Page 1 of Untraced Magic (Cutters Cove Witches #1)
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“You must take her. Go now,” his voice rasped against the still of night, an urgency staining my son’s lips.
“Don’t ask me to do this,” I whispered, cradling the bundle into my arms, wincing as it stirred from the unsettling movement. “Please come with us. We could go to the coven, talk to the elders. Ask for their help.”
He shook his head, desperation haunting his features.
“You know I can’t. It’s the only way to keep her safe.
” He gestured inside the darkened house our family had called home for generations, his voice lowering to a mere breath.
“She’s gone mad. And if what I believe is true, she will come for her too.
Take the power that is rightfully hers. I can’t let that happen. We can’t let that happen.”
Tears slipped from my stinging eyes, and I swiped them from my cheeks, wondering how long he had held this burden within.
Hidden behind thick brown hair that looked as if not cut in months was the answer I knew, deeply embedded in irises that had once shone bright yet were now barely a shade of ash.
They sunk deep amidst the shadows framing them, a ghastly tale of their own. It pained me to see him like this .
There had to be another way. Another option. But deep in my heart, I knew he was right.
He pulled me into his embrace, and for an agonizing moment I took comfort in arms I knew I may never feel the warmth of again.
His lips pressed delicately against my forehead. “I love you. Now leave.”
Every part of me screamed for this not to be, a wretched ache tearing at my heart. But I nodded, taking one last look into the eyes of a love so deeply rooted in my soul it stung.
A sob laced with emotion escaped me. “I love you, too.” And by the gods, I always would.
My boots shuffled against gravel as I retreated to the edge of the forest. Raising my fingers to my lips, I kissed the air between us, and the wind whisked it away.
My son blended into the midnight shadows, a silhouette barely visible under the overhanging veranda.
His hand lifted in the air.
A final tear slid down my cheek.
Under a bright crescent moon, the forest wrapped me in darkness.
Then I fled.