Lily
"She died. She withered away right before my eyes—her spirit crushed under the weight of everything she'd lost. And me? As powerful as I was becoming, I had stood there, useless. Helpless. Just… watching." Miriam's words continued. My fingers gripped the diary so tight I thought it might tear apart. My vision blurred. My mother hadn't died of illness. She'd died of heartbreak. Too weak to fight, just like Miriam had feared.
"Teva became unbearable. It was drowning in ghosts. So I took Lily and returned to my old cabin in the woods. Where the trees and the birds were my only comfort. Years passed. Silence stretched. Until one day, something shattered the stillness. Word came from Marlick. Jim's sons. The children, the future of the kingdom, were dying."
I felt my stomach twist. My hands were cold. "I knew what it meant. The curse was still alive, weaving its way through the bloodline, strangling the Marlick name into extinction. And Zal…" Miriam paused. I braced myself, my heart already hammering. "Then, one day, I met a man. His name was Akin." My pulse quickened.
"He was kind. Curious. He would visit me once in a long while, always asking questions, always watching. But deep inside, something told me…" My breath caught. "Akin was Zal." A chill sliced through me. She never confronted him. Never proved it. But she knew. And now, so did I.
Zal…The man who had destroyed my mother's world, shattered the peace of a kingdom…He had found her again. Which meant…He never left.He'd been watching. Waiting. And now? My blood ran cold. He was still out there.
Elis pov
The council chamber pulsed with tension. We had worked day and night, tightening security around the kingdom, preparing for the worst. The attack in my private chambers was the final straw. An enemy had used magic to breach the very core of the palace. That kind of danger could no longer be tolerated.
The Anti-Witch Laws were now ready. I sat at the head of the table, the scroll unrolled before me. My eyes scanned the inked words; they were harsh, unyielding and absolute. Magic was now treason. Spells, enchantments, curses…any trace of it would be treated as an act of war.
"These laws are too extreme," Alpha Drew said cautiously. "We risk turning innocent blood against us."
"There is no innocence in magic," Rogan shot back. "We've seen what it does. It killed one of our own and left him rotting like a dried husk. I say we burn it out before it burns us."
My jaw clenched. I wanted to agree. I needed to. But my mind betrayed me. Lily. If she had magic in her blood…Would these very laws condemn her?
Douglas stepped forward, laying a report before me. "My King. Patrols have doubled across palace grounds and along the borders. Interrogations of the staff are ongoing. No confessions yet, but…" he hesitated, "…there's something strange."
I lifted my gaze. "Speak."
He exhaled. "The night of the chamber attack… one guard from the east wing vanished. No trace. Nobody. It's as if he was swallowed by air." The room froze.
"Magic," Alpha Joren growled. "The sorcerer is still within our walls."
I gripped the armrest, the wood groaning under my fingers. "Then we hunt them," I said coldly. "I will not rest until this kingdom is cleansed." But even as I spoke those words… something inside me whispered. What if the one I must destroy… is the one I can't bear to lose?
Lily's POV
I sat in my garden, surrounded by the familiar scent of rosemary, thyme, and lavender. The night air was crisp, cool against my skin, and the moon bathed everything around me in a silver glow. Out here, away from the walls of my room, I could finally breathe.
The diary rested on my lap…its worn pages filled with truths that still echoed in my chest. My grandmother had endured so much. A life built on sacrifice, shadowed by Zal's darkness. She had fought for peace, yet the evil had found a way to survive.
I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, the earthy aroma of my herbs grounding me. But no scent, no calm breeze could still the storm inside me.
I was a witch. And for the first time in my life, I wasn't afraid of what that meant. Mastering control comes first. Use your power responsibly. Use it to defend and protect the ones you love. Never use it against free will. Miriam's words echoed over and over again. But one line refused to leave me. Never use it against free will.
My stomach knotted. What if breaking the curse meant pushing Elis into something he wouldn't choose? Would I have the strength to let him go instead?
A breeze rustled the leaves gently around me until it didn't. Suddenly, everything was still. The scent of herbs faded. The air thickened with something ancient, something… other. And I felt it. A presence. My eyes flew open, and my breath hitched. She was standing there. Miriam. Not a shimmer, not a dream. Real. Solid. Radiating warmth and power all at once. Her silver-streaked hair tumbled around her shoulders, her eyes soft, but sharp…just as I remembered.
"You are ready," she said, her voice a whisper that cut through me like music and thunder. My lips parted, but no sound came out. I couldn't speak. I could barely breathe. She lifted her hand, palm open as though offering something unseen. "The journey ahead will not be easy," she said, stepping closer. "But you were born for this, my love."
My heart thundered in my chest. She had always been with me…watching and waiting for this moment. The air around us pulsed with energy, the garden humming with something older than time. I reached out with a trembling hand. The instant our fingers touched…Everything went black.