“What does that mean?”
“You really have no memory?”
“Only of the day they tried to torch me. Hard to forget that,” Wynn snapped, pretending that she hadn’t just recently retrieved the memory. “Why do you blame me for what happened to the others?”
The witch twisted her hands together, as if bothered by the question.
Unless this was all an elaborate act, Wynn silently warned herself. Maybe Charlotte killed the other witches to absorb their power. It seemed unlikely, but Wynn wasn’t going to take any chances. She was going to assume this witch was a dangerous threat.
“I don’t,” Charlotte muttered. “Not exactly. It’s just...”
Wynn squashed her stab of irritation as the words died on the woman’s lips. Charlotte was obviously disturbed by Wynn’s return from the grave. Pressuring her wasn’t going to help.
“Start at the beginning,” Wynn urged, trying to soften her tone. “Not this beginning,” she hastily added, closing the ancient book. “How did I end up in this place?”
“You were born here.”
Wynn flinched. It was the obvious answer. Any mage, whether she was a Void or not, had a mother or grandmother who could use magic. Still, it was one thing to think that the coven stumbled across her and decided she needed to be burned alive. It was another to realize that the murderous mob chasing her with torches had been women who’d presumably loved and cared for her since she was a baby.
“My mother was a member of the coven?” she forced herself to ask.
“Yes. In fact, she was the leader at the time. That’s the only reason you were allowed to stay here after you were born.”
Wynn was confused. “Why? The coven didn’t allow babies?”
Charlotte licked her lips, as if they were suddenly dry. “Most of them, but after your birth your mother called in a seer. I think she hoped to prove that you were the chosen one, destined to take over the coven after she retired.”
Unease stabbed through Wynn’s heart. “I assume that’s not the future the seer revealed?”
“When she touched you she supposedly fainted,” Charlotte said with a visible shiver. “When she finally woke up, your mother demanded to know your future, but the woman would only mutter the word ‘destruction’ over and over. The other witches wanted you banished, but your mother refused to listen to anyone who suggested you were putting the coven in danger.”
Destruction? Wynn clenched her hands. Had she been cursed from the moment she’d been born? That hardly seemed fair.
“Obviously they convinced my mother they were right since they tried to kill me,” she said in tight tones.
“Not for sixteen or seventeen years. I remember vividly the day it changed.”
“What happened?”
Charlotte glanced toward the window, as if oblivious to the fact it was coated in dust. “You were standing in the middle of the circle helping to stir the potions brewing in the community cauldron.” Her gaze moved to the open doorway. “I was playing in front of the cottage with my dolls. I remember I was pouting because my mother wouldn’t let me go into the woods to play. She said that there was a strange magic buzzing in the air. She was worried danger was coming. And she was right.”
Wynn studied the gaunt face that appeared ashen in the flickering firelight. As if the memory was making her physically ill.
“What was the danger?”
“At first I didn’t know. I was still playing with my dolls when you suddenly cried out like you were in pain. Everyone started running toward you—we all thought you’d been burned—but before we could reach you, there was a weird humming sound and you started to glow with this terrible white light.” Charlotte squinted, as if the mere thought of the light still bothered her. “It was so bright I squeezed my eyes shut. I’m not sure what happened next, but there was a lot of screaming and a few witches tried to cast spells and eventually I could smell smoke. Then the next thing I knew there was a huge explosion and I was flying through the air to land against the fireplace.”
Wynn didn’t have to wonder about the explosion. She’d heard enough stories about the wild magic that flared through women when they became mages to imagine the fear and chaos it’d created. The only difference was the fact that the magic hadn’t bothered to stay around for her. And she had no memory of the event. Which meant that she got all the bad with none of the good.
Typical.
“What happened next?”
“When I opened my eyes I could see the witches lying on the ground bleeding from the chunks of metal that went flying when the cauldron exploded. There were even roofs blown off the cottages.” Charlotte shook her head. “I’d never dreamed that one person could hold so much power. I was both horrified and jealous I would never have a fraction as much magic.”
“Destruction,” Wynn murmured.
“That’s when your mother called the most powerful spellcasters to grab you while the others collected torches. I suppose they’d all been prepared for the day that one of the coven would release their wild magic and transform into a mage.” Charlotte paused, as if struck by a sudden realization. “Or maybe they’d been preparing for you to fulfill the seer’s prophecy,” she abruptly suggested. “Anyway, they seemed to know exactly what they intended to do.”
