Page 102 of The Sins of Silas

“My mother was able to conjure up false bodies. That was done with no binder.” Her guilty eyes slid to Silas, only for a moment. “We can conjure familiars, though that, too, takes a significant amount of magic. This—” She motioned to the salt ring. “This felt likenothing.”

“Don't you see?” Dani began. “This has been the missing piece for Mages for centuries. The other half of your power.” Her eyes fell to the tome, then back to us all. “This book's title has been glamoured by a powerful being to hide the title.Potestas Verae Maleficis.The Power of a True Witch.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

LENA

“Atrue witch?” I asked Dani suspiciously. “You're saying that Mages are the true witches?”

She nodded. “Once you learn how to combine your powers with that in this grimoire, once you learn the Titharan language, you'll be stronger than ever.” Her smile turned playful. “You haven't even learned how to teleport yet.”

“TELEPORT?!” Elowen screeched, causing us all to jump. She shot her small hand over her mouth. “Sorry,” she peeped.

Dani chuckled. “Yes. Gods, you guys are in for some real fun when I teach you what I know.”

Hendry's eyes narrowed, his arms crossing as he surveyed the blue-haired Warlock. “If you are able to do all this as well, what makes Mages the 'true witches'?”

“When I tell you our Warlock magic is but a fraction of the Mages, I mean it. We can't just hold out our palms and heal. We can't raise our arms and create a forcefield or have the elements drift from our fingertips at will. We can't conjure familiars. All we can do that is special is shape-shift.” Her eyes slid to Viola's. “And the pretty one here can apparently do that, too. So, these spells and incantations are all we have.”

“Thank you,” I said softly, causing Dani to look at me. “Thank you for your willingness to teach us this.”

She smiled. “Don't thank me. Just kick Ulric and this necromancer's asses.”

Three days passed. Both evenings, Dani insisted on teaching Viola, Merrick, Elowen, and me everything she could, even though she was the most tired, shifting to carry Viola and Merrick along the journey.

“What is this place?” Edmund asked skeptically as Dani stopped before what appeared to be an abandoned circus.

Shifting back into a human form—this time male—Dani stated, “This was the original Freak Show.” He sighed as he surveyed the absolute mess. Large tents were still raised, the fabric lightly tattered. A large wooden carousel was in the center of the scenery, creaking from the evening wind. “Those people you guys met? The ones with oddities who weren’t Warlocks? They had their own show here.” He stepped up to the carousel. “Remarkable, isn't it? This was crafted by the most talented woodworker I'd ever seen.” He pointed to a crank to its left. “He was a strong man—big, beefy guy. You'd never guess that this was his hidden talent. He was the only onestrong enough to twist the mechanics for the children to ride.”

Elowen's saddened gaze loomed over this desolate place. “What happened?”

“Faltrun,” Silas answered for him, his golden gaze flicking to the healer. “Faltrun demanded payments—a commission for the group performing so close to their territory.”

Dani nodded. “The people who designed this place and lived here fought back. They were not going to be slaves to a kingdom they were not a part of. Faltrun had this place raided, killing a handful of innocents, including the talented man who created this…” He ran his hands along the wood, now damaged from neglect. “We had only a handful of survivors seeking refuge in Forsmont. Leroy welcomed them with open arms, and through their stories and their ideas, we created something even better. Safer.” He shook his head, chewing the inside of his cheek. “Until the damn Undead attacked.”

“Faltrun almost sounds as bad as Otacia,” Viola mumbled.

Hendry's mismatched eyes slid over, and in his troubled eyes, I could tell he wished to retort but couldn't because she was right.

“When we arrive, I wouldn't expect the treatment you received in Forsmont, that’s for sure. While they may not have a kill order for magical beings, we must keep our identity a secret. I don’t trust them.”

He trailed his sight back to the various tents. “It looks like shit on the outside, but the tents really aren't that bad inside. We took what was salvageable and brought it back to Forsmont already.” He clapped his hands together. “After we do some more training, we can set up camp inside.”

Roland watched in amusement thirty minutes later as I attempted to create mage light. Dani had pointed to the script in the grimoire.‘Lumen’could also produce mage light, and the Warlock insisted that if I used the words, I could produce a longer-lasting glow.

Regular mage light was a common innate ability that Mages possessed, but one I hadn't taught myself, as I had my fire to produce light.

My time traveling to Ames five years ago was spent holding my magic in, holding it in like I never had before. The night I got my ice didn't compare to the agony I felt on the road. Once my reality set in…as my days apart from Silas grew.

Those months, the weather had begun to chill, but it was still only autumn. Nevertheless, I would find my fingertips encased in frost, my limbs stiff as I wandered without an ounce of joy.

That time on the road was spent attempting to control that ice. Finding out I was with a child helped a lot, but still, the nights my mind wandered, I found myself growing cold.

I still felt guilt whenever I thought of it…that perhaps my struggle was what harmed my child. That his death was my fault.

“You are not to blame,” Torrin had insisted days after my son's passing. “You would've done anything to save him. You are a wonderful mother.”

I chewed on my lip as I recalled the memories, trying my hardest not to break down as I conjured up the little glowing orbs.

---