Aaron
The shield is the only thing keeping me alive.
Blue light domes over my body, thin and flickering.
It absorbs spell after spell while I lie on my back and stare up at the night sky through it.
My magic is guttering. I can feel it pulling from somewhere deep, dragging itself back together like it’s doing me a favor it doesn’t owe me.
Every hit against the shield tells me I don’t have long.
Eric is already gone. My power running through his veins. And every warlock pouring out of that door is here because I let him in.
Another spell slams into the shield and the blue light fractures at the edges. I shove everything I have left into it. The shield steadies, but barely.
I force myself to sit up inside the dome.
My arms are shaking. Blood is drying on my face from where Eric kicked me.
The Market is destroyed around me—stalls overturned, something burning near the fruit vendor’s cart.
The cottage door is blown apart with timbers scattered across the square.
I can see more figures moving in the darkness on the other side.
I get to my feet. My legs almost buckle but I lock my knees and push the shield outward. It expands in a pulse of blue light and the warlocks scatter, buying me a little room. I drop the dome and switch to offense, throwing blasts at anything that moves. I’m not at full power.
Three witches and a warlock regroup in front of me. Their magic crackles in the air, violet and gold, and I throw up a shield with one hand and fire with the other. The shield absorbs their hits while my blasts push them back. I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up.
A wolf’s roar rips through the night and Torin bursts from the tree line. His claws are out, teeth sharp, and he tackles the nearest warlock from behind. The warlock’s head hits the ground with a crack.
The second warlock spins toward him. He raises his hands and a spell starts forming on his lips but Torin is faster. His claws tear through the warlock’s throat before the magic can take shape and the body drops.
I should be relieved. But my stomach is still turning because Torin has Nala, Kael, and Aria waiting for him somewhere in this Academy, and if something happens to him here tonight it’s on me.
A witch with burning eyes turns on Torin.
Fire gathers in her palm, bright and growing, and Torin realizes he’s not going to be able to dodge it.
I throw my shield across the space. The fireball slams into the barrier inches from his face and the heat of it pushes through even with my magic holding.
I flick my wrist and redirect it back at her.
Her own fire swallows her in a flash of light and she’s gone.
“Thanks,” Torin gasps, nodding at me.
I don’t have time to respond. The air crackles in the center of the Market and three figures appear at once. My mother, Jacob, and King Amir. The teleportation magic from my mother and Amir pops like static and then they’re standing in the middle of the destruction.
My mother finds me first. Her hands are already glowing, her expression hard. I know that look. She’s reading the scene. It’s only a matter of time before she figures out her son is the reason the seal is broken.
Amir steps forward with a face so cold I’ve only seen it once before, and every muscle in me goes still at the memory. He raises one hand, fingers poised, and snaps once.
The sound is unnervingly loud, cutting through the smoke and the crackle of dying magic.
The remaining witches and warlocks collapse in on themselves.
Their bodies fold inward and disintegrate into fine dust that scatters across the Market square.
One moment they’re standing. The next they’re nothing.
I stare at the space where they were.
“I told you this would only hold them for so long,” Amir says to my mother. His voice is eerily calm. “We are going to have to do something about the Witching Glen, otherwise we are going to end up in two wars. Wars against the humans and wars against the witches.”
“Another Great War,” Jacob mutters.
My mother turns toward the shattered cottage, her hands glowing.
She mutters an incantation and her power flows out of her, wrapping around the broken timbers.
The fragments tremble and start pulling themselves back together, reassembling into a barrier over the portal.
She’s straining, the effort in her shoulders, the way her arms shake.
“Who knows how long this is going to hold,” she mutters.
The space beside Amir dims and two figures take shape in a swirl of black mystical smoke. Kade and Leah.
“What did I miss?” Kade asks, looking around at the destruction with raised eyebrows.
Amir snorts but his eyes stay serious.
“Some of them got away.” I keep my voice steady. “It was my father and some of the elder witches.”
“Ellie?” Kade asks, her interest piqued.
Leah shoots her a glare. Kade shrugs. Nearly all of Wintermoon knows Kade can’t stand her sister-in-law.
“Eric got out,” my mother confirms, her expression grim as she looks at me.
“Yes.” My voice comes out rough. “And you were right, Ma. He doesn’t care about me.”
She holds my gaze and something moves behind her eyes. She doesn’t say I told you so.
“They are going to the humans to get help,” Amir tells us. “They are going to try to restore dark magic.”
My mother stiffens. “Well, we have to go find them now.”
Amir shrugs. “Going on a witch hunt is pointless. They are probably where they want to be right now, and we all know where that is.”
“Brookstone and Blackburn Enterprises,” my mother and Amir and I say together, and the fact that we all land on it at the same time tells me this has been coming for longer than tonight.
“What do we do now?” I ask.
“We wait and prepare,” Amir says. He steps toward me and rests a hand on my shoulder. His grip is steady. “You are the future king of Wintermoon.”
The words hit me and I just stand there. My mouth opens and nothing useful comes out. I knew this was coming. I just didn’t think he’d say it here.
My mother takes a moment to process. Her voice goes sharp. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Amir turns to her with that smug smile. “The agreement was, Angie, that my rulership was for a time. Do you think I plan to sit on the throne of Wintermoon forever? Absolutely not. Your children are of age, and since you don’t want to do your job, your birthright, then the position goes down the bloodline of Blackwoods. ”
“You motherfucker,” my mother spits.
Amir’s brow furrows. His ears twitch. “I cannot fuck my Mother Fate.”
My mother huffs and turns to me. “And you’re agreeing to this?”
I shrug because I genuinely don’t know what to do with any of this right now.
“He’ll make a fine king,” Amir says. “But right now, we have more pressing matters.”
Then, he teleports away.
“Oh hell no, he’s not just walking off after dropping that.” My mother stares at the spot where he stood. Then she turns to me.
“Don’t think we aren’t going to talk about this.” Her dark eyes bore into mine. “All of it.”
She doesn’t just mean the kingship. She means the Glen, Eric, whatever she’s already pieced together that I’m not telling her.
“Jacob!” She rips a portal open. The royal island is on the other side. Jacob looks at us with an exasperated sigh and follows my mother through. The portal snaps shut behind them.
Torin approaches me. “Are you okay?”
“No, I’m not.” My voice is low. “But thank you, brother.” I put my hand on his shoulder. “Thank you for coming here to help defend me.”
“This is my journey alone,” I tell him, and I look toward the sealed cottage where the darkness is still pressing against my mother’s barrier.
“I’ve been dreaming about this happening for a year, almost as if Fate was warning me it was coming.
I’m going to have to kill my father, and I’m going to have to destroy the Witching Glen. ”
I don’t look at him when I say it. Wolves catch scent shifts.
I keep my breathing even and pray he doesn’t feel the lie sitting underneath every word.
Torin doesn’t need the truth. He needs the version that keeps him out of this, and a warlock nearly killed me tonight so I’m damn sure not dragging him any deeper.
“Can you save Ellie for me?” Kade calls from behind us.
Leah slaps her arm hard enough to make her wince and curses at her under her breath. Kade rolls her eyes but takes it.
I give her a smile but my eyes don’t follow. “We’ll start clean-up in the morning. Let’s go check on the children at the Academy. I know they have to be spooked.”
I flick my wrist toward the burning stalls and my magic smothers the flames before we leave. It’s the least I can do, considering I’m the reason they’re burning.
Kade and Leah nod and teleport out in another swirl of black smoke, leaving Torin and me alone in the ruins of the Market.
We walk back toward the Academy without speaking. The air is cooler now. The heat from the battle fades behind us and the sirens have finally stopped. My body aches in places I didn’t know could ache and my magic is sputtering back to life in slow pulses under my skin.
“Whatever you have to face,” Torin says, “I’ll help you in any way that I can.”
I shake my head. “The way to help is by protecting Nala and your pup-cubs. Leave this to me. Eric is my problem, and I’m going to deal with him.” I meet his eyes. “No matter what it takes.”
We walk. The Academy is visible through the trees now, lights on in every window, and I’m thinking about Mara. She’s in our suite. I sealed her in with a kiss and enough magic to keep her under until morning.
“Where’s Mara?” Torin asks.
My whole body goes rigid. I keep walking and I don’t look at him. “She’s safe.”
He doesn’t push it. I’m grateful because the truth is uglier than anything I’m willing to say out loud right now.