“You’ve settled in well here, since your arrival. Your grades are good, your magic is flourishing,” she said carefully as her silvery gaze held me in place.
“In every aspect that matters, you are thriving, as I knew you would.” She smiled.
“Thank you for the opportunity to... flourish,” I said as my memory replayed just all the ways I had been flourishing since I’d awakened in that forest, in the arms of a brooding, sexy incubus who knew just how to kindle my fire, my lust for knowledge as well as my carnal desires.
How I’d learned in just the span of a few weeks how to call my power and focus it on an object. While I was still learning how to utilize my power in many ways, the influx of power from my awakening—among other sources—it seemed helped with my abilities. Where magic once was a chaotic thing I could not control, it was now something that was purely an extension of who I was.
I’d never even dreamed of being able to hold my magic, to make it listen.
But here I was.
“Which is why I will stand behind your decision, a hundred percent, whatever you choose,” Headmistress Blackthorn said as she rose from her chair.
I watched her as she walked over to her fireplace, the light of the flames casting her shadow along her desk and over her enormously intricate chair. She looked regal, powerful, and I got the sense that what she was about to say was going to be monumental.
Especially if I’m being sworn to secrecy.
“The Queen of Lir has requested your presence.” The way in which she said the words were steady, but carried a hint of warning.
“The Queen... of...”
Bane’s voice echoed in my brain, spouting familiar words.
The Forest of Lir.
The forest I’drevivedwith my awakening.
Home.
I snapped my gaze to where Blackthorn stood, her expression as solid and unwavering as the day I arrived at this academy.
“Magic has a signature, Violet. No matter if you are a kraken, a siren, an incubus, or a faerie.”
I was frozen, transfixed as she continued.
“Your signature however is... different.”
“Different how?” I asked, my voice small.
“It matches a signature of someone who has been lost for a very long time.”
The air thinned around me as her words hit me like a storm.
The Forest of Lir.
The pink haired woman in my vision.
The kingdom in the trees.
Playing in the forest and following the trail of violets to...
Images of my mother pushed forth. My mother, Charlotte McCreanor, and her kind amber eyes, her sandy hair swept up into a messy ponytail.
I’d followed the violets.
But as I turned around, I realized I didn’t recognize my surroundings. I couldn’t see the castle, or even the glowing trees. Everything looked dark, drab, and certainly not infused with magic.
I held my hand over my mouth as tears started to form at the edges of my eyes.
