Page 62 of Witch's Promise

"But why you?" Marcus asked, his brow furrowed in confusion. "I mean, no offense man, but you don’t seem to have any magic. How were you supposed to take on magical targets?"

Sean felt Gabe stiffen beside him, and he knew they'd reached the moment of truth. His heart hammered in his chest, guilt and fear warring for dominance. This was it. The final lie, the last secret he'd been carrying for far too long.

"That's the thing," Sean said, his voice barely above a whisper. "I'm not. I mean I am still a human, but I also have magic.”

The silence that followed was deafening. Sean could feel the weight of everyone's stares, the shock and disbelief radiating from all corners of the room. But it was Gabe's reaction he feared most. Slowly, painfully, he turned to face the man he loved.

Gabe's expression was a complicated mix of emotions - hurt, confusion, a flicker of anger that made Sean's stomach twist. "What are you saying, Sean?" Gabe asked, his voice carefully controlled.

Sean swallowed hard, forcing himself to hold Gabe's gaze. He owed him that much, at least. "I'm saying that I lied to you. I have magic, Gabe. I've had it my whole life. I just... I got really fucking good at hiding it."

The admission hung in the air, heavy with years of deception and missed opportunities. Sean braced himself for the explosion, for the anger and betrayal he knew he deserved. But what came next surprised him.

"Why?" Gabe asked, his voice softer than Sean had expected. "Why hide it for so long? Especially from me?"

The hurt in Gabe's eyes was like a knife to Sean's heart. He wanted nothing more than to reach out, to pull Gabe close and promise that he'd never lie again. But he knew he had to get through this first. Had to lay it all out on the table, consequences be damned.

"At first, it was because of my father," Sean explained, his voice rough with emotion. "He hated magic users, saw them as a threat to be eliminated. I was terrified of what he'd do if he found out his own son was one of 'them.' So I learned to suppress it, to pretend I was just a normal kid."

Sean ran a hand through his hair, frustration and old fear bubbling up. "By the time I realized my father's true nature, by the time I met you it was too late. The lie had become so ingrained, such a fundamental part of who I was, that I didn't know how to let it go."

"But you used your magic to save Jessy didn’t you? ," Finn pointed out, his healer's intuition cutting straight to the heart of the matter. "What changed?"

Sean's gaze dropped to his hands, shame coloring his cheeks. "I got tired," he admitted. "Tired of running, of hiding, of pretending to be someone I'm not. I knew I couldn't stay on the sidelines anymore. Even if it meant facing everything I've been avoiding for the past twenty years."

He looked up, meeting each person's eyes in turn. "I know I have no right to ask for your forgiveness. What I've done, the lies I've told... it's unforgivable. But I'm here now, trying to make things right."

The room was quiet for a long moment, everyone processing the bomb Sean had just dropped. He could practically see the gears turning in their heads, reevaluating every interaction, every moment they'd shared in light of this new information.

Finally, it was Emily who broke the silence. "What kind of magic do you have, Sean?" she asked, her voice gentle but probing.

Sean let out a shaky breath, grateful for the relatively simple question. "Shadow manipulation," he said. "I can bend shadows to my will, use them as weapons or shields. It's what made mesuch a valuable asset to my father's organization. He once said that I was a living weapon."

"Shadow manipulation?" Finn leaned forward, eyes alight with interest. "That's incredibly rare. There are only about ten known practitioners in the entire world."

Sean shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny, fighting the urge to retreat into the very shadows he commanded. "Yeah, well, lucky me, I guess," he muttered, unable to keep the bitterness from his voice.

"Can you show us?" Marcus asked, a hint of challenge in his tone. "Prove you're not just talking out of your ass."

He glanced at Gabe, seeking silent permission. Gabe nodded, his expression a complicated mix of encouragement and lingering hurt.

"Alright," Sean said, taking a deep breath. "

He focused on Marcus, on the shadow cast by the man's imposing figure. With a flex of will that felt like stretching a long-unused muscle, Sean reached out to the darkness. It responded eagerly, as if welcoming back an old friend.

Marcus's shadow began to move, detaching from his feet to dance across the floor. It stretched and twisted, taking on a life of its own. In moments, a perfect silhouette of Marcus stood before them, mirroring his every movement with eerie precision.

"Holy shit," Gino breathed, eyes wide with a mixture of fear and fascination.

Sean released his hold on the shadow, letting it snap back to its natural state. The room erupted in a cacophony of exclamations and questions, but Sean barely heard them. His gaze was fixed on Gabe, searching for any sign of rejection or disgust.

What he saw instead was wonder, tinged with a sadness that made Sean's chest ache.

"You've been hiding this your whole life?" Gabe asked softly, his voice barely audible over the commotion.

Sean nodded, throat tight with emotion. "I never had any real training," he admitted. "Just enough to control it, to keep it hidden. The rest was all about how to use it as a weapon. How to kill."

The last word stuck in his throat, choking him with the weight of all the lives he'd taken. Sean dropped his gaze, unable to face the judgment he was sure he'd see in Gabe's eyes. He'd known this moment would come, had dreaded it from the second he decided to come clean. But nothing could have prepared him for the reality of laying bare the darkest parts of himself to the man he loved.

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