Page 21 of The Silent Mountain
The dots on her face start to disappear. When I exchange a look with Stefan, his lips curl into the hint of a smirk.
“So, why don’t you have a choice?”
She lets her arms hang down. “My coven kicked me out.”
“Why’s that?”
“It’s a fun story, really,” she says. “I was trying to make potions, and sometimes things go awry when I do that, as happens to everyone occasionally. Well, to me it happens more often.”
I am not particularly fond of what she just said. Am I truly supposed to let this chaotic witch brew potions to heal my dragon shifters?
“So, I was minding my own business,” she continues, not even sensing my discomfort. “Our leader, a strong witch, had just chosen her forever mate. They were on the floor right above mine, and they were about to do“—she blushes again—“what two adults in love do,” she whispers. “It’s a very important ritual that binds them together. Well, at that moment, my potion exploded, and everything started burning. There was a lot of fog everywhere, and-“
“It disrupted them?” I finish.
“And their ritual,” she whines. “So, instead of a beautiful rune on their arms, they now have a symbol of an exploding bottle and fog around it. She… was not amused.”
“I found her in one of the villages of the werewolves,” Stefan explains. “They allowed her to stay.”
“I really tried to help the villagers with their harvest,” she says. “But one of my potions-“
“Went wrong?” Alana finishes.
“Yes, their carrots grew four times their size overnight, and some of their horses ate from it and grew too.”
“Fantastic,” I mutter. “And what’s with the blue dots?”
“Oh,” she smiles sadly. “That’s a curse my former coven leader put on me so that everyone around me will be warned of my uselessness,” she explains. “I… I can’t lie.”
“What?” I ask, surprised.
“I always have to speak the truth, so everyone knows what they sign up for when they interact with me.”
A witch who can’t lie? It starts to sink in. That’s why Stefan brought her along. My people won’t be scared of her; they will find her amusing at best, or annoying or cute, but certainly not terrifying. And she can’t lie, which means she can’t betray us.
I see,I link Stefan.
I know she is not what you expected, my king, but would you have been able to accept a strong witch as one of our clan members?
He isn’t wrong, but still, I would have liked to have a more capable witch around.
“Where can I stay?” the witch asks.
“Your name is Cassie?” I ask her in return.
She clasps her cheeks. “I forgot to introduce myself! I’m such a dunce!” She straightens her back. “I’m Cassie, white witch of… the Silent Mountain, now I guess.”
Alana chuckles. “How old are you, Cassie?”
“Seventeen,” she says.
So young! She is pretty much Elio’s age, a bit older maybe. That’s why she looks so innocent. “What kind of coven kicks out a child!?” I ask in shock.
“I actually got kicked out when I turned sixteen,” she admits.
“Witches are said to be of age the moment they turn sixteen,” Alana explains quietly. “That doesn’t make it right though.”
I agree with her. It doesn’t make it right!
