Page 40 of The Witch's Fate
I’m even at peace with this small interval of solitude while Ryker is outside. I know how to spend time alone. It’s not at all the same asbeingalonefor all these years, with only the letters with pleas for help and only the creatures of the forest for company. This is a solitude that knows it will soon be broken. That my mate is nearby and will return.
And that speaks to me to the depths of my soul. Selecting a simple crimson silk dress that falls down to the floor, I speak my intent for the day:Passion and love will guide me today and I will trust in it. So mote it be.
Those little bits of magic, simple statements of what you wish even in mundane acts like getting dressed or washing your face, that little bit of magic is so very powerful and should not be overlooked. I do them as often as I can and from now on they will include thoughts of Ryker.
My steps are sure as I select a candle from my shelf. Not the candle I burned for my spell, of course, because that one has nothing more to give. Perhaps the spell went as wild as it didbecause I was trying to give the prince and princess something I wanted desperately for myself but believed I would never have.
Somehow, my powers turned those words intoRyker.The spell did not create him, but it did create the situation that allowed us to discover one another. For fate to finally bring us together as we were meant to be.
So…was it a mistake that led to a violent storm and trapped him here, or something else? I wished for no harm to come if I didn’t attend to the wedding. If he wasn’t trapped here, Ryker may have never found me. Unless we’d both attended the wedding. What could have been is not mine to see, but I am grateful for what I have been given, including spells gone awry.
Is it ever a mistake if all a witch is doing is guiding herself onto fate’s path?
I cannot say.
I bring the candle to my worktable and sit down with it.
I close my eyes, reach for the comfort of the moon, and focus on a spell of truth. Not a spell of prophecy. Not a spell of comfort. Not a spell that will tell me what I want to hear.
A spell that will tell me whatisand what will be.
I etch the words into the candle, murmuring them softly and holding myself and Ryker in my mind. I’m careful not to place us anywhere in particular. I do not want to influence the spell in that way. It’s just the two of us, the background indistinct. The only important aspect is him, notwhere.
It’s difficult, I will admit, not to influence the spell, but I remain strong, to manifest what I desire rather than to pray for our highest selves to be shown.
The moonmusthave a reason for all this. She must.
I search the candle flames. For a minute, there is nothing.
Then it dances slightly differently, and the world around me dims. It doesn’t go so dark that it disappears, more so to alertme that it is not the time to look at the present. It is time to look upon the future the spell has shown me.
The first clear image to appear is me, and a second later, Ryker. He stays beside me until we are both old and gray. The sight of us together, knowing we make it many moons together, brings me such comfort the back of my eyes prick with tears. I don’t wish to be alone anymore. I only wish to be with him.
The image shifts, seeming to move backward in time, whirling through different vibrant colors as it does. There we are again, much younger than we eventually became but slightly changed from how we are now. Pups play in the grass in the background. In the distance, those pups tumble and chase until they at last grow older and become wolves and among them a young witch playing with fire. She has Ryker’s eyes.
The seasons change, too. This is more a feeling than an image, but I understand with perfect clarity.
There is a hand on my shoulder.
I keep my mind focused on the images brought to me by my spell. It is the truth without a doubt. This is what we will be.
This is where the future begins.
He is quiet in the present, letting me watch.
“What do you see?” he asks eventually.
My heart swells with this new truth. “I see that you love me forever.”
“I already knew I’d do that,” he says softly behind me, planting a kiss on the crook of my neck.
I let out a sob that’s half a laugh and turn away from the future. It’s a seed I have planted, only it’s one that I cannot hurry to grow faster. It will bloom in its own time. And what must come, will. But I have comfort in the love we have today.
I stand up and the tiniest movement brings me into Ryker’s arms. He tips my face to his. Giddy nervousness overtakes me.“I don’t know what’s going to happen exactly or how we will get there, but?—”
He smiles at me. “Step by step, I would think.”
A huff of a laugh leaves me at his statement. “Can we start with getting to know each other?”
