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I gasped. “Because he was so heartbroken?”
“Maybe?” Luna looked delighted at the idea that our masters had such a thrilling history. “Or maybe he moved there because Amara never goes to the capital. At least in Ostaria, he gets to see her whenever she passes through.”
I shook my head, not quite able to believe this flight of fancy. “But what about Amara and Hayes? What happened with them?”
“Everyone thought they would get married after they graduated, but instead Amara left her old master and the Guild behind and took up a traveling life.”
“She just left Hayes?” I asked. “Why didn’t he go with her?”
Luna grimaced. “That’s the bit that everyone has a different theory about. I don’t think anyone really knows what happened for sure. Amara just left, and Hayes wasdevastated.”
She looked at the door which remained firmly closed before continuing. “Apparently, at the time, everyone thought it was such a pity and a waste—the general consensus was that her potential would be lost away from the Guild. They thought that on her own she’d never develop her skills much further. But then she reappeared in the capital only two years later, asking to sit the mastery exam. Everyone thought it was a joke until she actually passed.”
My eyes widened and my lips curved upward as I imagined Amara’s triumph. I wished I could have seen it myself.
“Hayes was the only one who believed she could pass from the beginning. So then everyone was convinced this time they would get married.” Luna’s shoulders slumped. “But she just left again. And all these years have passed, and Hayes has never been romantically linked to anyone else.”
She flopped over to lie on her back. “At least that’s what the people at the Guild say.”
“He still loves her,” I breathed, also lying down and staring at the ceiling.
Luna turned onto her side again, her grin back in place. “He must, right? Isn’t it thrilling? And don’t you think Clay still likes her, too? Why wouldn’t he?” Her voice grew wistful. “I wish I could grow up to be half as amazing as she is.”
“You will,” I said firmly. “I know it. You’ll be the Amara of the Calistan Mages’ Guild.”
“Do you think so?” Luna covered her face and giggled. But when she looked back at me, she wore a more thoughtful expression. “It feels surreal sometimes. All those years in my home settlement, I never dreamed I could have a life like this.”
I nodded, knowing what she meant. “It feels surreal to me too—all the time. I was convinced the rest of my life would be spent on my parents’ farm. And now I don’t know if I’ll ever live there again.”
Even as I said the words, I knew they weren’t true. I did know the answer to that question. Even without my issues with my father, my life had grown past the farm and there was no going back—not to live anyway. I had seen the way Amara and Hayes helped people, and I wanted to do the same thing. I had been given power when others had almost none, and I owed it to them to make use of my gift.
Luna sighed wistfully. “I just hope one day someone loves me enough that they would wait for me for fifteen years.”
I sighed, imagining the love Amara had apparently given up all those years ago. She had told me once that she was alone on her travels but not lonely. I only hoped that was true and she didn’t regret what she had given up when she chose the traveling life.
ChapterSeven
As we prepared to leave the city, I kept a close watch for any sign of Nik, but I didn’t catch so much as a glimpse of him. Unsettled and disappointed, I had no choice but to leave without speaking to him, trusting that Amara was right and he would also be making his way northeast.
Much of our travel thus far had been following the Celadon River. But when Amara and I left Caltor, we struck out northeast, moving away from the water. Our intention was to pass north of the capital and through the kingdom’s northern farmlands. This was the part of the kingdom marred by the blight, and I was already steeling myself for the sight of burned-out fields.
We didn’t encounter any until our second day of travel, however, and by then, I had almost forgotten to look for them. The stretch of black hit me hard, a stark difference compared to the waving green stalks on the other side of the road. Even the air had a faint acrid stench, although I wasn’t sure if that was just my imagination, since the burning looked old.
The more I gazed at the ashy, blackened fields, the more my stomach churned, until I had to reach for my power to settle it. Beside me on the front bench of our cart, Amara sat still—unnaturally so. I glanced at her face and caught the sorrow and concern in her eyes.
She met my gaze and managed a small, sad smile.
“I bet it hits you even harder,” she said. “Since you grew up on a farm. So much effort wasted, and so much food lost.”
I nodded, not ready to put my feelings into words.
“I’ve never lived on a farm,” she continued, “but I’ve traveled among them for long enough that it’s horribly jarring to see burned fields.”
I kept my attention on her face, trying to ignore the glimpses of black in my peripheral vision. For the first time, it occurred to me to wonder where Amara had grown up. Somehow I’d never thought of her as a child. I knew a little of her apprentice days, but I hadn’t thought further back than that, as if she had sprung into existence already experienced and powerful.
“Were you born in Tarona?” I asked, suddenly curious.
Her eyebrows quirked slightly, as if taken off guard by the question.
