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.

recklessness of their magical talent. Until magicians began to teach each other, too many lives

some of the warmth that fled

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 try and grasp something

Her

volatile.

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

Of course.

from me? No shifter has a wolf with a

she explains in that non–explaining way, where nothing is really answered.

“That makes no sense. You’re being cryptic again. All shifters are bonded with ancient magic, and they don’t have any ‘separate‘, only ‘one‘. Why am

something that can’t be helped, Selene sighs, and I can almost picture her shaking her

now? And what are we, exactly? Are you a Lycan or

Ava: Her Identity

with a quiet pride. I came to

squint, as if that somehow makes my brain work better. “How is that possible? Doesn’t the curse decide

who is matched?”

time, Selene says, her tone turning brisk. For now, it’s more important that you take a cold

shiver down my spine, and I can feel the first tendrils of heat starting to uncurl in my belly.

But

do you mean, we’re separate and one at the same time?

little one, Selene says, her voice softening. There is much you don’t understand yet. But trust me when I say that everything

Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early

more later.

feel my skin starting to prickle with sweat. I need to get this under control before I become

is

the ground as

as I can.

can sense the presence of a powerful wolf. I don’t know how far they are, but they’re

my nose.

One’s a little

Ava!

course does nothing to help but makes me feel better for at least trying, and

shivering in minutes, huddled

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Ava: Her

seems to help keep my mind clear to an

extent.

I talk to Selene through my mind again. Why is heat even a thing? This is ridiculous. I’m losing my mind