“Don’t tell me we are on a formal name basis now. You wound me, Seren.” Calder clutched his heart with one hand, but his other stayed clenched around his power.
Ara tried to cry out to them, to stop whatever madness was happening, but her throat burned and she could not find her voice. Her vision turned hazy and white around the edges. She felt the ground beneath her tremble as Saint Sorath's statue rumbled and shook behind her. Her hands sank into the earth, fingers digging into the soil, the smell of wet dirt rising into the air. She tried to focus on what Seren was saying, but everything was fading in and out.
Ara’s screams pierced the night air, a bright white light pulsed from her. She could feel the agony of each nerve ending as if they were being scorched by flames, and she wondered if this was what it was like to be burned at the stake. Calder started towards her, his shoulder brushing Seren’s. He flew back as her magic sparked and crackled at the contact.
Seren and Calder covered their eyes as the glare faded and Ara stood from the silver scorched ground, the grass of the lawn burned away in a perfect circle and the statue of Saint Sorath a pile of rubble at her feet. The power emanating from within lit her skin with a soft white radiance, her golden hair floated around her like a halo, her blue eyes blazed with divine intensity. Another wave of pain tore through her, her back arched and her vision blurred until the world around her faded to nothing.
Chapter eight
Seren Marudas
Itfeltasifthe sun was beaming down on her with a vengeance harbored and nurtured dutifully. Seren fought to open her eyes against the brightness that she knew was coming from her sister. Calder had done something to her, and she had been desperate and immature enough to let him. Whatever was happening to Ara now was because of her and that meant she would fix whatever this was. Saints above, she wished that she had had more time to learn, but at the very least that she had listened more in lectures.
Her eyes adjusted slowly, or perhaps it was the fact that the glow around Ara was fading. She was always stunning, but now with her white skin and her shining blue eyes, she was hauntingly devastating. She looked ancient and unfamiliar. Seren swallowed back her nerves and took a step towards her sister. As her foot began to cross onto that strange circle, a burst of power, heavy and unrelenting shot out, knocking Seren onto her back. When she was able to open her eyes once more, everything ached, and she was staring up at the evening sky littered with perfect constellations as if they were meant to witness this night. A hand fell into view and Seren followed it to find Calder grinning at her. How had she ever seen him for anything, but what he was?
Noticing her hesitancy, Calder sighed. “Come on, Marudas, you don’t want to spend all night on your back, do you?”
Seren shot him a glare even as she took his offered hand. The world seemed to sway as she righted herself, but she instantly sought out Ara. She still remained frozen within the circle, but her hair swayed less in the invisible wind that circled her.
Seren whirled towards Calder who was watching Ara with a self-satisfied smirk. “What did you do to her?”
“Isn’t she incredible?” Calder said without taking his gaze from her.
Rage, familiar and welcome, built in her. She shoved Calder’s chest with both hands and his laugh quickly faded as he noticed the singed handprints that were left on his shirt. He studied the marks a moment before he slowly looked up at Seren, his beautiful face losing its casual, relaxed state.
“This was my favorite shirt, Seren,” he chided.
“What did you do to my sister?” She held out her hands and conjured two burning flames, the flickering dance they shared illuminating her. “Do not make me ask again.”
Calder’s eyes softened, and the side of his lips curled up. He took a step towards her and Seren prepared to make good on her threat. He placed his hands over hers, the feeling of ice chasing away the comforting warmth of her flame.
“You have a fire raging in you. I can only imagine if you were the vessel, but the fates rarely put power where fire lives. Probably due to something about worlds burning and lack of morality guiding all that power.”
Seren opened her mouth to repeat her question, but the chill of ice crept up her arms, paralyzing her.
“Let’s get something straight.” The ice crept up through her arms and into her shoulders, working its way down like vines determined to take root. “While I admire your fire and I won’t hurt you out of respect for Ara, I’m also not prepared to let you ruin all my clothes.”
The ice in her body shattered as he released her. Rage was potent in the air as Seren faced him.
“Ara,” Calder said, his face twisted in anguish as he walked past her as if she were insignificant.
Seren twisted to see the light having left Arabella and she stood with a hand to her head. Calder reached up and pulled her hand away from her head, murmuring something softly. The tenderness in the gesture was a clever ruse that she saw through in an instant.
“Get away from her,” Seren ordered, calling the same orb of magic she had used with Professor Atwood during the trials.
Calder’s eyes widened as he turned, but he quickly recovered and replaced his shock with a small smirk. “Interesting choice. You know, I know someone who favors the same spell.”
Seren didn’t know what to do with that information. Was he referring to Atwood? Surely it was a common enough spell, though she had not studied combat magic since it was forbidden to witches. Just another way of keeping witches in their place. A side effect of the treaty from the first Magnus wars, when wizards sided with humans in order to overpower witches. It hadn’t taken long for Seren to realize that there were invisible chains wrapped around every witch in Lynoria, centuries old and dutifully nurtured.
Ignoring Calder, Seren’s eyes shot to Arabella’s who was blinking them rapidly as if she were struggling with reality. This was Seren’s fault. Whatever he had done to Arabella was because she had been incompetent enough to let him manipulate her.
“Bella?” Seren tried.
Her sister tried to shake her head and open her mouth, but a soft murmur only broke free. Calder took her hand in his and smiled reassuringly at Ara.
“It’s all right. Don’t try too hard. You are just getting used to the new volume of magic. It’ll take a few minutes, but I promise you will be okay.”
The softness in his voice ignited something within Seren. She threw the ball of light and with Calder’s attention on Ara, he didn’t react fast enough as the light landed on his leg, singeing his pants and burning into his skin. He dropped Ara’s hand and grabbed at his pants.
