Leo didn’t even give him time to attack first. He brought his herbs to his lips and said, “Incendar.”
Flames erupted at the two teenagers’ feet, forcing them away from us. An errant spark flicked onto the boy’s boot and traveled up his pants, his cruel features instantly turning to horror. He and the girl batted at their clothing, flailing around like chickens as they tried to stop the magical fire.
Leo looked down at me cowering on the ground. “What did they do to you, Rissa?”
“It was my fault,” I choked out. “I—I couldn’t control it. I hurt her first. It was an accident. It was—it was my fault.”
I soared along the bottom of the hill, needing to get as far away from the village as possible. I had to rely on my senses to navigate back to the main roads before I lost myself in this territory.
The euphoria of having my magic back was overshadowed by shame. I’djuststarted to earn the trust of these people, to prove that Veridians were like them, that we were kind and compassionate andnormal…only to once again be unable to control my magic.
Monster. Beast. Freak.
Those people would never be comfortable around me now. I’d spent the last decade and a half learning to rein in this other half of me that constantly lived beneath my skin, struggling to tame the wildness into what others wanted to see. To be disciplined. Able to manage my emotions instead of letting them overtake me.
I never wanted to hurt anyone the way I’d clawed that girl so long ago, and others like her. But I’d hurt him.
I’d hurt Thorne.
I shouldn’t have slipped. It was my fault.
I slowed to a walk when the main road we’d been traveling on earlier came into view. Staying out of sight in the line of trees, I tugged on that well of magic inside me to shift back into my human form. I needed to find my mother and make sure she was alright, then get to Silenus Manor before I made things worse.
But nothing happened. My human half wouldn’t emerge.
I couldn’t shift back.
It was normally as natural as breathing, but something…something was blocking it. I could stillsensemy magic; it just wouldn’t answer me.
A fresh wave of panic rose. Questions spun around me, a frenzy building along my spine. What if I couldn’t shift at all? Was I stuck like this? Was there something wrong with the magic of the curse? What would they do to my mother if they thought we were a threat to them?
I didn’t know what to do. Where to go. How tofix this. I could charm and negotiate my way into and out of most problems in my life, but I was completely helpless here. Weak and out of control.
Thoughts jumbled in my head as I made my way on four unsteady legs to lean against the trunk of a large tree. I tried to shift again, but my panic was too strong. I couldn’t focus; every snapped twig, crinkle of grass, and rush of wind through the trees had my neck jerking and tail tucking. What if someone came after me? Or Mother? What if?—
I smelled him before I heard him. Sweet grass and leather. A bit of that same stench of death from the field mingled with a thin layer of sweat and blood. There was another animal with him too. A horse. I could hear its hooves crunching against leaves.
“Clarissa?” he called hesitantly, his dark boots appearing in my line of sight as they bounced against the side of his horse. My gaze traveled upward over his wrinkled pants and light blue shirt streaked with blood.
My fault.
The wound had stopped bleeding, but those marks…those four claw marks glared back at me, shining and jagged in his skin.
His eyes found me, and the deep crease in his forehead disappeared. “It’s just me.” He kept his voice even as he dismounted and slowly approached me with a limp. “You’re safe. Look, I’m alright too. I’m alive. I’m not angry with you—you were scared, but it’s okay now.”
How was any of thisokay? I’d hurt him. I’d terrorized a dozen farmers and was almost skewered with a rake. This whole territory was going to hate me.
“Clarissa, what you did…it wasincredible.”
That made me rear back. I cocked my head to the side, one ear perked while the other flopped down.
He continued, “You ran away too quickly to see. But the rot…after you touched it, it—it disappeared. I’ve never seen anything like it. Everything went back to normal. The entire cursed side of the hill literallyregrew. As if nothing had happened.” He moved another inch closer, and I didn’t flinch. “You must have done something.” Extending an arm, his hand hovered near my face.
“Don’t be afraid of me. You’re safe,” he repeated, slowly lowering his fingers to the fur beneath my ear.
His warm hand touched me, and I closed my eyes, my nose involuntarily turning and nuzzling into his palm.
Magic tugged at my chest, and this time when I pulled on it, it responded. It ripped through me like a storm, chaotic and uncontrolled.
