Page 47 of Bombshell

“Elowyn actually suggested the idea of creating a child that would be the very best of both races—one almost built to become the new Guardian of the source.”

“So because she suggested it you decided to play god?”

I was having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that all of the pain and all of the hurt that I experienced stemmed from the need to create the perfect Guardian.

Alexander looked almost offended by my words and he shook his head. “I loved your mother, Euphemia. At the core of our decision to try to have you was the desire to have a child.”

“And see where that got you? A dead wife and a useless daughter.” The words were harsh but after hearing them my entire life it finally felt good to be the one to use them to hurt someone else now.

And hurt they did. Alexander flinched back away from me as if I’d swung at him, his lips pulling down into a deep frown. “You are not useless.”

“Yeah? Tell that to your coven who treated me like a freak my whole life—no, you know what? Tell it to this fucking tree that rejected me because I’m not a good enough witch to charge myself like a damn battery on it.” I pointed at the White Ponderosa accusingly, my face feeling hot and itchy with anger.

“That’s because your magic had not matured yet. In all of my calculations never did I think that because you are a halfling that your magic might develop differently,” Alexander explained, reaching out for my hand which I yanked out of his grasp. He huffed an exasperated sigh. “Euphemia, just let me show you what I mean before you get any angrier with me.”

He reached for my hand again, more slowly this time, and when I didn’t try to pull away he grabbed it and brought it tothe trunk of the White Ponderosa before whispering the spell that was supposed to trigger the conduit.

Nothing happened.

The sour feeling in my gut intensified as I stared at the rough bark. “See? Nothing. Still a failure.”

“Use your magic,” Alexander urged. “The kind that you’ve been learning—the kind without spoken spells.”

I wanted to pull my hand away and leave him on this stupid cliff. To go back to the Wharf where my real family was waiting for me and let them soothe the raw, reopened wounds of my past and forget all about Alexander and the Source.

But instead I let my eyes drift shut and imagined my magic in my mind’s eye, the core of it glowing a soft green as always.

The bark underneath my fingertips began to warm up and the core began to swell and grow, filling me up. It replaced the energy I’d exerted to make myself invisible earlier as if I’d never used my magic at all.

I’d never felt anything quite like it.

“Euphemia,” Alexander’s voice broke through my reverie and I opened my eyes to find the bark of the White Ponderosa glowing underneath my hands. “Congratulations, you are officially a fully fledged witch.”

An emotion that I couldn’t quite pin down welled up in my throat as I pulled my hand away from the tree.

It wasn’t quite happiness—no that was too simple of an emotion for how I was feeling. It wasn’t only sadness either asI found myself smiling despite the twinge of negative emotions filling my chest.

The best way I could describe it was a bittersweet guilt. Everything that I felt was wrong with me was seemingly fixed now—that night that the White Ponderosa had ignored me was now overwritten, but I still felt bad for that young girl who stood in front of the entire coven and showed them just how much she didn’t fit in amongst their ranks.

“I’ve always been a fully fledged witch,” I told him, stepping away from him. “But that doesn’t mean I want to be Arsenio’s Guardian either.”

“And I don’t want you to be.” Alexander glanced around as if the trees had ears to listen in to our conversation before he lowered his voice. “Euphemia, I don’t know how much I trust Arsen—”

My phone began to ring, cutting him off.

Digging through my bag, I pulled my phone out and saw Dallan’s sleeping face pop onto the screen.

That was odd. He never called me when I was supposed to be at the mayor’s mansion for lessons.

I hit the answer button, ignoring Alexander’s irritated expression as I spoke. “Dallan? Is everything okay?”

“Lass? Are you at the mansion right now?”

I frowned. “No… why?”

“I need you to grab Alexander and get there ASAP, We’re headed there right now.” There was a barely concealed panic in Dallan’s voice as he spoke.

“Dallan, what’s going on?”

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