Page 9 of The Powerless Witch

“Are you two fighting? Why is Estia hurt?” he snarled, his hands tightening around me. “What areyoudoing?”

Medina let out a low, frustrated noise and I finally peeled away from him, looking over his shoulder. Her magic danced around her, strangely concentrated over her chest, but I knew Noah couldn’t see it. She didn’t attack, though. Because of Noah, I realized.

“What must be done,” she said coldly and Noah frowned, looking between the two of us. “What the Coven willed, for the good of the village, for the good of everyone.”

Noah shifted from one leg to another, his posture going stiff as he kept staring at her. I could feel the hesitation creeping into his mind. It shouldn’t have hurt me this much, but to see him grow wary from just a few words from her broke my heart.

“For the Coven or you?” I spat, turning to her because I could no longer bear to look at the face of the man I loved, the man who was now doubting me even without knowing what was going on. “Because you are a jealous little bitch that is ready to stab her friends in the back to get what she wants?”

The wicked grin from earlier was gone. Even the anger didn’t show in her eyes. She looked…sad, and terrified. She even started trembling as she shook her head. I gaped at the complete change, at the way she looked at Noah as if he was her only salvation.

“You are my friend, Estia! My only family! But I cannot let you hurt the innocent people in that village—they have done nothing wrong! You are willing to unleash that calamity over all of us!” Her eyes darted to Noah, and I noticed tears were streaming down her dirt-stained cheeks. “It won’t stop with us. It will eventually destroy your village too, your entire family, and everyone you know and care about! She’ll doom us all!”

I wanted to scream. I wanted to throw myself at her and choke the truth out of her. But I couldn’t with Noah watching, not when she was making the fearful expression like she wasn’t the one chasing me until moments ago.

“Celestia?” Noah’s hesitant voice made me turn to him. “What is she talking about? What have you done?”

“Nothing!” I shouted, shaking my head in disbelief. “She is angry and jealous because you chose me! Because she thinks every bad thing that happened in her life is somehow my fault! She wants to hurt me and my family to get back at us! To get you! She was planning to use her child to snare you, but when she found out I was pregnant too…”

“Her child?” he echoed, looking at Medina with wide eyes. His gaze hovered over her stomach, where she had her arm wrapped protectively around her middle. “You are—”

“Pregnant, yes.” She nodded, a sad smile tugging on her lips. “With a healthy baby girl. Our daughter.” She looked at me and the fear returned to her expression. “While she is carrying an abomination. A boy with magic that will destroy us all. And she refuses togive him up just to keep you to herself! You know the stories about male witches, don’t you? They are all true. If that monster is born, it will destroy her, you, and everyone we love. But she doesn’t care.”

“It’s not a boy!” I screamed, taking a step toward her. She cowered back, raising her hands in surrender. She didn’t let go of her magic, though. I wished Noah could see it, see past her pretense that she wasn’t scared at all. But when I glanced at him, he wasn’t even looking at Medina, he was looking at me. And that gaze…there was nothing warm or loving in it. His eyes were fearful, full of regret and disbelief. “It’s not a boy,” I repeated, taking a step toward him. “She lied to everyone! It’s not a boy, it can’t be! And her child couldn’t be yours! You didn’t touch her, did you? Tell me you didn’t!”

Noah evaded my hand and as I watched him take a step back, something in my chest shattered. She was winning. She wasn’t doing anything, and she was winning—with a lie. Why did they believe her? Why were they so blind? Why wouldn’t they just stop and listen?

“Give yourself up, Celestia,” Medina said in a quiet, pleading voice. “Let us help you. We can kill the monster before it’s too powerful. You will live and…”

“...and I will never be allowed to have children again,” I finished before she twisted the truth again. “Nobody would want me or let me get pregnant out of fear I might conceive another boy. That will work perfectly for you, won’t it? Who would want a wife who can’t give them a family?”

The pain on Medina’s face hurt more than I expected, especially knowing it was fake. And when she spoke again, something in me broke completely.

“Some people are meant to be forever alone. At least you’d be allowed to live.”

The thundering of my heart went quiet, every beat turning slower and slower as calm took over the rage. Medina froze, hesitation passing through her before her fake fear turned real. She opened her mouth to say something when the ground shook and more hands grabbed for her, clasping her ankles and calves. Figures made of nothing but bone, both human and not, reached for her, pulling her down with them.

Medina shrieked, waving with her stick, but I used the charged air to snatch it from hergrip. Her eyes widened when the enchanted wood flew into my hand. A surge of energy passed through me, making me gasp as I stared down at the unassuming branch. She had charmed it somehow, and as I clenched my fingers tighter, it felt like my magic was easier to grasp, easier to guide, to control.

“Noah!” Medina screamed, reaching toward him. “Noah, help me! She will kill me, kill us all! You can see it, can’t you? Look at what she’s doing! She’s a monster!”

I shook my head in disgust. Even when she was beaten, she continued with the lies. And to think I ever considered her a friend, a sister.

“Noah, stop her! You are the only one who can! For my sake, and our baby’s! For everyone you love, you must!”

Snarling at her, I turned to face him. I wasn’t going to kill her, as much as the thought tempted me. I was going to let her face the Coven and demand a fair trial. But if I let her walk free, she could hurt…

I didn’t see the dagger before the metal I had personally enchanted with protection twisted in my gut. The first thing I felt was the blinding pain as the witch blade released its magic inside of me; the second thing I felt was the child within me dying as the knife sliced right through it.

The world quieted. Time froze. Life and death halted around us.

Noah’s face hardened, the loving features turning sharper, full of hate and fear.

“Only a monster can give birth to a monster.” He shook his head. “You deceived me, woman, enthralled me, and made me…” He twisted the weapon again and I gasped from the searing ache that devoured my heart. I reached for my magic, desperate for its protection, but it slipped through my fingers. With that enchanted metal in my chest, I doubted I’d be able to hold on to it.

“Noah,” Medina sobbed. He drove the blade higher, widening the tear in my stomach, then pushed me back. By the time I landed on the forest floor, he was by Medina’s side, helping her dig herself out of the dirt. The undead had stilled, falling in heaps around her.

I dropped the enchanted stick, and I reached for the dagger in my stomach, trying to yank it free. Noah wrapped Medina in his arms while she shook like a leaf. What he didn’t see was her face holding a victorious smile that made my blood boil even as it poured from my body.

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