Tangled

39 Ava: Her Identity

39 Ava: Her Identity

You have the potential, Selene says, her voice a cautious whisper in my mind. The arcane flows through your veins. But…

My breath escapes me in a giddy rush. Magic. Real magic. Human magic. It’s something out of a fairy tale, not something that should exist in my life. Then again, supernaturals exist–and we’re pretty nonstandard,

ourselves.

It’s not that simple, Selene continues, her tone growing more serious. Magic is not a toy, little one. It’s a force of nature, raw and untamed. To wield it requires knowledge, discipline, and control.

I swallow hard, feeling the warning in her words. “But how do I learn? I don’t even know where to start.”

You would need a teacher, Selene explains, her voice tinged with hesitation. Someone well–versed in the arcane arts, who could guide you, show you how to harness and control your power. But magic is a lost art. Magicians were lost to the curse and became shifters.

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39 Ava: Her Identity

Talk about a letdown.

O

“So, I won’t be able to do magic.” Is that how you say it? Do magic? Cast magic? Spell magic? Cast spells? It all feels weird in my mouth.

It is unlikely, Selene says, but she still has that cautious

sound to her voice.

“If I tried, what’s the worst that could happen?”

Death.

A simple word, bluntly given, with all the truth in the world behind it. I shudder at the matter–of–fact tone.

the recklessness of their magical talent. Until magicians began to teach each other, too many lives were lost in the pursuit of the power within them. Do not open that door,

trying to regain some of the

loss. Magic would have been amazing to learn, of course. But–if Selene says it’s too dangerous, I believe her. It isn’t worth my life to

Ava: Her Identity

volatile.

bothering me from the beginning. “Selene, you’re

Of course.

shifter has a wolf with

my mind. You were born bonded with the ancient magic, she explains in that non–explaining way, where nothing is

cryptic again. All shifters are bonded with ancient

that can’t be helped, Selene sighs, and I can almost

now? And what are we, exactly?

Ava: Her

with a quiet pride.

work better. “How is that possible? Doesn’t the curse

who is matched?”

story for another time, Selene says, her tone turning brisk. For now, it’s more important that you take a cold shower before your heat starts back

the alpha sends a shiver down my spine, and I can

right; I don’t want to be in a frantic state like yesterday. But I can’t let

choose to be with me? And what do you mean, we’re separate and one at the same time? I don’t understand any

me when I say that everything will be

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more later.

and I can feel my skin starting

humiliation is

head for the bathroom, tearing off my hospital gown and tossing it on the ground as I go. Niceties are foregone; I just want to get control of

as I can.

they are, but they’re close enough that I’m lifting my chin to sniff, trying to

my nose.

them. One’s a little weaker,

Ava!

makes me feel better for at least trying, and

shivering in minutes, huddled under that freezing

617

Her Identity

help keep my

extent.

chattering, so I talk to Selene through my mind again. Why is heat even a thing? This is