any one particular place like the spells in the cuffs or walls around the city, so I can’t just lay my hands on it. Closing my eyes, I extend my senses until I can almost see the magic in my mind. Focusing on the hole, I force my intent at it, willing it to open, to break. I distantly hear male voices calling my name and feel a drop of sweat rolling down my forehead, but I know if I take my attention away that the magic will ensnare me once more and I won’t have this opportunity again. My anger drives me, anger that this creature is using her magic to force me when she promised to do me no harm, separated me from my mates, and caused them distress.
With a roar, I shove my will at the hole in her magic and feel it fracture around me. Abrupt silence fills the clearing, and my body stills. Opening my eyes, I immediately look at the creature, expecting her to be furious that I’ve broken past her magic. Except her expression throws me off. She’s smiling. Quiet footsteps sound behind me, making me startle and spin around, only to find Vaeril and Tor moving slowly towards me. The creatures on the ground start to groan, sitting upright and looking around with fearful expressions. As they stagger away, my eyes widen as I realise what I’ve done. I didn’t just break her spell on me, but all of her spells in the clearing.
Mother above, I pray, glancing down at my hands in a mixture of fear and wonderment. Vaeril’s palm lands on my lower back, and I instantly feel more grounded. When Tor appears at my other side, I feel like I can breathe again, and together, we turn to face the forest witch. I’m exhausted, but I can’t rest now, this isn’t over.
She’s watching me with a satisfied smile, and I realise it had been a test, one I appear to have passed. Although she appears content now, there had been an element of shock too. I felt it in her magic the second before it all unravelled, she had been shocked by how strong I was. Or, as I realise now, that I had been able to break all of her spells in one go and without meaning to. “You are strong, but you let your insecurities get in the way. They stop you. You need to embrace who you were born to be,” she tells me, opening her arms wide as if to show what I could become if only I embraced my fate.
Shuddering, I step back into the arms of my mates. Who am I supposed to be? I wish I had the answer to that question, and it’s one that haunts me. The more I learn about myself, the more questions I have. One thing I know is that power corrupts—the human king, the elf queen, and this creature… I don’t want to be anything like them.
Like she can sense my confusion, she leans forward, her eyes alight with that fiery rage. “Use your anger and hatred,” she instructs, and I can’t deny that she calls to a part of me, that furious, angry side of me that’s bitter from each time I was beaten and mistreated. “Show everyone who ever hurt you just how powerful you are.” Her words are hypnotic, and I know if it wasn’t for Tor and Vaeril, I would be agreeing with her, putty in her hands. “You could burn this whole world to the ground,” she whispers, her manic smile revealing those sharp, pointed teeth.
“I don’t want to burn the world to the ground,” I respond, but even to my ears, the words sound flat.
Raising one perfect eyebrow, the creature sits back. “You don’t want to get your revenge?” she queries, before laughing her odd, grinding laugh once again. “Don’t lie to me, girl, I know about your past, I know what they did to you. I know about the anger that burns deep down inside you.”
Of course I want my revenge, I’m only human, or at least part human. I thought I’d accepted my fate in the twelve years I was a slave, when I was treated like dirt and had less rights than animals. But really, I had just been pushing all of that anger deep down inside me, and now that I’m free? That anger wants to make itself known, and if I’m honest with myself, it