Page 58 of Magic & Secrets
“What?”
“You feel strange to me.”
“It’s because you know what I am.”
“No,” Roque said and backed away as his gaze scanned the heavy foliage above us. “I touched your throat. I’ve felt your skin before. It wasn’t like this.”
“It’s the forest, Roque. You can’t trust your instincts,” I insisted and began to walk. “We need to exit this place.”
“What makes you think we can?”
His words smacked into me like a fist, nearly sending me to the ground. I stopped and looked around. How long had we been walking? I only started to feel the chill and unease minutes ago, yet we might have been in this place since the beginning. Were the Warlocks and Serpent Shifters even real?
“The forest is playing with our minds,” I told Roque and grabbed hold of him. “We need to stay focused on each other. We’re real. Before the forest wrapped around us, we knew each other. Anything else might be a trick.”
“You’re not to be trusted,” Roque said, brushing away my hand around his wrist. “You’re my enemy. That is real.”
“I am Calla,” I replied softly and stared into his eyes. “I have never hurt you. I put myself at risk by helping you.”
“I had that situation handled.”
“I felt your suffering. I couldn’t let them continue.”
“Your kind had no trouble making me suffer during the Von Ehlinger war.”
“I wasn’t even alive then.”
“How can you know the Gathering isn’t Von Ehlinger with a new name?” Roque asked, circling me. “You don’t because you only know what they tell you.”
“The Gathering never considered that our kind could share a mate bond. They don’t know everything.”
“I don’t trust you.”
“I am not a threat to you.”
“But what about my pack? The Bane Shifters destroyed your entire species.”
“That was a different time. You were the Murade’s weapon. I didn’t even exist.”
Roque shook his head and pointed his finger at me. “I think you caused us to be separated from the others. Your Armgard magic is meant to bewitch me. I believe your sisters are using the same tricks on my packmates. The Bane Shifters were your destroyers. Now, you hope to make us your pets.”
His words hit me hard, but I couldn’t be certain if they belonged to him. Widows Forest held a potent curse.
“For decades, travelers have been lost in this place,” I said, backing away from Roque and scanning the oppressively cold woodlands. “One of the women sacrificed here was a Witch. With her dying breath, she called out to Pan-Dissurath to curse those who took her life and the land where it happened. This place is clouding our thoughts. Pan-Dissurath wants us to remain lost.”
“This place isn’t why I dropped into a different Territory with you.”
“The spell thrown at us during the battle came from Ivitithi. Ancient magic is deadly against most magic folk. But your kind and mine are also from ancient magic. Rather than kill us, our magic reacted to it. That’s why we were transported.”
“Why just you and me?”
“You know the answer.”
“I know you’re a liar. I know your kind is evil. I know nothing else.”
“Roque,” I said in a pained voice. “Why can’t you see what’s right in front of you?”
Roque’s expression shifted. I felt him breaking through his old programming to what he knew in his heart. The last several days were real. He felt a change in himself since we met.He knew the truth.
