Chapter 14 CHAPTER FOURTEEN
AERIS
Finally, he spoke. His voice was low, deliberate, like ice sliding over stone. “At midnight… in the deepest part of the forest? What are you doing here?”
“I…I was just gathering herbs,” I said quickly, fumbling for calm. “I couldn’t sleep.”
“You’re either brave… or incredibly foolish coming here all alone” he said, the words slow and measured.
I shivered despite myself. The forest felt smaller now, as if every shadow pressed closer. My hands instinctively clutched the pouch.
“You’re hiding something,” he added, his tone sharper this time.
“Herbs,” I said immediately. “That’s all.”
A pause then “Somnaflower. Asthorn. Bloodpetal.”
I blinked. “…You know herbs?”
“I know everything in my domain,” he replied.
I exhaled shakily, forcing a weak retort. “Do you… also know insomnia is not a crime?”
“…Not yet,” he said, almost dismissively. The words were brief, but they landed like stones in my chest.
My eyes flicked to his cloak. Dark, heavy fabric, faintly streaked with a grayish-green residue that shimmered in the moonlight.
“Wait…is that Ashvine?” I asked, voice barely above a whisper. “It reacts to strong magic… which means you were near—”
“You noticed,” he said, almost casually.
I swallowed, the heat in my cheeks growing unbearable.
“Which means..” I started again, but he interrupted.
“Enough,” he said, clipped, final.
“But—” I tried, daring to test the edges of his patience.
He stepped closer, the faint rustle of his cloak echoing in the quiet clearing. “Curiosity kept the cat alive exactly once,” he said slowly, his voice low and steady. “Do not test the odds again.”
I swallowed hard. My pulse hammered in my ears. Ashvine only reacted like that when exposed to overwhelming magic.
“Next time,” he continued, voice sharp now, slicing through the night air, “I would advise you… not to come alone. Or, better yet… not at all. Because next time..”
He paused, letting the weight of the words settle like ice against my chest. “…You will meet a predator. And your—” He lifted his hand slightly, as if tracing the aura around me, “…unstable magic cannot save you.”
I froze. My throat went dry. He knows. Of course he does. For someone like him…the strongest mage in the realm,it only takes a glance, a single, measured observation, to read the truth of my magic. My instability, my lack of control, the raw, unshaped fire threatening to betray me at the worst moment… he could see it all.
I wanted to speak. To defend myself. To explain. But the words died on my tongue.
Before I could blink again, before I could even fully register the sound of his footsteps, he was gone.
Just…gone.
The clearing was silent once more, except for the soft rustle of leaves and the faint, lingering scent of ashvine that clung to the air like a warning.
My breathing finally steadied, but the tremble in my fingers refused to fade. The forest no longer felt like a place of secrets and quiet knowledge…it felt hostile, cold, as if his presence had carved a warning into the very ground.
I forced myself upright, my legs unsteady as I brushed leaves from my cloak. The pouch of herbs felt heavier now.
The walk back to the Academy felt longer than it ever had.
The forest gradually thinned, shadows peeling away as the towering walls of the Academy emerged ahead, lit faintly by the moon’s fading silver. My breaths were shallow, uneven. My thoughts felt like shattered glass, cutting no matter how carefully I tried to gather them.
By the time I slipped through the side gate and crossed into the herb gardens behind the dormitories, my legs trembled from more than exhaustion.
I knelt beside one of the workbenches, fingers clumsy as I untied the pouch. The Bloodpetals spilled out first…glowing faintly, soft red halos pulsing like breaths. Then the somnaflowers, delicate and pale, and the asthorn roots, gritty with soil.
My hands shook as I began sorting them, separating petals from stems, dirt from roots. But the moment I touched a somnaflower, its thin petals trembled. no breeze, no wind.
Just my magic.
Reacting.
Flaring.
Trying to twist free.
My chest tightened painfully.
I gathered everything quickly and tucked them into the supply crates by the wall. My fingers fumbled, dropping petals, smearing soil across the wooden planks.
By the time I was done, my hands were covered in streaks of red and brown.
I wiped them on my cloak and stepped away.
The Academy loomed overhead, silent and peaceful. I should have gone inside. I should have slept.
But my feet didn’t take me toward the wing.
They took me to the one place I knew no one else would visit at night.
The ruin.
A collapsed training courtyard behind the southeastern tower…half-swallowed by ivy, forgotten after some long-ago accident. I heard most students avoided it because the air was strange there, heavy with old magic.
For me, that made it perfect.
No witnesses.
No teachers.
No Sovereign.
My footsteps crunched over broken stone as I entered the courtyard. The moon illuminated the ruins in pale blue, scattered across shattered pillars and cracked tiles like an invitation.
I stood in the center, closed my eyes, and lifted my hands.
Just breathe.
My magic stirred immediately…restless and unpredictable like a creature pacing beneath my skin.
I tried to coax it out gently.
Just a little light. Just…something.
For a moment, it responded.
A faint glow formed in my palms, flickering like a candle struggling against the wind.
My heartbeat quickened. I leaned into it, begging silently.
But as soon as emotion seeped in...fear and shame,The magic surged.
Too fast.
Too sharp.
A flash of heat shot through me, spiraling down my arms like fire racing along a fuse. I gasped as the light bulged, distorted, then—
Crack.
A burst of uncontrolled energy exploded against the ground, sending dust and shards of stone flying. I stumbled backward, coughing, my hands burning as if flames licked beneath my skin.
“No…no, no…” My voice cracked.
I dropped to my knees, staring at the scorch mark spreading across the tiles. The jagged lines branching outward were proof of my failure again.
Unstable.
Uncontrolled.
Dangerous.
I pressed my trembling hands to my face, swallowing a sob.
I can’t
Why can’t I do this
Tears slipped past my fingers, warm against my chilled skin.
I tried again.
And again.
Each attempt ended the same…flicker, spark, surge, explosion. Until my body ached and despair clawed at my ribs, tight and suffocating.
At last, I collapsed fully onto the cracked tiles, chest heaving, sweat mixing with the dust on my skin.
The ruins felt colder now.
Lonelier.
Moonlight filtered through the broken archways like distant, unreachable hope.
I curled onto my side and pressed a shaking hand to the ground, feeling the residual warmth of my last failed spell.
“I won’t survive a predator,” I whispered, repeating the Sovereign’s words through a hollow laugh. “I can’t even survive myself.”.
My vision blurred again, and this time I didn’t fight it. I let exhaustion drag my eyelids down, the ruins fading around me into soft darkness.
I didn’t sleep so much as collapse into unconsciousness, the last thought echoing through my mind as everything else slipped away:
If he can see my weakness this clearly… How many others can see it too?