Sacrifice (The Snow Queen #2)(68)

“So my answer is no, you aren’t anything like him. You were given a very similar set of situations, and you reacted in the exact opposite way. That is why your magic is so good and beautiful and pure enough to stand up to his twisted powers.”

Rakel hugged her. “Thank you.” In the back of her mind, though, the comparison still lingered. She trusted Phile, and the Robber Maiden would never lie to her, but she had only known her a short time. What if there was a hidden darkness in Rakel that Phile had not yet seen? What if her anger at Kai’s mother and the rage from Tenebris’s attack on Gerta and Kai weren’t anomalies?

Phile squeezed her tight. “Anytime, Little Wolf. I am happy to be your compass in the dark.”

Rakel released Phile and opened and closed her mouth, wondering if she should voice the lurking hesitation. She was instead, struck by the memory of Phile’s own words. “When we first started our morning practices, you said I am powerful because I love my powers.”

“Yep,” Phile said. “You never let anyone’s fear and hatred twist the potential for the beauty you saw in your magic, and the capacity of your soul is shown in the way you’ve stepped up and reacted to this war, to the invasion, and to the people who used to hate you.”

“What does the capacity of my soul have anything to do with magic?” Rakel asked.

“Ahh, it has everything to do with it. You naturally have a lot of magic—that’s something you’re born with. But the strength of your magic—the pureness and your ability to wield it? Who you are as a person greatly affects that.”

Rakel tipped her head. “Forgive me if I am prying…but how did you learn this?”

Phile grinned. “You mean why does a thief brat know so much about magic?” Foedus appeared in her hands, and she tossed it up and down a few times. Her smile faded. “My father had magic. Not very much—it was little more than a pinch. He was the one who found Foedus on a research trip to Ringsted and gave it to me.”

Phile held the ugly dagger above her head and stared up at it. “It’s a relic—you can get them ridiculously cheap in Baris.”

Rakel was afraid to breathe, lest it would make Phile stop sharing. This opportunity was rare indeed. “My father was a scholar at heart, and he loved researching magic. He would tell me stories when I was little, and he taught me for years—even though he knew I didn’t have a speck of it. He told me the world—Baris included—was missing out on the great potential of magic users…that they could be heroes and change the world.”

“He sounds wise.”

“Yes, but he would have been lost without my mother. To begin with, he would have starved. Scholars don’t make much, and Father spent every cent he had on books. Being the husband of the robber queen of Baris, though, kept him well fed!”

“Is he still in Baris with your mother, then?” Rakel asked.

Phile’s smile grew sad. “He died. It’s why I started traveling. I wanted to see what these people that he had such great dreams for were like. He would have loved you.”

Rakel blinked. “Me?”

“Yes. You are everything magic users should be.”

“Powerful?”

“No. Compassionate, responsible, and aware of the effects your magic has on those around you,” Phile said.

Rakel shut her eyes and basked in the warmth Phile’s words brought to her fingers and chest. “I’m honored that you see that in me…Phile…” She paused, then opened her eyes to meet Phile’s gaze, a shadow still haunting her. “Even if we win, I fear Verglas will one day be torn apart because of the mirror. Rumors of the mirror will outlive us.”

“You can’t save the world, Little Wolf. It’s valiant of you to want to try, but you should be content knowing what you’ve prevented already.”

Rakel’s thoughts swirled around her—the knowledge that her magic lived in the ice structures she built, the memory of pushing magic into the Chosen magic user. She was different. Love was a part of everything she’d ever done, even before there were people—friends, a family, a nation—to love. I’m not like Tenebris, and I will prove it.

“What if I could do something to stop it?” Rakel clasped her hands together as she warmed up to the idea. “What if I could make it so no creature of darkness, no evil magic could enter Verglas?”

“How?”

“When I face Tenebris during the last battle…what if I pushed my magic into the very earth—the way I build it into my ice walls. It would repel those with dark magic—like Tenebris. He can’t touch my ice—I witnessed it myself in our last fight.”

“It would take a ridiculous amount of magic to secure the entire country,” Phile said, raising an eyebrow.

“But I have it. Sunnira called me a monster, and she may be right. I have never run dry.”

Phile placed her hands on her shoulders and squeezed. “Rakel, you’ll die. At the very least, you’ll fall unconscious and never wake up.”

Rakel tried to give her a brave smile. “I know. But Verglas would be safe. No one would be able to get to that stupid mirror…and my magic would protect Verglas’s boundaries much longer than I could.”

“You don’t have to do this,” Phile said. “General Halvor will find a way.”