Page 67 of The Rose in the Shadows

Lorelai smiled softly. “As if that was the worst thing you were doing back in those days?”

My attention wandered suddenly to what kinds of trouble teenage Clay had found himself in as we made our way out the castle’s doors toward the gardens. Camilla grinned over at him with a tauntingly knowing expression and I fought the urge to gag.

Suddenly, I decided I actually didn’t want to know what kinds of trouble he engaged in.

“Thea just survived her first Dragon fight,” Rankor reminded us. “I agree with Iris. I say it’s high time for her to receive a proper induction into the group with a trip out to the old lake. What do you say?”

We all exchanged glances with each other. I shrugged my interest, a cheerful grin spreading across my features. Why not? A day away from the palace politics seemed like exactly what I needed.

Kent raised his eyebrows. “I don’t know. It’s been years.”

Iris grinned, already beginning to beeline for the woods. “We will only be this young and beautiful for so long, my friends. It is now or never!”

We weren’t far outside before I realized I had left my overcoat in the gym. Iris offered to come back with me to retrieve it, but I waved her off. They were having too much fun with each other at that moment for me to interrupt them. So, I encouraged them to continue without me and promised I would catch up. Clay’s eyes swept over me, and I knew he wanted to protest that I needed protection, but I jogged away before he could say anything.

I would be gone for only a moment before I caught up with them again.

As I walked the stone path back to the palace, I noticed Geia and Nessira in the gardens, picking flowers for my room as I passed. I smiled and waved at them happily.

“Roses!” I called. “Get roses this time, please.”

After my day of fighting and training, my arms and legs ached with each step toward the glass doors of the castle, but I kept on at an even speed. Each sting of soreness was a reminder that I was doing okay. Every day without an update about my past left me wondering if I would ever get the answers I desired, but I had finally started getting a grasp on my powers and building friendships that meant the world to me. I may not have known my past, but at least I was finally starting to feel a bit more confident in my future.

The training room was empty as I returned, the candles burning dimly. I hurried to my overcoat, where it sat on the table next to the water pool, eager to return to my friends before they disappeared into the woods behind the castle. As I began making towards the door, though, I stilled.

Something was wrong.

It was a feeling in my gut, a premonition of a sort. Perhaps it was the stillness in the air, the utter silence, or the scent of something burning. Whatever it was, my magic rushed over me in a sudden warning so strong that I nearly stumbled under the weight of it.

RUN!A voice in my head commanded.

Without knowing why, I sprinted, pushing my legs as hard as possible, but I simply wasn’t fast enough.

I heard the explosion before I genuinely felt it wash over me. It was a deafening crack that echoed through my skull as I went catapulting through the air. I crashed into the wall, feeling the bone in my wrist snap clean as I screamed. My head smashed against the stone, and I felt consciousness fade for a moment.

The pain was unlike anything I’d ever felt before as I landed heavily on the ground. My stomach railed, threatening to reject this morning’s breakfast and darkness danced on the edge of my vision. I grit my teeth as I clutched onto consciousness.

I was dead if I fainted.

Instinctively, I threw up my hands, throwing out magic tendrils as hard and recklessly as I could. As the flames of the blast rushed towards me, I braced myself and felt them slap sharply against the barrier that I had managed to create around me with my magic.

I held for a moment there, sweat beginning to bead on my brow as the air became too thick to breathe. I coughed and the motion sent spikes of pain shooting through my skull.

I couldn’t hold this. Already, I was buckling under the force of the blast and the pain of my broken wrist. My arms shook as my shield faltered, and the burning tendrils reached toward me. One slipped past far enough to kiss the skin of my ankle, and I screamed once more, desperate to push it back away.

The pain in my head was practically unbearable.

Do not pass out.I told myself.Do not pass out, or you will die.

Tears fell loosely across my cheeks as my magic slowly began to fail me. I grasped onto it wildly, but it was sputtering and weakening. The smell of ash powered through the room, invading my nose and senses as the heat of the flames left me drenched in sweat.

I was going to lose control of my magic at any moment.

Desperately, I looked around me for some sort of physical protection. With the last of my strength, I launched the rest of the magic that coursed through my veins to drag the stone tables by the water pool to me. I grunted against the weight of them as I summoned them to me, propping one in front and one above me as a makeshift shelter.

There was a momentary relief as I let go of the weakening magic before the smoke invaded my lungs. I was coughing again. Huddled under my shelter, clutching my arm to my chest, I was coughing like I had been after the witch’s hex bag had cursed me.

Whoever had done this may have failed in their first attempt, but they wouldn’t on their second.

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