The forest was alive with whispers. Every branch creaked as though in warning; every rustle of leaves echoed like a secret spoken too close to her ear. Aradia pulled her tattered cloak tighter around her shoulders and quickened her steps along the narrow dirt path.
She had lived in this village for twenty years, and not once had she been welcomed. The people called her cursed. Strange things always seemed to happen near her—candles flickering to life when she walked past, storms rising from clear skies when she was angry, shadows bending as though bowing to her presence.
But she knew nothing of magic. To her, it was simply… a burden.
Her mother had died giving birth to her, and her father, broken and bitter, had disappeared into the mountains, never to return. She was raised by silence, by whispers, by fear. The women spat at her when she passed, the men turned their eyes away, and the children pointed and threw stones.
Tonight was no different. She had returned from the well with her water jug when she heard them.
"Witch."
The word came from the dark, laced with venom. Three boys emerged from the shadows, older, stronger, armed with the arrogance of those who had never been truly hungry or truly alone.
Aradia froze.
The tallest of them stepped forward, his sneer twisted in the glow of the moon. "You curse our crops. My father says you killed his cow with your evil eyes."
Her hands trembled, but she held the jug steady. "I did nothing."
"You breathe, and it is enough."
They lunged. One snatched the jug and smashed it against the ground, water spilling like blood into the dirt. Another grabbed her arm. Her heart pounded as panic clawed at her chest.
"Please," she whispered, her voice breaking.
And then—it happened.
The ground shuddered beneath them. A surge of heat exploded in her veins, burning, wild, unstoppable. Her eyes glowed like fire in the dark, and the boys stumbled back, gasping. Wind tore through the path, lifting her cloak as if she were a storm given flesh.
The tallest tried to scream, but roots erupted from the earth, coiling around his ankles, dragging him to his knees. The other two bolted, crying out in terror.
Aradia stood frozen, her chest heaving. She hadn't moved. She hadn't willed it. And yet… the world had obeyed her.
When silence fell again, she collapsed to her knees, staring at her trembling hands.
"What am I?" she whispered.
And in the distance, hidden among the trees, a pair of green eyes watched. Eyes that glowed brighter than the moon. Eyes belonging to a man who would change everything.