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The fighting moved back to the camp. I note this as I step over charred bodies, mouths gaping in silent screams, weapons dangling from gnarled fingers. My steps crunch on blackened bones and bits of armour and weaponry, the remains of the battle cracking beneath my bare feet.

Whatever beast did this is a force to be reckoned with.

Something latches onto my ankle and I jerk away, staring down at the arm that twitches and the hand that claws for me.

"Help... me," the person chokes out, blood leaking down the side of their mouth. I bend and pick up the dagger abandoned beside them. My lips twist as I drive the blade deep into their chest and pierce their heart. They let out a breath and then claw no more.

I pull back with the blade, taking in the carnage around me with wide eyes. At first my gaze passes over it, but then I blink and look back.

Someone lays curled amongst the bodies, pale skin peeking through the soot and ash. I approach them with careful steps, my fingers curling around the dagger in my grip. I kneel beside the trembling person, blade ready, but I don't strike.

Apart from the soot on their skin, they appear unharmed. My heart begins to quicken as I stare at them, at her.

The dagger slips from my grip and I reach forward, fingers shaking. I brush the tendrils of fiery orange hair from her face. Her eyes are closed, her full lips are parted, but there's something familiar about her.

I stand before I can dwell on it and hurry away from the quivering girl to push into one of the crudely made huts, eyes adjusting to the sudden darkness. I dig through the supplies that appear to have mostly been taken from the village. I grab a cloak and take it back out into the cold to that pale girl surrounded by blood and bodies and ash.

Kneeling beside her, I drape the cloak over her, tucking it beneath her icy skin. My hands clench at my sides as I stare at her.

Did she do all of this? The beast the savages were fighting...

I blow out a breath and get to my feet again to continue searching for more supplies. I manage to find my pack and gloves, relief warming my chest as I slip them back on and cover the markings.

Keeping the girl in my line of sight, I find her clothes too.

By the time I kneel by her side again, clothes piled beside me with more layers wrapped around myself, her eyelids are beginning to flutter. I hold my breath, waiting for her to awaken. She lets out a groan, her hand shifting to press against the side of her head, causing her vibrant auburn hair to drape over her face again.

I don't touch her. I let her recover on her own.

Her eyes open and I'm greeted with bright violet irises that find me and stare. Then she scrambles back, the cloak slipping down her bare shoulders.

"I'm not going to hurt you," I tell her, raising my hands, showing her my palms. "I think..." I glance at the bodies around us. "I think you saved us."

She doesn't reply for a long time, sucking in breaths as she grabs the cloak to cover herself more. "Who are you?" she asks, her voice barely a whisper, scratchy and broken.

I reach into my pack and set a flask of water before her. "My name's Azura," I say, meeting her violet eyes.

She hesitates before she reaches forward and grabs the flask, uncorking it and gulping down the contents in a hurry.

"You might want to sip that," I reply with a wince, but she doesn't seem to hear me. Water runs down her slender neck and soaks the fabric of the cloak. She lowers the flask with heavy breaths, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Thanks," she says, her voice clearer, almost smooth now.

I dip my chin and take the flask back, finding it mostly empty.

The girl finally glances around her and her breath hitches as she takes in the blackened bodies and stains of blood in the dirt and snow. "Mother," she hisses, her hand lifting to press against her temple again. "I just... I didn't mean for any of this."

"You're a shape-shifter?" I ask.

She narrows her eyes at me before answering. "Yes."

I take a moment to let that information sink in. A shape-shifter. I had feared that Ari was the only one left after what Palmira did to his people. "Okay," I say instead of voicing my whirling thoughts. "You need to put on some clothes before you freeze." I hand her the bundle of clothes and she takes them with a frown.

"Why are you helping me? You don't know me."

"Why did you help us?" I retort with a tilt of my head. She doesn't reply, so I turn my back on her to give her privacy and go in search of some food to take with me. I still need to make the journey to Mount Krashira. My goal hasn't changed.

"Where are you heading?" the girl asks as I sift through a container filled with rations.

"South," I tell her and don't elaborate.

"As am I." Her words break me from my thoughts and I glance over my shoulder at her, catching a glimpse of her soft stomach before she tugs the tunic over it.

I swallow and stand, shoving some fruit into my pack. "Do you need a companion?"

She raises her eyebrow at me as she shrugs into a coat, dragging her long hair from the collar. "If you tell me what you hope to find in the south, then sure."

Words settle on my tongue, trapped behind my teeth as I clamp them shut. I want to tell her, I want to trust her, but I know I'm blinded because she's a shape-shifter. These are Ari's people and through his pain I know what they've had to endure.

But does that mean I can trust them?

The girl waits, watching me struggle with myself.

Eventually, I sigh. "I'm looking for a witch. I think she may know who my parents are."

She inclines her head, a flicker of emotion shining in her violet eyes, but it's gone a moment later. "Then I suppose—" her words stumble to a halt as she sucks in a breath, eyes widening. She wavers, blinking fast, and I rush towards her as her knees give out and she falls. She slumps in my arms, already unconscious.

For a moment, I just stare at her, trying to understand what happened. Gaze flicking to the carnage surrounding us, the answer comes quick. Power has a cost. I know from the effects my own power has on my body that the price can be painful.

I catch my lower lip between my teeth as I look at the girl in my arms, vulnerable and alone apart from me. Just as I was when my brother found me and took advantage by turning me into something else.

But I'm not him. Gods, I hope I'm not him.

Hefting the girl into my arms, I carry her into the woods, leaving behind the corpses but not the memories of being stripped to my barest bones. Just more nightmares to add to the list that keeps me up at night.

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Laying the girl down amongst the underbrush, I make certain a cloak is tucked under her head and the cold of the snow doesn't touch her before working to start a fire. I cast frequent glances towards the violet-eyed woman, pale lashes kissing her freckled cheeks.

The fire sparks with flint and stone taken from the camp and I cup my hands around it and blow upon the orange flecks. If I had any semblance of control over my powers, this would be a lot easier. But until I know what I am, where I came from, I can't trust anyone to teach me. I've already lost too much for trusting the wrong people.

Once the fire is lit and I can be assured that the girl isn't going to freeze to death, I take my flask and move to the nearby river, hoping to wash away the taste of that paste still on my tongue and settle the churning in my stomach.

Kneeling by the water, I close my eyes as the song of the forest echoes around me. It's relieving to not have to constantly be vigilant of demons, to know that as long as the insects sing and those animals that brave the cold are calm and settled I'm relatively safe. It's a relief not having to fight. Fighting is becoming tiresome. Each battle seems to take a piece of me. I wonder how many more pieces I can give.

No doubt it's something I'll have to find out.

The creek gurgles before me, trickling through the cold, some of it frozen. I fill my flask with the icy water and try not to let my thoughts consume me.

Movement sounds behind me and I glance over my shoulder as the girl begins to stir. She rubs at her eyes with her knuckles and bares her teeth in a grimace before sitting up and glancing around.

"Welcome back," I murmur, looking down at the water again.

"Where are we?"

"Further south. Far enough away that we can't smell the smoke anymore."

There's a moment of pause and some shuffling before she sighs. "Thank you."

"For what?" I ask with a shrug. "You saved my life."

"Thank you for taking me away from..."

I glance at her again as those vibrant violet eyes take on a distant stare, like she's looking over that camp of charred bodies again. "There're supplies in the pack," I say, unable to offer comfort to her when I know those savages got what they deserved.

She just stares into the forest and doesn't reply. I focus on the cold of the water again, setting my flask aside to scoop water into my gloved hands and splash it over my face. The shocking cold of it almost makes me forget how much I want to be sick. Almost.

I drink the cool water and continue to wash the blood and grime from my face. Then I draw in a breath and lift my tunic to reveal my stomach. The burns glisten a dark pink, the icy air that prickles at the raw skin making me hiss out a breath.

"Here."

I glance at the girl who still hasn't told me her name as she kneels beside me, a knife in her hand. Narrowing my eyes, I focus on the knife, fingers beginning to twitch.

"I'm good with sygils," she says, gesturing towards my back. "And you already have one for healing."

I stare at her, not daring to look at my lower back where I know the sygil is, scarred into my skin by Suri's skilled hands. The day I made her hurt me so she could stay at the Order.

I should have let her leave.

Dropping my tunic, I shake my head. "It'll heal."

"Let me—"

"No." The sharp edge in my voice has her pressing her lips together, her hand tightening around the handle of the knife.

"Alright." She grabs my flask of water before standing and moving back towards the fire. I don't watch her put the water on to boil, I just focus on cleaning the burn on my stomach with my back to her.

Should I have left her while she was still unconscious? It would have been the smart thing to do. I don't know how far the Order has followed me. I don't know who I can trust where we're going, but dragging more people into my struggles isn't what I intended when I left Lilja and Suri behind.

But there's something familiar about the violet-eyed woman, and in a world that's become so unfamiliar, I want to know what it is.

"Drink this," the woman says as she kneels by my side again and offers me a cup of something that steams.

"What is it?" I ask, shaking the droplets of water from my gloves to take the cup, the wood warming my cold hands.

"It'll get rid of the rest of the poison. I'm sure your stomach isn't feeling too great."

I hum in response and sip the tea, pleased to find it doesn't taste like dirt but something sweet. I watch her from the corner of my eye, the breeze playing with the short frizzes of hair that tickle her cheeks. "Did they use the poison on you too?"

She sighs and brushes a tendril of her fiery locks behind her ear as she watches the creek flow past. "A long time ago, yes. They've been tracking me for some time now." Her brows pinch together. "I didn't want to hurt any of them. I thought I could find a way to stop them peacefully. Then I heard the screams."

I lower the cup, the burn on my stomach a fiery brand and an agonising reminder of the fate she saved me from.

"I should have done more sooner."

I shake my head. "It's not your fault."

She glances at me, her full lips down-turned. "Yes, it is. Those people saw me as a god in my other form and they've been trying to draw me out for years." She shakes her head, her knuckles whitening as she clenches her hand into a fist. Her hands are delicate, fingers long and knuckles smooth and pronounced. She doesn't have the hands of a fighter, not like mine. "I should never have shifted in the first place. It was foolish. Raffy warned me..." she trails off with a sigh and stands. "I'll get a fire started. We may as well stay here for the night." She steps away and I watch her go.

I can't imagine having the title of 'god' thrust upon me. Especially after what such beliefs have already cost me. And her people.

Ari's death isn't just my sorrow to bear, and eventually I'm going to have to tell her that her prince is dead.