Page 99 of Crown of Ashes and Desire

For a moment, we simply stared at each other. Weeks. It felt like a lifetime since I'd held her, though she hadn't changed as dramatically as I'd feared. But she was still my little girl, still the most precious thing in both realms.

"Mama!" she cried, and launched herself into my arms.

I caught her, crushing her against my chest as tears I had been holding back for weeks finally broke free. She felt so small, so fragile, but also so wonderfully solid and real in my arms.

"My little light," I whispered into her hair, breathing in her scent of sunshine and sweet herbs. "I've missed you so much. So much, sweetheart."

"I missed you too," she said, her voice muffled against my shoulder. When she pulled back to look at me, her own eyes were bright with unshed tears. "I asked Aunt Nadine when you were coming back every day."

My chest tightened with remorse. "I'm so sorry I was away so long. I'm so sorry, Kiraz."

"Are you hurt?" she asked, her small hands touching my face where faint marks from the battle remained.

"I'm better now that I'm with you," I said truthfully, settling into the cottage's main room with her on my lap, unwilling to let her go. "Tell me everything. Tell me about your days, your dreams, what you've been learning."

For the next hour, I let myself be nothing but a mother listening to her daughter. Kiraz told me about the fox kit she'dbeen caring for, the flowers she'd learned to grow with Iris, the stories Nadine told her about the old gods. I drank in every word, every expression, trying to memorize this moment after weeks of separation.

It was only when she began talking about her "new magic" that my maternal contentment shifted back to concern.

"I have something to show you, Mama," Kiraz said, climbing down from my lap with sudden excitement. "Something new."

She held out her small hand, palm up, and my breath caught. Tiny shadows danced across her skin, intertwining with the more familiar golden light she had inherited from me. The shadows moved with purpose, forming intricate patterns before dissolving back into her natural light.

"When did this start?" I asked, trying to keep my voice calm.

"A few weeks ago," she said, watching the shadows with fascination rather than fear. "Aunt Nadine says I'm special. That not many people have both kinds of magic."

My heart clenched. "Did it frighten you when it first happened?"

She shook her head. "No, it felt... right. Like it was always supposed to be there." She looked up at me with curious eyes. "Is that why you were away? Because of magic like this?"

How to explain without revealing too much? "Partly," I said carefully. "There are people who don't understand that different kinds of magic can work together peacefully."

"Like light and shadow?" she asked with a child's direct logic.

"Exactly like that."

From the doorway, Iris cleared her throat gently. She had been quietly preparing tea, giving us privacy for our reunion, but now her expression was concerned.

"Ada," she said softly, "there's something else. Someone else with shadow essence just arrived in the village. Kiraz has been... aware of them."

I felt the blood drain from my face. "Aware how?"

Kiraz looked between us, picking up on the adult tension. "The shadows feel... familiar," she said with uncertainty. "Like they're calling to mine."

The binding between Hakan and me pulsed, and I realized with growing horror that Kiraz might be sensing him through whatever connection their shared shadow essence created.

"Kiraz," I said, my voice carefully controlled, "we need to play a special game while we're here, all right?"

Her eyes—so much like mine in color, but with Hakan's intensity—regarded me with intelligent curiosity. "What kind of game?"

"A pretend game. While we're here, you need to call me 'Ada' instead of 'Mama.' And we'll pretend that Aunt Nadine is your mother."

She frowned, not with confusion but with disapproval of the deception. "Why?"

How to explain politics and danger and five years of complicated history to a child, even one as precocious as Kiraz? "Because it's not safe right now," I said. "It's like hide and seek, but with our real names and who we are."

Kiraz considered this with the gravity of a much older soul. "Is he one of the people we're hiding from?" she asked. "The one with the familiar shadows?"

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