This information about her mother sank its teeth into her. Her mother, a woman afraid of being powerless, of being too small to fight back. Vaasa heard it again, the hiss of the snake. Felt the ridges of scales as it wound around her throat.
Ozik tilted his head, enamored by the creature. The gold in his eyes was swallowed by the black snake that slithered along her skin. The manifestation rose to rub against her cheek. It was cool to the touch, its sharp sibilations a warning in her ears.
“A serpent,” Ozik said. “The very thing they called your father.”
“Stop,” Vaasa whispered, this time tasting the power as the snake slid across her lips.
Ozik inspected Vaasa, saw how her hands shook. His eyes narrowed upon the magic circling her throat, and all of Vaasa’s emotions played upon his face. However their bargain linked them, they shared the intensity of this moment. They shared her fear.
“I am not controlling this any longer. You are.”
Vaasa forced herself to suck down air, and the hiss of the snake rattled in her ear. She met Ozik’s eyes, and he stared at her, his hands clasped behind his back.
“All magic needs fuel,” he said. “Think.When did you see the wolf? When did it finally make itself known to you?”
The look on his face seemed to say he already knew the answer. There was ancient wisdom behind his eyes, and she wasn’t certain how she’d never seen it before, how she’d never recognized the churning of power within him or the unnatural years that stared back at her. It was as if his own magic had grown unruly in the time she was away, in the time her mother had been dead. No longer able to be masked, to be hidden.
Perhaps it was all a trick, some mind game. Yet she thought back to the height of her own magic, to the times it had felt utterly out of control. At the beginning, in the Library of Una when she’d searched desperately for a clue as to what this magic was. With Kosana, when she’d found herself outmatched by the warrior as they trained next to the Settara. Again when Reid had told her that Dominik was coming to Mireh. Most notably, when she’d looked at her brother and decided she’d lost enough, when she’d accepted her death and let go of that…
Fear.
Every time the magic had reared to the surface in an uncontrollable wave, it had been a reaction to fear. Fear she would never find answers. Fear Kosana would prove her worthless. Fear Dominik would harm all the people she had just begun to love. Fear that she would die, that Amalie would die, and the greatest tragedy of her life would be not having enough time.
Her magic churned in her gut, a ruthless force once again as she stared at Ozik across the pathway. Fear of him. Fear of everything, always. The very thing that had given the snake its shape, that had made a monster out of her.
Fear of herself.
But she didn’t need to be afraid any longer. She was not what they had tried to make her.
Something tangible and powerful poured out of her body, mist and magic and everything she had ever felt up until thatmoment. To her left, the wolf took form as naturally to her as breathing. Its smoky edges curled into the air, white eyes shining from a shadowy face. One paw swiped at the stones beneath it.
The corner of Ozik’s lips curled into a knowing smile as he gazed upon her manifestation. “Your magic was never out of control, Vaasalisa. It was feeding, becausethatis what sentimental magic does. It’s what makes Veragi magic so spectacular, so threatening. You are starving, and so you are feasting on yourself, the closest and easiest source. But what would happen if you feasted on everything around you instead?”
Vaasa looked to the wolf, felt every edge and subtle sway of it. Felt the desire to send it forward and strike. The manifestation took a step, lowering its nose to the ground and letting out an audible growl.
Ozik watched it closely. “Think.Observe.You have always perceived the emotions of those around you. Perhaps now is the time you start weaponizing them instead of internalizing them.”
Vaasa stared at him, and despite what she wanted to believe, she swore she couldfeelhis subtle fear. She could taste it. It slid across her tongue in satiating breaths. The relief it brought was palpable, instantaneous.
The wolf grew sharper. More defined. No longer were the edges glimmering tendrils of smoke; she could see and feel the texture of hair, of claws, of teeth.
Her eyes snapped to Ozik.
She was feeding off him.
This was unnatural. Perverse and wrong.
Vaasa dismissed the magic, obliterating it into mist that dissipated in the air. Ozik frowned as he stepped forward, hissing, “What are you doing?”
A memory threaded her mind of the day her coven crawled beneath a table with her. Melisina’s soft voice echoed.Just cry. Let it out.And Vaasa realized: Ozik’s tutelage wasn’t one she waswilling to accept. Not anymore. Her coven had shown her the power of gentle love, and she would no longer squeeze a stem of thorns for the sake of the flower. “I won’t twist magic this way. I never asked you to train me.”
The look on his face was stifling—fury and grief carved into the pale lines of it. “A bargain goes both ways, Vaasalisa.”
Vaasa’s fists tightened. “So, if I don’t let you train my magic, you’ll murder me like you did my mother?”
Ozik’s grimaced. “I did not kill your mother. She broke a bargain. I don’t control the rules of magic. And how do you intend to survive if you refuse to learn them?”
“Then why not release my mother from the bargain?” Vaasa demanded. “Why not release me? Are you so powerless that you cannot free your own thralls?”
