Page 29 of Fate of the Fallen
I engaged.
“It’s you,” I accused, letting the witch know I was aware she’d taken advantage of the weakening magic to taunt me. “Get out of my head!” I yelled, hearing the forced words rip from my throat.
Her laugh rang out once again, this time seeming to echo off every surface. As if she was … suddenly everywhere.
Surrounding me.
“Believe me, if I could take credit for the pretty things swirling around inside that mind of yours, I would in a heartbeat. However, whatever you’re seeing,” she said, “it’s only your true self begging to be set free, begging you to stop bridling it.”
Fear crept in and inched its way right across my skin. I knew, without a doubt, I’d messed up. Speaking to her, even if only to try shutting her up, was a mistake. Now, regardless of what I said next, she knew she could affect me.
“What would you say if I told you you’re, quite possibly, the most perfect being in existence? The embodiment of all that is just and all that is righteous within the supernatural realm?”
I held my head as my body slumped down the wall. I wanted her to stop. She wanted to infect me with her foul thoughts and twisted rationale, but I wouldn’t let that happen.
“There’s a child, isn’t there? A new descendant soon to arrive?” she asked next. “I overheard you speaking of it yesterday.”
Each breath I took came unevenly as I tried to recall when I’d mentioned that, when I’d uttered aloud that Evie was expecting. It didn’t take long for it to come back to me—the conversation with Roz. I only wanted to fill her in on everything, bring her up to speed on what happened with me, but now … I realized Roz wasn’t the only one I shared this info with.
“Don’t you see, Nicholas? You were sent here for a purpose. To restore balance. If it weren’t so, my magic would not have seen fit to create you,” she explained.
But I didn’t want to listen.
So, trying to drown her out, I clamped both hands over my ears now, letting my eyes fall closed again. Meanwhile, the spell continued to deteriorate, meaning I had to fight to ignore that, too. If I didn’t, if I focused on how easily I could have broken out, I might have given it a try.
The witch continued to taunt me, but her voice was muffled now. Still, that did nothing to stop the visions she forced—dark and grim as they were. The room around me seemed to vibrate with her energy and I could only hope that, when I opened my eyes again, the spell hadn’t broken completely.
“Don’t shut me out!”
Her voice came flooding in, piercing the cone of silence I attempted to create around myself. I was convinced she hadn’t even said these words aloud, but rather that she’d somehow entered deeper into my thoughts after I all but invited her in by interacting. She, like every other witch, was cunning.
“You’re meant to be powerful, revered among the lycans,” she insisted.
Her words were practically tangible now as they became harder to drown out.
“Let me help you reach your full potential,” she went on. “No one knows you, or what you’re capable of, better than I do. After all, you’re only who and what you are because of me,” she added.
I coiled into myself, shrinking against the wall, putting up the last ounce of fight I had within me to resist her offer.
All around me, that energy that vibrated the very foundation of my cell seemed to explode outward. When my eyes opened, just beyond my line of sight, the sound of metal giving beneath tremendous pressure—twisting and groaning.
I stood and backed away, feeling the pull overpowering me, but I had to resist.
I made up my mind that I wouldn’t give in, that I wouldn’t allow my nature to rule me. I’d stave off the beast as long as I could, ashardas I could.
No one else could make this choice for me. So, deciding that my fate was still in my own hands, I turned to rush toward the back of my cell, but …
The speech I had just prepared and planned to use to keep myself from going against this new vow was plucked right out of my head. Instead, adifferentsensation had replaced the feeling of determination.
Fear.
She was like nothing I’d ever seen, and the moment I turned to retreat, I was staring directly into her dark, sinister eyes. A small vile of lycan blood hung around her neck, resting on the lapel of a large cloak that stretched the length of her tall frame. Deep crags set in her decaying, leathery skin made her appear more dead than alive. In short, her appearance was nearly as putrid as her smell, and as terrible as I imagined her to be, seeing her in the flesh made it clear my imagination had come up short. Everything about her was frightening and … indescribable.
I felt confused and lightheaded, trying to grasp how she’d just gotten from her cell and into mine without the door unlatching, but I could only imagine how powerful she was. The twisting metal I heard a moment before had to have been her bars, but she made a show of proving to me that she couldn’t be contained, controlled.
A sinister smile donned her expression, revealing blackened teeth. With the look, came a question.
“Will you accept my offer?” she asked. “Are you ready to see who you were meant to be?”