Begining of dark magic

Begining of dark magic


Flora's POV

The mist clung to the pines like a shroud as I walked beside Kael that evening, my boots sinking into the damp earth with every deliberate step. The forest felt different now, Power hummed beneath my skin, dark and intoxicating, a gift Kael had pressed into my veins the night before. I no longer flinched at its touch.

He stopped at the ridge overlooking the valley where the pack’s compound sprawled under the bruised purple sky. Moonlight silvered the rooftops of the cabins, the training grounds, the place I had once called home. Kael’s profile was carved from stone beside me, sharp jaw, eyes like polished obsidian.

“Tonight,” he said quietly, “I tell you everything.”

I turned to him. My heart still stuttered sometimes when his gaze met mine, a remnant of the girl who had once believed his promises of safety. That girl was buried now, but her ghost lingered.

“Go on,” I said. My voice sounded steadier than I felt.

He exhaled, breath fogging the cold air. “The old pack is rotten at the core. Malcolm has ruled through fear masked as tradition. He binds wolves with oaths they never truly chose. And Maverick…” Kael’s lip curled. “He lets it happen. He stands at Malcolm’s right hand and pretends his conscience is clean.”

I said nothing. The names still burned when I heard them.

“My plan is simple,” Kael continued. “We raze what remains of their authority. I will strip Malcolm of the alpha bond—he will feel every thread snap, every loyalty he forged turn to ash in his chest. He’ll live, but as nothing. A shadow without a pack.”

A shiver raced down my spine, not entirely from the cold. I pictured Malcolm’s broad shoulders bowing, the light in his eyes dimming. Part of me recoiled. Another part larger now savored it.

“And Maverick?” I asked. The question slipped out before I could stop it.

Kael’s smile was slow, almost tender. “Maverick will bear my curse. Permanent. No shifting under moonlight, no healing, no pack call in his blood. He will walk among wolves as a man forever, watching them run while he remains chained to the ground. He’ll remember every moment he failed you, every time he chose silence over truth.”

Maverick’s face flashed behind my eyes: the way his gaze had always softened when he looked at me, the way he’d hesitated the last time Malcolm ordered me confined. Hesitation wasn’t enough. It had never been enough.

“Why tell me now?” I asked.

“Because you’re no longer the broken thing they discarded.” Kael reached out, brushing a strand of hair from my cheek. His touch was cool, deliberate. “You walk with me willingly. You choose this. Tonight, you prove it.”

He nodded toward the valley. “Show them.”

My pulse thundered in my ears. I closed my eyes and reached for the new magic coiled inside me. Illusion was the first gift Kael had awakened; it felt like breathing shadows, like pulling threads from a dream and weaving them into the world. I exhaled, and the air shimmered.

Down in the compound, two figures appeared ethereal copies of us standing at the edge of the central fire pit. The pack would see them. Malcolm and Maverick would see them.

I made my illusion-self speak first. My voice echoed across the valley, amplified by the magic, carrying the same cold certainty I forced into my real throat.

“Malcolm. Maverick.” The words rang clear and cruel. “Look upon me. This is what remains when you discard someone you claimed to protect.”

I saw movement below wolves spilling from cabins, heads snapping toward the spectral figures. Malcolm emerged from the alpha house, coat thrown hastily over his shoulders, silver streaking his dark hair.

“Flora,” Malcolm called. His voice cracked the night. “Come down. Let us speak face to face.”

My illusion laughed—low, bitter. “No. You had years to speak but you chose to lie to me.”

Maverick stepped forward, hands raised. “Flora, please. Whatever he’s done to you whatever lies he fed you we can undo it. I swear it.”

The sincerity in his voice sliced me open. For one treacherous second I wanted to believe him. Then I remembered the locked door, the nights I cried alone while they debated my fate in council. I clenched my fists. The illusion-self mirrored the motion.

“You think you can undo this?” I made her say. “I am no longer your pawn, Maverick. No longer the girl you pitied and protected and then abandoned when it became inconvenient. Kael gave me power. He gave me truth. You gave me silence.”

Malcolm’s face twisted. “Flora, listen to me. Kael is using you. He’s twisted everything—your memories, your anger. I should have told you sooner, but I thought shielding you would keep you safe. I was wrong. Please—”

“Enough.” I cut the word like a blade. The illusion-self raised a hand, and shadows coiled around her—ME– “Your truths come too late. They always did.”

Maverick’s gaze locked on the apparition. Even from this distance I saw the pain flash across his features, raw and unguarded. He took another step, boots crunching on gravel.

“I see it,” he said, voice carrying on the wind. “I see what he’s done. I should have fought harder. I should have stood between you and my father’s decisions. But I know you, Flora. Beneath all this… you’re still there. And I will reach you again. I swear on my blood.”

Something inside me cracked. Not enough to break the spell jjust enough to hurt. I tasted salt on my lips and realized I was crying.

Kael’s hand settled on my shoulder, steadying. “Finish it,” he murmured.

I swallowed the sob. The illusion-self straightened.

“Then come and try,” she said. “But know this: the next time we meet, it will not be words that decide. It will be blood.”

With a flick of my wrist, the shadows swallowed the apparitions. They vanished like smoke, leaving only stunned silence in the valley below.

I opened my eyes. The real world rushed back the bite of the wind, the scent of pine and Kael’s leather coat. My cheeks were wet.

Kael studied me. “You hesitated.”

“I didn’t,” I lied.

He didn’t argue. Instead he turned back toward the deeper forest. “They’ll come for us soon. Malcolm will rally what’s left of his loyalists. Maverick will lead the charge—he’s too stubborn to let go.”

I nodded once. My throat felt raw.

We walked in silence for a long stretch. The ridge fell away behind us, the valley swallowed by trees. Only when the compound lights were mere pinpricks did Kael speak again.

“You still love him.”

It wasn’t a question.

I stopped. Leaves crunched underfoot. “I hate him more.”

Kael’s eyes searched mine. “Good. Hold onto that. Let it fuel you through what comes next.”

But as we moved deeper into the dark, Maverick’s words echoed in my skull. “I will reach you again.”

I told myself it wa
s impossible. I told myself the girl who once believed him was gone.

Yet my hands trembled.