“Yes. I’ve seen a novice try to move a boulder much bigger than they were from far away.” Risna shook her head grimly. “The magic took everything they had, and they are no longer here to tell the tale.”
She winced.
Risna inclined her head. “Indeed.” She surveyed her with raised brows, waiting.
Elizabeth asked hesitantly, “You said humans can have magic? The literature says only witches can have magical powers. My interest is purely academic, of course…” Elizabeth trailed off, squirming in her seat.
The witch snorted. “Academic, is it?” Risna searched her face as if the answer to the question in her head would be written there. “Whether you’re asking for yourself, or a friend, I doubt these questions are purely academic.” She smirked. “Humans can also harness magical powers, but it is not an ability that can be learned.”
“Could you tell me more about them?”
“Humans with magic are very rare. No one really knows where they came from or how they came to be.” Risna paused. “There was once the Seraphine, a group of highly powerful human magic users that specialized in fire magic. They were used by the kings and queens of old on the battlefields and to frighten their enemies. They have long since died out, though. They were the most powerful group of human magic users that I’m aware of, but they were hunted into extinction before magic was even outlawed.”
Elizabeth leaned forward. “Hunted into extinction? Why?”
“No one trusted a king with a human mage who could burn them to ash in the blink of an eye. The Seraphine is long gone now, but they did exist.” Risna paused. “Now, human mages still exist, but my understanding is that they are not especially powerful.”
Elizabeth’s brow furrowed. “But how can humans have magic when you’ve just told me witches gained their power from demon sires?”
No one in her family had magic. She would have known if they did. Her father had backed most of the anti-witch legislation the queen had put forward, and both her mother and father had been adamantly opposed to anything that could be even remotely tied to magic.
“A good question. No one really knows. Some witches believe that angels are to blame. That just as demons have dabbled with mortals and left a trail of the magically gifted, so, too, have angels. Some believe that human magic users were individually chosen by the gods and blessed with certain powers.” Risna shrugged. “A mystery.”
“But then, wouldn’t those mortals who have magical gifts be called witches?”
Risna pursed her lips. “No. A witch is knowledgeable about the arcane arts. Human magic users have no coven and don’t share our knowledge or history. I would call a human with magic either a human magic user or a mage. I wouldn’t call them a witch.”
“I meant no offense, of course. And what about witches? Why do some have magic while others do not?”
“It depends on how diluted their bloodline is, or how powerful it was to begin with. If their demon ancestor lived hundreds of years ago and wasn’t very powerful, they may not have as much magical blood anymore. It is the way it is.”
“And … I, er, read somewhere that if someone has magic, they can read minds. Slip into someone’s thoughts.”
“Read that, did you?” Risna chuckled. “Reading someone’s thoughts is a difficult and inexact art, even for those of us with magical blood. But it is by no means special. All of us can do it, and even a handful of mortals can learn, if they have an aptitude and a good teacher.”
“Oh.” She hesitated. “Is it possible to be a witch without knowing you’re a witch?”
“Maybe.” Risna sounded like she was humouring her. “Can you read minds?”
“Er. I did once or twice, by accident.”
“Don’t look like your life is over, it might not mean anything.” Risna shrugged. “Like I said, it’s a skill that even mortals can sometimes have. Do you have magic? Have you ever cast a spell?”
Elizabeth bit her lip and shook her head. “I can’t say that I do.”
Risna raised a brow. “And are there any witches in your family?”
She shook her head again. “No.”
Risna smiled. “Have you ever had magic explode out of you? Made anything happen that didn’t make sense and couldn’t be rationally explained?”
She shook her head, feeling like Risna was telling her that it was very unlikely she had magic. Inwardly, she breathed a sigh of relief.
“Have you ever had headaches? Out of nowhere? A pressure in your head or in your chest, like stifled magic trying to get out? Maybe when you were very angry or upset? Or in danger?”
Her heart sank.
Her headaches.
