Page 30 of Magic Claimed
The magic sank deep into my mind. Deeper than it had ever gone before, dislodging memories of my life I’d forgotten existed. The deeper the magic went, the earlier the memories became. Discarded memories I hadn’t wanted to see ever again.
Days of drudgery. Esoti torturing me time and again, his questions resounding in my head as though he sifted through every part of me looking for something. What though, I had didn’t know.
I saw my first day in the castle, where everything was cold and cruel. Cook slapped my face after I’d dropped a spoon on the floor. I’d been five years old. Then the magic went further back.
Three male faces surrounded me. They smiled at me, deep and caring. Each of the men was extremely handsome. They weren’t human. How I knew that, I didn’t understand, but I knew they were all wolf Shifters.
We were seated at a table, eating a meal. The table was piled high with food. As much food as I delivered to Esoti on a daily basis. Three roast chickens, vegetables and fresh bread. I inhaled, filling my lungs with the remembered aroma.
My mother filled my plate. My mother! She smiled at me, absolutely beautiful with her silver platinum hair piled high atop her head and her rosy lips curving into a loving smile. My heart filled with comfort and love when I thanked her.
This wasn’t the mother Esoti had told me about. The woman who had sold me for the price of a hot meal. This woman wouldn’t do anything to harm me at all. She filled another plate and set it in front of one of my fathers. He thanked her and smiled at her, as did my two other fathers. I had three fathers!
Gods, this couldn’t be real, but the evidence was as real as the terrible magic shooting through me. This was my life before I’d come to the castle. I had a family. A loving family. Whatever could have happened to bring me to Esoti?
I searched through my mind, filtering through memories alongside the magic. Happy childhood memories. Running through a field of flowers with a puppy. My fathers reading me a story. My mother plaiting my hair. Voices from outside echoed in my mind, making it hard to concentrate on filtering through all of my memories.
“Do you see it in there?” Drisella said, sounding impatient.
Esoti huffed a sound of frustration. “This wand isn’t specific enough.”
“It has to be. We don’t have much time left, Esoti. Our conclave must happen before the next moon,” Titan said.
“You think I don’t know that? Death magic is the strongest of it all. Her damn mother was powerful,” Esoti said.
“It wasn’t her power. It was the combined strength of generations, but we have a thousand years of experience on our side,” Drisella said, her voice hard. “Try harder.”
Magic pushed into me so forcefully my bones melted with the onslaught. I opened my mouth in a silent scream as pure agony ripped through me. I felt my body tear at the seams, my very cells shattering apart.
“Enough! She’s not going to take much more, then we’ll lose it forever,” Titan said.
Esoti roared, a sound of rage and frustration before the stream of magic ceased. I collapsed to the floor, panting, sweating, my mind and body a complete mess.
“Look at me.” I pried open my eyes to see Esoti kneeling in front of me. He gripped the hair at the top of my head, so I couldn’t move when his eyes locked with mine. His natural magic began to flow over me, a slow burn rather than the raw agony of the wand. The golden glimmer rushed into my mind and body, soaking the excruciating rush of his magic, keeping my head clear. If Esoti knew, he gave no indication. “You will remember nothing of our session today.”
Esoti injected more magic through me, but the gold kept it distanced from me. His gaze burned before he dropped my head and wiped his hand on his pants.
“Ben!”
Ben opened the door and stepped into the room, bowing low. Esoti flicked his fingers in my direction. “Take that away.”
Ben strode to me in three long strides, gripped the back of my dress and dragged me from the room before tossing me into the corridor. He stomped off, leaving me in a crumpled heap on the stone without a backwards glance as he always did.
It took a while to move, my limbs exhausted and heavy. I crawled to the end of the corridor. All I wanted to do was slink into my hidey hole and succumb to the lethargy tugging at my body. Every part of me was battered. From my lungs, to my muscles, to the very blood that somehow still pumped into my lungs. If this was life, I didn’t want it anymore. Fuck fate, and fuck that I couldn’t die.
I’d never heard of death magic before, and if my mother was the beautiful, gentle woman in my memories, then why the fuck did she do this to me? Why didn’t I remember any of it – and why the fuck did I remember now? Esoti had be-spelled me to forget, and yet I remembered everything this time.
There was something inside me. Something he wanted urgently and badly enough to bring Titan and Drisella out of their strongholds not once, but twice, but I could no more think what that should be than I could get to my feet and stagger away. After the shift and now Esoti’s torture session, I was simply too drained to think of anything more than the safety of my small space.
“Gods. Serafine!”
My vision had narrowed to a point and I didn’t see Gilda until she knelt in front of me, her hands running over my battered body.
I pushed her away, or I tried to. I didn’t have the energy to lift my arm that high. “Get away from me.” My voice was no more than a hoarse whisper. I would normally welcome her help, but I couldn’t trust her if she had brought the wolves back to the castle to play Esoti’s twisted games.
“I’ll help you.” Her strong hands went beneath my armpits and she dragged me to my feet. I didn’t know where she had the strength to do that.
“Keep away.” As soon as I was on my feet, I pushed her hands from me, but my body had other ideas as my knees buckled beneath me.
