“You give me too much credit,” I said, though her words warmed something in my chest. “If I can pass the first trial, the second trial is a roll of the dice. So many options, so many things the Siren can ask us to do. And I don’t even have magical traces. So frustrating.”
“You’re too hard on yourself,” Soehl said. “You demand more than anyone I’ve ever met,
and you’re better than most Dragontails in history. You’re smart, educated. You’ll navigate the woods better than anyone,reach your markers faster. You’re not just brute force like half the legion. No offense, guys.” She gazed at the twins for a moment. “But you need to listen to me. What if she has a magical trace she doesn’t know about yet?”
The table fell silent. Soehl was always gentle, always soft, but right now, determination crackled in her expression.
Then Soehl placed a loose page in the center of the table. Her voice was quiet but strong. I looked down at the page she had placed before me.
Soehl slid a fragile parchment toward me. Even before I touched it, I could tell it was old, centuries old. The edges curled and browned, the ink warped where water had spilled and blurred half the lettering.
A legion ledger.
On the right side, a fading portrait clung to the page. The colors had washed into pale
ghosts of their original hues, but I could still make out the female’s features: autumn brown hair that fell past her shoulders; bronze skin; almond-shaped eyes framed by impossibly long lashes. Her irises were once gold, maybe amber or copper, but now they were just a softened glow under the fading pigment.
A Sunheart. That much was clear.
At the bottom, the ledger entries bled into smudges, the ink warped beyond easy recognition. I leaned closer, trying to decipher them.
Name: Adrieme Sclenfart.
“That doesn’t… that doesn’t make sense,” I whispered. Faction: sunheatt.
“Sunheart,” I muttered.
The date of birth was one of the only clear lines. March 2, 1088.
Three hundred years ago.
The ink was completely faded at the legion section of the ledger.
Then, below it there were three magical traces. Only one had survived the damage.
Magical Trace: Immunity.
My chest tightened.
“Immunity? To what? Who is this person?” The question escaped before I could hide the fear in it.
Soehl tapped the parchment softly. “Mental immunity to start with. I’ve been tracking this placement for weeks. It was filed under non-graduated trainees. But the birth date was clear, so I cross-referenced every Solenhart heir born that year.” She pulled out another book and opened it to a royal family portrait in the Glass Castle.
The Velvet King at your age. His parents were Katarina and Gabriel. And between them, a sister.
Adrienne Solenhart.
The resemblance struck like a blow.
“You have this magical trace in your lineage, Thea.” Soehl said, her golden eyes fixed on mine. The world blurred around me as my friends kept talking.
“The Velvet King’s sister?” Shakari breathed. “She was the first heir, the one they say died during her studies. Then her younger brother rose to the throne and became the most notorious king in Rionis.”
“And the most savage one,” Tran added. “No offense, Princess.”
“Tran, please. No jokes.” I swallowed. “They look the same. The names rhyme. The dates… they’re the same person.”
I considered the possibility for a moment. Soehl and Jan were right. Thalen was meant to get into my mind, to force the truth from me or catch a lie. He hadn’t. Professor Chen hadn’t been able to coerce me either, though she should have. They should both have. Their blood magic was powerful, stronger than any walls I should have been able to build.