Page 27 of Magic & Secrets (Twisted Magic #1)
THE SERPENT SHIFTER’S tongue was laced with a poison toxic to humans and Elves. It tore through my back, severing my spine, and filling me with venom. My Elven half-breed ruse was over.
As I was dragged away from Roque, I felt our time together slipping away. Surviving these Serpent Shifters and the Warlocks was less of an issue than facing the Bane Shifter’s reaction to my lineage.
My heart ached at the realization of losing Roque. Our mate bond felt like both a gift and a curse.
The Serpent Shifters pinned me to the ground, waiting for me to die. I was a distraction. They were here for Roque.
When my wounds healed, they pierced me again. Their claws dug into my throat. I felt them struggling to remove my armor to access my chest.
Roque roared in anguish nearby. He called for me. His pain sent a shudder through the forest.
I didn’t understand why our mate bond filled us with weakness. Roque’s pain was mine. His death would end me. Why had Solme Divige chosen Roque for me? Was I meant to destroy him?
I reached out to Solme Divige, hidden far away under the peaceful land of Arbdorre Territory, and begged her to help me.
Solme Divige’s magic filled my mind with images of Roque’s death. I saw him torn limb from limb. I witnessed the Cult of Ivitithi revealing his heart during their blood sacrifice to their ancient one.
The images felt like our destiny. There was no saving him. I went limp despite the Serpent Shifters piercing me with their dagger tongues. The agony of Roque’s death stole everything from me. My heart emptied. My mind forgot my training. I could no longer picture my sisters in the world.
Solme Divige filled the emptiness inside me with her power and bloodlust. I opened my eyes and exhaled softly. The magic in my body felt exhilarating. I was more than sword and bow. I was ancient magic made anew.
The Serpent Shifters froze as I rose to my feet. Solme Divige approved of their fear. I released my magic into the air, adjusting to the feel of its power. The Serpent Shifters watched me in horror. Their yellow eyes glowed before their bodies broke down to magenta mist.
In my mind, I witnessed Solme Divige’s throne awash in the same color. The ancient one lived again through her offspring, the New Armgard.
Roque’s roars beckoned to me. I felt his suffering. Not only the physical pain. He feared for me. The mate bond was driving him mad. Roque had no immunity to it.
Stuck between Shifter forms, Roque didn’t look like any species. His flesh tore open from the Warlocks’ magic. He immediately healed. The wounds were painful yet nonlethal.
I didn’t care if Roque was powerful enough to outlast these creatures. I needed his pain to stop. He was mine. I would do anything to save him. By revealing my magic in front of Roque, I had chosen to sacrifice my life to protect his.
The Warlocks and remaining Serpent Shifters transformed from flesh into mist. Their deaths satisfied Solme Divige. I felt her pleasure within my beating heart.
I found myself alone with my mate, who was sworn to kill my kind. Shifting back into human form, Roque growled deep in his chest. His icy blue eyes shone a steely silver as we watched each other.
The intensity of his hate filled the air. If I weren’t Armgard and certain Roque was my mate, I would have fled his rage. Instead, I chose to hold my ground.
Roque moved lightning fast and pinned me against a tree. His hand wrapped around my throat. I stared into his eyes, feeling neither afraid nor regretful. Saving him was the right choice.
“You,” Roque growled and leaned closer until his nose nearly touched mine. “I ought to gut you and walk away.”
“I had to protect you.”
Roque lifted me higher off the ground and tightened his hold on my throat. My survival instinct demanded I lash out, not to harm him but to escape.
His hand tightened until I felt lightheaded. I couldn’t speak. I only stared into his eyes and forgave him for hurting me. Roque’s choice to kill me arose from a lifetime of programming. He couldn’t see Calla any longer. I had simply become his enemy.
“Who is your master?”
“It’s complicated.”
Roque’s hand tightened again. I inhaled sharply, gasping for air. His grip loosened before tightening. Roque flinched, fighting between his Bane Shifter training and our mate bond.
“You don’t look like the other Armgard. No horns,” he said and tapped my head. “You smell wrong, too.”
“They used a different ancient one. I come from Solme Divige.”
“I don’t know the ancient ones. They don’t matter. What difference is there in the one used for the old Armgard and the one used for you? Is yours less evil?”
My hesitation spawned a growl from Roque. I didn’t want to deceive him. Solme Divige had demanded blood sacrifices back in the days of the ancient ones, while Athorvath expected telluric offerings. Telling the truth felt like a mistake, but he deserved honesty from me.
“The Armgard weren’t evil,” I said, angering Roque instantly. “They were soldiers like you were. They did the bidding of their overseers.”
“Did Von Ehlinger create you?”
“Von Ehlinger are long dead. Your kind saw to that.”
“Who is your master?”
“They call themselves the Gathering. They want to bring peace to the Territories.”
“That’s what they all say.”
“The Gathering plots for a day when the Murade’s weak grip over the Territories leads to chaos.”
Roque studied me with the unflinching gaze of a male fighting his programming to find the truth.
“Why were you truly hunting those Lion Shifters?”
“They attacked Haven Junction. The Gathering worried this was the beginning of a wider conflict,” I explained, breaking my programming to share the truth with my enemy. “They also worried your pack would use the attack as a reason to leave the mountain.”
“They fear us?”
“Of course.”
Roque lowered me to the ground and released my throat. His hand hesitated while pulling away. I noticed his breathing shifted. Our proximity ignited our mate bond. Cracking his neck, Roque growled at me.
“Is the magic I feel from your ancient one?”
“No.”
“You’re lying!” he roared before stomping away.
Roque walked to where the Warlocks turned to dust. He flashed a glare back at me.
“The Armgard of the past couldn’t do this,” he said, gesturing at the mist lingering in the air. “If you had this power, why not use it against the Sorcerer in the clearing?”
“I was trained to never use this magic.”
Recognition flashed across his ruggedly handsome face before he asked, “Why make you, only to hobble you?”
“Why did the Murade keep you locked away at the military base when you weren’t on assignment? Our overseers desire control.”
“You could have stopped this madness back in the field,” Roque snarled. “You held back and pretended to be weak to trick me.”
“No, I didn’t know I could do these things.”
“And you only figured it out now?”
“I knew you’d wondered how I survived the Serpent Shifter’s venom. With no way to lie any longer, I had to do everything possible to stop your suffering. That’s why I reached out for help from Solme Divige.”
“I don’t know much about the ancient ones, but even I can see how you should never call out to them. They are monsters, and you’re a fool.”
“You’re my mate,” I muttered, losing my temper. “It’s why I keep losing focus in battle. Our mate bond distracts me as much as it does you.”
“I’m fine. I’ve never been better.”
Roque required time to process what was happening. He’d been a slave to the Murade and war for many centuries. His time on the mountain only reinforced what he already believed.
“The Gathering believes your kind was created using magic from Vyanlpoth,” I explained, believing he deserved the truth.
“According to legend, the ancient one was known to change shapes. Normal Shifters changed by Pandorium and exposure magic can’t change their size much.
But Bane Shifters can grow very large or extremely small.
Extraordinary magic was used to create your kind. ”
Roque studied me, seeming detached now. He dug deep within himself to avoid the reality of our situation.
“Before we met, I dreamt of you,” I said, winning a cocked brow from Roque. “I believed you were the creature destined to end my life.”
“I might be,” Roque replied immediately. “I haven’t decided how today ends.”
“I saw you in the cave on the mountain. You were all alone.”
“Don’t pity me,” Roque said and then snarled, “Or trick me.”
Losing my patience, I started walking away. Roque ran at me. I felt the ground shake under his power, yet I didn’t look back. He stopped behind me and poked my back.
“You’re going the wrong way.”
“No, I’m not. It’s the same way we were going before the attack.”
Roque stopped walking and looked around. I felt him struggling again.
“Will your sisters kill Delta and Koda?”
“You won’t like my answer.”
Growling, Roque erased the space between us again. His large hand shoved me to the ground. Pouncing on top of me, he snarled in my face.
“I sensed your devious nature as soon as we met.”
My fingers caressed his bearded face as I inhaled his scent. The air around us warmed.
“Enya and Mina are bound to your packmates like I am to you.”
Our mate bond filled the air with her spicy scent. My body hummed with need, calling out to him.
Roque bounced backward as if shocked. “I will never be a slave to your magic. I don’t care what made you or why. I am a free creature. I won’t be chained again.”
Storming into the forest, Roque quickly put distance between us. I considered letting him disappear from my life. I could return to the Citadel and warn them of the Cult of Ivitithi.
No, that wouldn’t do. Even if my heart could accept abandoning Roque to a world actively hunting him, returning to the Citadel would be courting disaster. They might lock me away rather than allow me to locate my bevy. I might even be killed by my fellow New Armgard.