Chapter 220: He Tried To Hide You From Them
Morgana’s hands clenched in her lap.
"Though I am impressed that you were able to make that old thing interested in you," Astraea continued, and there was something almost like a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "That’s not nothing, Morgana. That’s quite significant, actually."
And in that moment, understanding crashed through Morgana like a lightning strike.
"The old thing. The ancient dragon."
Atheris.
Her dragon. The only being in the world who had never lied to her, never treated her as less than, never made her feel like she was anything other than precious and cherished.
Atheris was the dragon that masked her.
Atheris was the being who had hidden her from the world.
Atheris was.....
"He’s ancient," Astraea said, and her voice was quieter now, carrying something that sounded almost like compassion. "Very ancient. Older than most of the dragons that walk this earth in their human forms. And yet he bent his will to your protection. He bent that ancient power to the task of keeping you hidden. That’s not nothing, Morgana. That’s love."
Morgana felt tears beginning to prick at her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She bit the inside of her cheek hard enough to taste copper, using the physical pain to anchor herself in the present moment.
Atheris.
Atheris had masked her.
The revelation was so profound, so complete, that Morgana felt as if her entire understanding of her own life had just been rewritten.
Astraea rose from her chair and began to pace slowly across the chamber.
Her movements were fluid, graceful, like watching water flow or wind move through a canyon. With every step, her white-blonde hair seemed to catch and hold the light, creating patterns that Morgana’s eyes couldn’t quite follow.
"Your magic is uncontrolled," Astraea said, her voice carrying a note of observation rather than judgment. "Because you’ve never been fully taught what you are."
She paused in her pacing and turned to look directly at Morgana.
"Despite the little training I can sense you have had," Astraea continued, and there was something knowing in her expression, "which is barely enough because you were only taught survival magic. Survival. How to hide. How to contain. How to keep yourself small and unnoticed."
Morgana’s throat tightened. That was exactly what Atheris had taught her....survival magic, the basics, the absolute minimum needed to keep her power from erupting uncontrollably.
Astraea moved to the window and looked out at the palace grounds, her silhouette framed against the pale light.
"He tried to hide you from them," Astraea continued, her voice barely above a whisper. "From the dragons. From the kings. From the entire supernatural world that would have sensed what you are the moment you step into the palace, and the moment your first breath drew magic into this realm."
She paused, and Morgana could see the careful way she was choosing her words, could sense that Astraea was selecting each phrase with precision.
"For as long as possible," Astraea said, "he tried to protect you. He masked your magical signature so completely, so thoroughly, that nothing, not even dragons of immense power, not even the dragons bound to the most powerful kings in the kingdom, could sense what lay beneath that mask."
She turned to face Morgana again, and her pale blue-gray eyes were burning with something that might have been passion or might have been ancient knowledge finally being acknowledged.
"He hid you," Astraea said, "because he understood what you are. He understood what that would mean. He understood that your very existence would be a threat to those who believe the old prophecies are false, who believe the ancient magic is dead, who have spent centuries convincing themselves that the age of dragons and destiny had passed."
She shook her head slowly, a gesture that carried the weight of centuries.
"Do you have any idea why someone would mask a child this powerful?" Astraea asked. "Do you understand what that reveals about who you are, what you represent, what you could become?"
Morgana opened her mouth, but no words came out. She had no answer. She had no framework for understanding any of what Astraea was telling her.
"It means you were hidden for a reason," Astraea continued. "It means you are significant enough, powerful enough, important enough that your very existence is a threat to the status quo. It means you are not just a girl with magic, Morgana. You are something far older. Something far more significant."
She moved back to her chair and settled into it, her pale eyes never leaving Morgana’s face.
"The kings," Astraea said carefully, "they were looking for something. A prophecy, a destiny, a woman meant to break a curse that has held them bound for longer than you have been alive. That’s what their dragons were searching for. That’s what brought them to seek the Selection, to seek a girl who might fulfill ancient magic."
Morgana leaned forward slightly, desperate to understand.
"But what they found," Astraea continued, her voice carrying a note of something that might have been wonder, "what called to them on such a primal level that their dragons nearly broke free of their human skins when they first sensed your presence.....it wasn’t about prophecy."
"Then what was it?" Morgana whispered.
"Recognition," Astraea said simply. "Your power. Your magic. Your essence. They recognized you, Morgana, because something in you resonates with something in them on a level that goes beyond destiny, beyond prophecy, beyond the carefully constructed magical bindings that were supposed to protect them from themselves."
She leaned forward, her pale eyes intense.
"They wanted you before they even knew who you were," Astraea said. "Their dragons wanted you. That suggests something far more significant than a fulfillment of prophecy. That suggests connection. That suggests completion."
Morgana stood abruptly, unable to remain seated. The chair seemed to amplify her anxiety rather than ease it, and her entire body was thrumming with questions, with fear, with a desperate need to understand what was happening.