Page 123 of A Bolt of Magic

But even as I ask the questions, something prickles at the edge of my consciousness. A memory, half-formed and slippery. One of the Children of the Veil flanking my mother as she walked down the path… I pull at the thought, the threads slowly forming a picture. He’d been taller than the rest, broader through the shoulders. His hood had been up, obscuring his face, but I’d been so focused on my mother’s battered appearance that I hadn’t paid attention.

But now that I think about it… The way he carried himself. His movements. I would know them anywhere.

Ice shards form in my veins as the realization hits me.

It was him. It was Kian walking beside my mother, dressed in the dark green cloak of her warriors. Not bound, not shackled, not fighting.

Walking willingly.

How? Why?

“No,” I breathe, backing toward the door. “No, no, no…”

I run as fast as my shaking legs will carry me.

39

McColl

I burst from the house like a woman possessed, my heart hammering against my ribs so hard I can barely breathe.

“Let her pass!” my mother shouts from behind me.

The Children of the Veil step aside as I run past them, their faces grim but making no move to stop me. Behind me, I hear my mother’s measured footsteps following at a deliberate pace.

The hooded figure stands motionless among the others, taller and broader than all of them. Even with his face obscured, I know that silhouette. I know the way he holds his shoulders, the exact line of his spine.

“Kian?” I whisper as I approach, my voice cracking with desperate hope.

He doesn’t respond. Doesn’t so much as twitch at the sound of my voice calling his name.

Maybe I am wrong. Maybe… Everything inside me is telling me I’m right. I know I am.

With shaking hands, I reach for his hood and pull it back.

I gasp, stumbling backward as if I’ve been struck.

It’s him. His golden hair, his strong jaw, the familiar features I’ve memorized in intimate detail. But it’s not him at all.

Gasps and shrieks erupt from the crowd around us. Several people stumble backward, and I hear someone cry out in horror. Children start to wail.

His eyes – those beautiful green eyes that used to look at me with such warmth and desire – now glow with an unnatural brightness that makes my skin crawl. The green is so vivid that they look like they might be able to emit light in the darkness. But worse than their inhuman color is their complete emptiness. There’s nothing behind them. No recognition, no emotion, no spark whatsoever.

It’s like looking into the eyes of a dead man.

“Isn’t he lovely?” my mother asks from behind me.

There are more shrieks and yells; the crowd pulls back. Even one or two of the Children of the Veil take a step back.

“You have nothing to fear,” Lilith announces, her voice carrying easily across the gathering. “In his current state, he is completely harmless. He wouldn’t hurt a fly. I assure you.”

I shake my head in disbelief, tears streaming down my face as I take in the full horror of what she’s done. Dark veins spread across Kian’s right cheek like a spider’s web, creeping down his neck and disappearing beneath his clothing. The black lines pulse with a faint, sickly light.

With trembling fingers, I pull aside his tunic and cape, exposing his chest. Kian doesn't react at all – doesn’t move, doesn’t resist, doesn’t even seem to notice my touch at all. He just stands there like a statue while I examine him.

The sight makes bile rise in my throat.

Those same black veins cover his royal marking, marring the beautiful tree design until it’s barely recognizable beneath the corruption. The intricate lines that once proclaimed him as Kingof the Emptyfae are now twisted and polluted by whatever my mother has done to him.

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