Page 109 of Forged in Blood

She tosses her auburn hair over her shoulder. “Like you, I sense something. Some witch’s powers are latent.”

“Latent?”

“Uh-huh. Buried in generations of nonmagical beings. They may not manifest in each generation, but you, Ophelia Hart…” She sucks in air between her teeth. “I can feel your power buzzing just beneath the surface.”

I force a laugh. “I wish I could feel it.”

Cocking her head to the side, she scrutinizes me. “You will. We just need to figure out how to tap into it, is all.”

“Maybe,” I mumble.

She rests her hand on my arm. “Definitely.”

“I guess it’s hard to wrap my head around it when I know so little about the whole magic thing. Until recently, I didn’t know anything like witches even existed, and then I came to Montridge and…” I blow out a breath.

She swivels my chair so I’m facing her. “Well, witches I can tell you about. What do you want to know?”

“I have no clue.” I shrug. “It’s hard to know what you don’t know.”

She arches an eyebrow. “How about I give you the CliffsNotes version?”

I nod eagerly, and over the next thirty minutes, Cadence gives me a brief history of witches. How some of the most powerful can channel magic to live for centuries; how they can only be born to other witches, but the gene can skip generations; and how the most powerful families’ roots can be traced back several millennia.

“Wow!” I shake my head. “I can’t believe I’m nineteen and had no idea that there was a whole other world literally existing alongside us. Magic is real, yet half the world’s population doesn’t have a clue.”

“More like nine-tenths,” Cadence says with a sad smile. “There are far fewer of us now than there were centuries ago. The human population has grown exponentially, but ours declines every generation. Not only witches but…” She snaps her mouth closed and grabs a cookie before biting off a huge chunk, like she’s trying to stop herself from saying something she shouldn’t. She points at her mouth. “These are sooo good.”

“I know that vampires and witches and wolves have societies here.”

Her hazel eyes sparkle. “You have been studying, Ophelia. So, you have to know there is something different about you too, don’t you?”

I shake my head. “I don’t know about that. I’m just fascinated by the whole idea, you know? Always have been, even before I learned any of it was true. While the other girls in my foster homes fantasized about being rescued from the dragon by a handsome prince, I dreamed of taming the dragon and becoming powerful enough to rescue myself.”

Cadence leans forward and lowers her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Legend has it that dragons existed once too.”

“No!” Surely that can’t be true. I’m going to have to deal with the professor’s annoyed grumbling about how I ask too many questions if I want to get the inside track on dragons, but it’ll be worth it. “How fricking awesome is that.”

“It would be if they were still around. But, assuming they did exist, they died out over a thousand years ago.”

“Like the elementai died out?” The words come out of my mouth before I can stop them.

Cadence’s eyes widen, and her mouth opens like she’s about to speak when she’s cut off by another voice that comes from directly behind us. “Hey, do either of you have a highlighter I could borrow? Mine died right in the middle of Hamlet.”

I spin around to see we’re no longer alone in our little corner of the library.

Cadence turns too, and upon seeing our new companion, a smile spreads across her face. “Oh, hey, Sienna.”

Sienna tosses her long black braids over her shoulder and props her hand on her hip. “Hey girl. I didn’t realize that was you.” Her lips curve in a wide smile, and her dark eyes flash with flecks of amber. I stare into them for a few seconds, mesmerized by her. “How you been?” she adds.

She’s one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever seen. Strong and athletic but with curves. Her flawless dark skin shimmers in the overhead lights, so tantalizing that I want to reach out and touch her. It’s like she’s covered in some kind of magical body glitter. I wonder where she got it, but that doesn’t seem like an appropriate question to ask someone I just met.

“Same old. You know,” Cadence replies with a self-deprecating laugh that serves to pull me out of my stupor.

Sienna’s eyes flicker to me, and she smiles expectantly. However, I appear to have been rendered mute.

Thankfully, Cadence comes to my rescue. “This is my friend Ophelia. Ophelia, Sienna.”

“Hi.” Sienna offers me a small wave, then she runs her tongue over her bottom lip, and I’m almost certain that I hear a faint growl.

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