn’t answer.

She let the silence remain.

Then quietly:

"I won’t ask you to tell me your entire life."

Eldrin looked at her.

"But stop insulting me with stories you don’t even believe yourself."

That landed.

His shoulders stiffened.

Ennessa continued.

"You’re hiding something. Fine."

She reached for the report.

"I’m not going to drag it out of you by force."

A pause.

"But if that secret puts House Korrandis in danger, I will find it."

Eldrin’s fingers tightened around his trousers.

"And if it doesn’t?"

Ennessa looked at him.

"Then one day you may decide you can tell me yourself."

Eldrin studied her expression.

There was no warmth there.

No threat either.

Just certainty.

Then Ennessa added quietly:

"Now tell me one thing."

Eldrin waited.

"Is Zarian alive?" Ennessa asked.

His head lifted.

"Yes."

For the first time, something in Ennessa’s expression eased.

"Good."

Eldrin stared at her.

He had expected another demand.

Instead, she picked up the report and closed it.

"That’s enough for today."

He blinked.

"That’s it?"

"For today."

She looked toward the library entrance.

"And Caiden?"

"Yes?"

"Next time you lie to me..."

Her eyes returned to his.

"...make sure the lie is better than the one you told me today."

Then she walked away.

Eldrin remained in his chair, staring after her.

He still hadn’t told her anything.

Yet somehow...

He felt as though she’d learned more than she had any right to.