Page 41 of Twisted Souls (Twisted Souls #1)
Zara
I stared in utter confusion at the witch standing before us—the same woman from my nightmares, the same woman from the portrait over Xaviers' fireplace—and tried to piece together what was happening.
“How?” Jaxon breathed, but it was barely a whisper. “I was around you, I would have known… I would have…” He stammered.
“You only know now because I am allowing it,” Morgana said, her voice filled with a chilling glee. Was Morgana even her name? What was their mother's name? I never asked. Is she Winnie, Morgana, their mother…. or someone else?
“Gormick?” Gunnar’s deep voice said from behind us in question. His brows scrunched in confusion, but his eyes were sharp with focus.
Morgana laughed sharply, turning to my father, who stepped forward. His eyes met mine before locking onto Gunnar’s. They were steely, and there was no resemblance of warmth there.
“Hello, old friend.” My father’s icy tone filled the clearing, and his body transformed as if a veil dropped from around him. He was much taller and broader than before, his features mostly staying the same, but his hair was longer, and his permanent scowl intensified.
“I thought Gormick died in the war,” Xavier bit out, but my head swung toward him, and he met my eye.
“We all did,” Gunnar breathed, and Xavier cursed under his breath.
“Alana, why?” Gunnar's voice cracked slightly when he asked, but his eyes were filled with rage.
“I go by Morgana these days, although I did name my daughter after me.” Morgana turned to Lana, who looked bored. She stared out at us with her arms crossed over her chest. “Let me introduce you all to your half-sister, Lana.” My eyes widened slightly at the information, and Lana smirked as she met my gaze.
“Explain. Now,” Xavier snapped, his eyes darting to his uncle, who looked red as if he were holding his breath, his eyes frantically looking over all of us in panic. Unease settled in my bones, and I had a horrible feeling this was not going to go as we expected.
“Don’t worry about Flynn. He is fine, only spelled to keep quiet,” Morgana purred, chuckling lightly.
“ Explain ,” Xavier repeated, snapping toward her again.
“Such a temper.” Morgana smiled. “I think you get that from me.” She laughed. “Along with that delicious magic you have.” Her eyes shot to Jaxon, and she tsked. “Such a crime stealing someone’s magic, son, but glad you two seem to have worked it out.”
“Answer him,” Jaxon spat, his fists clenched at his side.
Morgana stared at Jaxon for a long moment and scowled. “You look exactly like your father.”
Silence enveloped the clearing, and Morgana rolled her eyes after a few moments.
“Well, you see, when your father imprisoned us in that cursed realm, his magic didn’t just take us,” Morgana began, chuckling as she glanced at Gormick, who grinned back at her. “There was quite a struggle at the end. Some of his guards tried to rush to his aid.” She let out another laugh, a sharp, mocking sound. “The look on his face when he saw them getting sucked into that rip…priceless.” She paused, her smile widening as she savored the memory.
“Anyway, our magic might have been drained, but theirs wasn’t.” Her gaze locked onto mine, the weight of her words sinking in as she spoke. “I was able to steal enough magic to shift again, and we maneuvered ourselves into a position of power fairly quickly. The rest of them,”—she smiled wickedly again—“we bred like cattle.” She said it so casually, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “We needed more magic, more power, so we experimented.”
Morgana sighed, a sound laced with bitter disappointment. “Then we thought, why not reproduce ourselves? Surely, our child would be powerful.” Her voice grew colder, more distant. “But after many experiments, we discovered our child’s power was useless to us.”
My eyes flicked to Lana, the scars on her body stark against her pale skin. My stomach churned as our gazes met, and Lana sneered at me, her eyes filled with a hatred that seemed to burn through the air.
“It took time, but we continued to breed families for centuries,” Morgana went on, her voice smooth and unfeeling. “We shaped their pathetic world into one of our own, waiting for a powerful enough lineage to emerge.” Morgana's eyes locked onto mine, a sinister smile spreading across her face, making my stomach turn.
“And eventually, one did.” She smiled, but then scowled at Gormick. “I, of course, wasn’t happy to learn it had been from one of Gormick’s whores, but I dealt with it and her.” She smiled coldly. “I raised the child as if she were my own, waiting for the day her magic would emerge and take us home.”
My father beamed proudly in my direction, and my stomach dropped. I was going to be sick.
Xavier pulled me closer to him, stepping slightly in front of me in a protective stance. Morgana let out another high-pitched laugh. She waved her hand, and Atticus stepped forward, grabbing Flynn and dragging him towards us before flinging him at our feet.
Gunnar and Julian caught him just before he hit the ground, retreating to our side. Flynn's muffled, panicked voice struggled to escape as his eyes darted frantically between me and Xavier.
I turned back to Morgana, her gaze now fixed on Xavier. “Haven't you wondered, son,” she began, her voice dripping with malice, “why you were mated to such a frail, magicless human?”
“She isn’t human,” Xavier shot back, his voice cold and fierce. “And once we restore the magic you have stolen, we will kill you together.” He snarled, his tone deadly.
Morgana's entourage erupted in laughter, mocking and disdainful. Xavier growled again, his fury palpable.
“Oh, my dear, I am sorry for the deception. And you are right. I do have part of her soul, but I did not take it,” Morgana purred, her eyes glinting with a sinister light. She laughed mockingly, reaching into her pocket to pull out a red, glowing amulet encased in gold. Xavier’s eyes widened, and he reached into his pocket, frantically searching, growling loudly when he couldn’t find what he was looking for.
The blood drained from my face, and Xavier pushed me further behind him. Morgana smiled broadly. “This.” She held up the stone, and the red garnet glinted in the light. “Isn't just part of your soul. It's also your memories.” She laughed, and a heavy silence descended upon us. Everyone's eyes bore into me, their expressions a mixture of shock, curiosity, and suspicion.
“What are you talking about? Give it back,” I pleaded, my voice trembling with confusion and desperation as I tried to grasp the surreal situation unfolding around me.
Xavier's face was a mask of unreadable emotions as he looked at his mother, but his eyes were full of bitter hatred.
“Your plan, my dear, has gone exceptionally well,” Morgana interjected smoothly, her voice laced with dark amusement.
Her words hung in the air like a leaden weight, filling me with a sense of looming dread.
“I told you I loved a tragedy,” Lana’s voice rang out, locking eyes with Xavier.
“What plan? Xavier, I swear I don’t know what she is talking about,” I pleaded, up into Xavier's emerald eyes. He reached down and squeezed my hand, turning back to face his mother.
“A mating bond is such a unique type of magic,” Morgana purred. “Don’t worry, dear, it will all make sense in a moment. I think it's time you were reunited with your memories,” Morgana declared, her voice slicing through the tension. With a decisive clap of her hands, she shattered the amulet she had been holding.
A surge of malevolent magic erupted from the broken artifact, a dark swirling vortex of power that crackled in the air and surged towards me with relentless force. It slammed into my chest like a physical blow, knocking the breath from my lungs and slamming me onto the ground at Xaviers' feet.
Waves of pain exploded through me, and I clutched my chest as the tendrils of magic enveloped me, clawing their way through my body.
The charm on my arm started to melt, and I screamed at the searing hot metal now burning my skin.
Around me, the air crackled with power, and Xavier's horrified face flashed before my eyes, a mask of shock and helplessness as he witnessed me thrashing on the ground. His voice echoed in the chaotic haze, calling out to me in desperation.
A cloud of darkness exploded from within me, swirling violently in every direction. It consumed me from the inside out, tearing at my essence and filling every fiber of my being with excruciating agony. Pain became my sole reality, eclipsing everything else in a haze of torment and despair.
Morgana's eyes gleamed with triumph as she observed the chaos she had unleashed. Her lips curled into a cruel smile.
The world spun around me as I struggled to maintain consciousness, fighting against the overwhelming darkness that threatened to consume me whole—voices clamored in the distance, muffled and distorted. I was blinded by the throbbing ache that reverberated through my very soul, and I felt my body dissolve. Fear, panic, rage, and other emotions crashed into me as I heard Xavier's faint screams of fury.
He sounded far away, and I strained to reach for him, my hand trembling as I lifted it towards where I believed in my soul he was. But before I could make contact, a searing pain ripped through my skull like a jagged blade, and I let out an agonizing scream.