Page 179 of The War and Deceit Series omnibus

Our eyes lock, and I realise this being isn’t an elf, she is something far more powerful than that. There’s a rage in her eyes that’s terrifying, and I know she could kill me with a snap of her long, willowy fingers. She’s still singing, but the song has changed now. It feels dangerous, like she’s a predator stalking her prey, and I happen to be that prey.

Glancing around the clearing, I realise things have changed. The expressions on the dancing fae aren’t the happy gleeful ones from before, but pained and fearful. The once brightly lit area is darker now, like a cloud has passed over the sun, and as I glance down into the pond, I see two red, glowing, furious eyes. Magic hums around me, and I want to back away, but I suspect I won’t be able to. However, there is no way I’m turning my back on this creature. Reaching behind me, I brush my fingers against a barrier that hadn’t been there previously. The creature tilts herhead to one side, watching me with a curious expression, as if I’m not what she was expecting.

The singing stops, and the dancing fae fall to the ground as if exhausted.

“Alina,” she whispers, using Vaeril’s elvish name for me. Her voice is old and unlike anything I’ve ever heard before, like joy, despair, and hatred all rolled into one. Now that the singing has stopped, my head clears, and the happiness I felt from her song fades away, leaving me only with weariness. The silence in the clearing is almost deafening, and I shift from foot to foot, realising that, for some reason, she’s called me here.

“I knew you would come.” Her face is completely neutral, except for the rage in those burning eyes. It’s difficult to describe what they look like, their depths constantly shifting, and I fear that if I was to stare into them for too long, I would lose myself. As she speaks, I realise with a shudder that her teeth are all sharp and pointed.

Taking a deep breath, I try to calm my thoughts. “Who are you?”

The corner of her perfect lips twitch into a semblance of a smile, as if something I said amused her, but they quickly return back a neutral line. “The mortal tongue is unable to pronounce my true name, but most call me the forest witch.”

Something about what she says makes me frown. I know what it’s like not to have a name. “What would you like me to call you?”

She pauses, her feet stilling in the pond, and I realise I’ve surprised her. After a second, her feet begin the slow swirling of the water again, and her eyes flicker. “No one has ever asked me that before.” She stares at me, and a wave of her magic rolls over me. I should be worried, this creature is obviously dangerous, especially if the fear coming down the bond from Vaeril is anything to go by. I understand all that, and I am cautious, but Idon’t think she means to hurt me. “Come closer, child,” she calls, and there’s no room for argument. Her magic is infused into her words, and I can feel my legs start to move without my consent.

“Clarissa, don’t!” Vaeril shouts, panic making his voice tight, but I don’t have a choice with her magic weaving around me.

The forest witch is looking away from me now, staring over my shoulder to where I presume Vaeril is behind the magical barrier. She chuckles, and it’s like the sound of two boulders being crushed together, making the hair on my arms stand on end. “Your mate is wise to fear me, but I won’t harm you,” she promises, her eyes back on me, making a trickle of fear run down my spine. “Not when you will be our salvation.”

There’s that statement again. Why does everyone keep saying that, and how can they be so sure? It’s like everyone has been brought in on a secret I’ve been completely oblivious to, and I’m only just finding out now. I feel like I’m drowning.

“I can feel your fears and doubts, but you are stronger than you realise.” There’s a pause as she passes her eyes over me again, and I can sense something like excitement in the air. “Come,” she commands, but there’s something different about how she says it, like she’s expecting something from me.

That’s when I feel it—a choice. Her magic continues to buzz over me like a net, trying to convince my legs to move, to follow her order, but I can almost feel a…hole. A hole in her magic. When I’ve broken spells before, I’ve always had to touch them, and most of the time it was accidental. One of the only times I purposely broke a spell was on Vaeril’s magical cuffs, and that had taken almost all of my energy to do so. This spell is different. It consumes me, and it isn’t focused on 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 hearmale 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, butallof 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 allof 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 scares me. I’m terrified it will consume me and that I will become just as bad as those who caused me so much pain and suffering in the first place.

“What about all the innocents?” I finally manage, my voice breaking. “So many would get caught in the crossfire.” Imagesflash through my mind—Jayne, Wilson, Aileen, Elier, Kaelir, the sea elf who I helped back at Galandell, and all the nameless slaves in Arhaven. They are the reason I need to keep that anger contained. They are the innocents who don’t deserve to be hurt in all this.

“There are always innocent casualties in war,” the forest witch replies sagely with a shrug of her delicate shoulders.

“War.” The word hits me like a physical blow. My chest is tight. Feeling Tor’s hand tighten on my shoulder, I glance at him and realise I was about to step forward, to get closer to the creature. Looking back at her, I can’t hide the sorrow in my voice. “Is that what this is all leading to?”

Her expression changes now, and that worries me more than anything. “I think you know the answer to that already,Alina.” There’s a pause as she watches me, then something changes. “You need to leave now,” she orders, her body seeming to grow as she shifts forward, her smile returning, but it’s got a hungry glint to it. “You have a long journey ahead of you, and I need to hunt. Thanks to you, I have lost my evening meal.”

The dancing fae. They must have been her…meal. I remember how I had been drawn to her when she was singing, and how the fae had been dancing around her, her magic forcing them to do her bidding. Tor and Vaeril start to slowly back away, and I begin to follow, but something shifts in the pond at the creature’s feet.

A kelpie. It looks different than the ones I met in the lake by Galandell. This one is darker in colour, more of a murky green, and as he rises out of the water, he looks too large to fit in the pool. One thing that is the same, though, is the fury in its eyes.

“Clarissa!” I hear Naril call out. It’s the first time I’ve heard him speak since I left the path, but I realise he must have been watching from beyond the barrier.

The kelpie’s ears flatten against his head as he turns to glare at Naril, baring his teeth as he roars at him, the sound more like something I would expect from a dragon than a water creature. I don’t take my eyes from the kelpie, but I assume that Naril stops because the creature turns his attention back to me.

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