by LJ Swallow
She looks to the window, eyes saddening. “Drugs. I played this up because I needed her to help, but obviously she couldn’t know the truth. I told them social services were threatening to take my daughter and begged them to help.” Marie turns her eyes back to mine. “They agreed as long as I promised to have no contact with the family. I also ended my relationship with Corin and walked away from the Winterfalls. There could be no links.”
“Nobody knows?”
“Apart from us and Maeve’s parents? No. But the secret won't remain for long.”
A horrible truth slugs me. “Adeline Winterfall knew. When she cursed me, she knew Maeve existed. Why would Adeline do that to her?”
“Why would she protect Maeve from death at your hands?” Marie scoffs.
I swallow. “No. Why put her in a situation where she’d fall in love because of a curse?”
“She loves you?” I look away from her derision. “Maeve doesn’t love you. How could she? You wiped out her family.”
“Maeve thinks her family are alive and living in the house she grew up in. You’ve lied to her. They’ve lied to her.” Fury heats my blood, my heart rending at what this news will do to Maeve. “How could you plan this? It’s cruel!”
Marie barks a laugh. “You dare sit there and tell me what’s cruel? You murdered the Winterfalls. You know why the Blackwoods wanted the family line eradicated.”
“But all these years.” My chest constricts as the truth sinks in. This will destroy Maeve.
“I expected to take Maeve back after a few months, but the years dragged on. My sister cut me out of their lives after a couple of years, furious that I could abandon my daughter. They wanted to protect her—she was theirs from four months old.”
“And you never once thought to tell her?” I choke out.
“Yes. I did. Many times, especially when her visions started, but her mother refused to allow me in. I went to them after the killings and asked if I could tell Maeve. We argued, but I made them promise if Maeve ever needed help that they couldn't afford, that I would pay.”
“The academy,” I say flatly. “You basically abandoned Maeve there and didn’t tell her who or what she was.”
Her stern manner drops and a confused, unhappy woman looks at me. “I didn't know. I couldn’t remember. Life is a blur.”
“Really?” I scoff. “Convenient excuse.”
Marie stands. “Do you not understand how I’ve paid for this? My interference in keeping the Winterfall magic alive upset the world’s balance. My actions in disrupting something so significant in the future means the magic tore through my reality too. This is why I struggle with what’s in the past or the future. My days blur into one.” I look away as the shame builds and her next words rip through my soul. “Would you rather have killed Maeve?”
“No,” I say the word barely audible. “But she needs to know.”
“And I think you should tell her.” I open my mouth to protest. “You are ultimately responsible, Tobias. You deserve to suffer when you tell Maeve what you did to her family. To experience the pain you’ll inflict on her as if it were your own.”
“But I live to help Maeve. I love her and want to protect her.”
“And you do protect her.” She rubs her forehead. “You ask why Adeline would do something like this to a child? There was another reason behind the curse. She is the last Winterfall witch. Only Winterfall magic can match Blackwood, but Blackwood magic is darker and more dangerous. One day, she could take her revenge on those who plotted the family’s deaths. Maeve could help end the Blackwoods, but she needed somebody to protect her until she grew into her powers.”
Somebody who’d give his life to protect her.
Or die if he ever killed the witch he loved.
Me.
I stand and turn away as despair drives me towards something I’ve fought against all my life—tears, the ultimate show of the emotion I always denied. I dreaded that today Marie would confirm she’s Maeve’s real mother, but hoped if I broke the news to Maeve, she’d know that she can trust me. That I would do anything to help her.
But this goes above and beyond the worst I’d imagined. The truth twists around my heart and squeezes into an intense pain. The Winterfall coven were the most powerful witches after the Blackwoods, and that was the reason I targeted them. The Blackwoods fed my ego and goaded me to do what everybody said was impossible. My hybrid status gave—and still gives—me an edge over them all.
Every witch in the Winterfall family had white blonde hair and the bluest eyes, descended from Viking witches. Maeve's appearance and the energy surrounding her freaked me out when she arrived, and I avoided asking Maeve anything about her past, terrified the connection could be real. I investigated Maeve’s and her aunt’s family tree and found no connections to support my crazy idea she might be the cursed witch. Maeve was too human. Not powerful.
Apart from she is powerful—and my hunch was right.
The carnage of that day floods my mind. The blood. The bodies. The intense high that grew with each death. In my crazed state, without any help, I obliterated that family within the hour at their annual birthday for the matriarch—Adeline Winterfall. Meticulously planned for me, all I had to do was show up and work my evil.
Adeline knew I hadn’t succeeded in wiping out the Winterfalls when she spat an incantation at me as she died.
On the day I carried out the biggest atrocity in my life, a fourteen-year-old girl survived because nobody knew a Winterfall existed somewhere else.
Maeve survived because Marie changed her future.
Over the years, I accepted the curse, aware this would end my life even though I survived Ravenhold.
But I cannot accept this curse affecting somebody innocent in all this.
This truth destroys me, exactly the way Adeline intended, but could destroy Maeve too.
Unlike the other guys, fate never brought Maeve and I together. We’re both at the academy, Maeve finally brought into our society following years hidden. I have a position at the academy to watch Andrei in exchange for my life. This isn't a coincidence.
Somebody knows who we are. Were we brought together to begin something, or are we here to change the ending?
However much I fooled myself that we could rise above this curse, that there was a slim chance Maeve wasn’t the witch, I always knew but didn't want to listen to myself.
I killed Maeve’s family.
Every last one.
A curse made what we have difficult. This truth makes our future impossible.
How could Maeve ever forgive me? My actions can never be atoned.
The final book in the Nightworld Academy series is coming soon.
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You can also preorder Blackwood Magic here
This is Amelia and Matt’s story. Find out more about their lives and the mysterious new group Maeve and the guys met in Term Five.
Keep reading for a sneak peek at the first three chapters of Blackwood Magic
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BLACKWOOD MAGIC
Matt is the most gifted elemental witch at the Nightworld Academy, but he's breaking academy rules. If he doesn’t stop misusing his magic, Matt faces expulsion from the academy and a life in detention at the Ravenhold Reform Academy.
Water witch Amelia struggles with her magic skills and is in awe of Matt's powerful abilities, but Matt barely notices the shy witch who hangs out with his best friend Jamie.
Forced to work together on the academy musical production, Amelia and Matt grow closer and discover they share a rare witch spellbond.
Can Matt’s powerful connection to Amelia stop him using illegal Blackwood magic before it’s too late? Or does the magic already control him?
CHAPTER ONE
AMELIA
&
nbsp; I cower beside Jamie as the firestorm fills the sky. The rugby pitch’s floodlights disappear beneath the intense light, and the magic explodes into sparks as if a dozen fireworks were lit at once.
What has Matt done?
Moments ago, I watched my shifter friend Ash and the academy team playing a match against the rival French academy team. This game is a greater challenge than the recent matches where we easily beat local human teams towards a place in the semi-final.
The French team are formidable opponents, completely focused on winning. They’re also another Nightworld Academy and have strong shifters on their side, and no sportsmanship.
Ash grumbled earlier how their rivals tried mental magic on several of our players as they tried to find the team’s strategies hidden in their minds. A furious Ash confronted the shifter who captained the French team, and the heated argument led to more animosity. I’m impressed Ash kept his temper—he’s had issues with this recently and anger would’ve worsened the situation.
I half-expected a clash between the two teams on pitch. A subtle punch or two, maybe a harder than necessary shove, but I never expected magic.
And everybody gathered here knows whose magic this is.
The flames drop away as sparks fall from the sky and dissipate before they hit the pitch or anybody on it. The fire clears and the floodlights illuminate the area once more, including Matteo Kohler dragged from the scene by Ash and their furious coach, Professor O’Reilly.
“We should’ve guessed Matt would do this,” mutters Jamie. “His magic is becoming out of control.”
I look to my friend, the tall wiry guy beside me who pushes his dark hair from his eyes and watches events keenly.
“What a stupid thing for him to do,” I agree.
“Matt pisses me off. This has ruined the match and I bet we’ll be forced to forfeit to the other team. Ash will lose his shit.”
“Good thing they’re friends then.”
Jamie looks down at me – literally since he’s almost a foot taller than me. Between us we blend into school society – the spirit affinity witch who spends half his life in the library and his diminutive elemental witch friend who struggles to cast her water based magic. I produce unwanted rainstorms, but by accident. Matt’s firestorm is deliberate.
Jamie and I join the crowd in watching the animated conversation between an angry Professor O’Reilly, Matt, Ash, and the headmistress, Theodora. The lamia vampire rarely visits the rugby side-lines and she’s out of place in her expensive black suit. Her high heeled shoes are muddied and sink into the ground.
The French crowd jeer and our academy call back insults as the rest of the players are marched from the pitch.
Ash finishes his conversation and strides towards us, his face thunderous. Jamie’s taller than me, but Ash looms, his broad shoulders and solid chest stretched beneath the blue and white team shirt.
He runs a hand across his head, through his short brown hair, and I wince as a string of colourful and impressive expletives pour from his mouth.
Jamie interrupts him. “Okay, Ash. No need to shout at us for Matt’s behaviour.”
“Why did he do something this dumb?” I ask. “Distracting the team by fire magic isn’t in the accepted rules.”
“No, since we play by normal rules, which that dickhead doesn’t. Ever.”
He’s right. Matteo Kohler is the most accomplished witch to set foot in the academy for many years. His abilities outweigh everybody, including Professor Kendal, the witch adept at all magic schools and who teaches the witches’ magic classes. Ever since he arrived, Matt’s taken pleasure in demonstrating just how amazing he is.
This ego is fuelled further by the status this gives him with the many students impressed by his talents—in particular the attention from half the girls in our year. With his captivating green eyes and seductive smile, he’s as impressive to look at as the fire he creates for them in the palm of his hand.
If he weren’t one of Jamie’s best friends, I doubt I’d talk to Matt. He rarely registers me on the days he sits with our group at dinner or hangs out with Ash and Jamie between classes. I’m one of those awed by him, but have never let him know this. Matt flusters me, when I want to dislike him. His arrogance isn't attractive, which keeps my hormones in check when I’m with him.
Matt is frequently in trouble, and he doesn't care.
“This time he’s pushed things too far,” says Ash and glares over his shoulder at Matt. “But I swear the French guy planned this. I saw him goading Matt before the match began, and he shoved him to get past with the ball a couple of times.”
I chew my lip. The team was losing and Matt’s passionate about winning in every aspect of his life. Creating a distraction would come naturally to him.
“He probably wasn't thinking,” I say.
“Don't make excuses for him, Amelia,” says Jamie. “Matt knew what he was doing.”
“Screwing up the bloody match, that’s what.” Ash huffs. “Come on. I want to change and talk to the rest of the team. They might not be as forgiving to Matt as me, which will cause the trouble the French want.”
The team file past where Matt’s still under attack for his behaviour, but none say anything to him. The majority are shifters like Ash, who are reluctant to allow witches on their team. Matt’s behaviour has made it harder for any future witch team member to be trusted.
I walk between Ash and Jamie, my two best friends at the school, squelching through mud as we pass Matt. He looks up and pulls an apologetic face at Ash. His sandy blond hair is a mess from the match and his long legs are covered in mud from the pitch. He may not have Ash’s imposing presence, but if you combine his magical prowess and looks, he easily pulls people into his orbit.
I’m surprised the cocky arrogance isn't in his expression.
I’m unsurprised when he doesn’t look at me.
CHAPTER TWO
MATT
“The arsehole slammed into and kicked me the whole match,” I protest. “Why should they win when they play like that? This wasn't just me and him – I saw their winger knock over Jordan a couple of times too.”
Professor O’Reilly’s eyes couldn't be narrower beneath his bushy brow. The stocky coach stands in the doorway, as if he doesn't want to step too far into the headmistress’s office. My head of house teacher, Sofia the spirit element witch, has been called to the meeting too.
This doesn’t look good.
At least they allowed me to change, though I chose to stay away from the changing rooms and headed back to the room I share with Jamie. No way do I want to face a pack of pissed off shifters.
Theodora unnerves me at the best of times. The lamia vampire shifts between cajoling and kind to bloody scary in the blink of an eye. Her anger has grown since I left the pitch, and the beautiful face I’m greeted with is a mask of fury. Angry vamps are terrifying however beautiful—one who holds a position of power over you are doubly terrifying.
“I am sick to death of your dangerous games,” she snaps at me and drags a manila folder from a drawer in her desk. “I cannot control you any longer. I am done with this.”
My stomach lurches. Done with?
“What do you mean?” asks Sofia in her quiet voice. The willowy woman with long dark hair is similar to Theodora in that she can switch from friendly to ‘do as I say, I’m a professor’, but her even temper helps.
“I am under scrutiny for allowing Matt to continue flaunting his power. The Confederacy council are waiting for the right moment to take him out of the academy.”
“I presume you don't mean for army training,” says Professor O’Reilly with a derisive snort.
“That isn't the only reason a student might leave early.” She pulls a sheet of paper from inside the folder. “Is it, Matt?”
The lurching switches to nausea. Does she mean Ravenhold?
“Allow Matt to explain himself,” urges Sofia. “Before we make drastic decisions about his future.”
I
swipe a hand down my face. If I’m sent to Ravenhold, I can kiss my future goodbye. Theodora looks to me, and I grasp at what I can say without sounding insolent. “I tried to explain. I don't know what else to say.”
“Do you think it’s acceptable to use a powerful fire spell to throw a match?” demands my coach.
“No. I was upset. I didn't think.”
“And the other powerful spells you’ve cast recently, Matt? You put a lot of thought into them. You’ve repeatedly ignored my requests to stop. I warned you, one more misdemeanour and you are out. You have no respect for authority, and that is dangerous.”
“I’m sorry,” I say. “But I need to practice my magic. Everybody knows how powerful my family are. I will head our family one day, and I need to be my best.” Sure, I push the envelope and take each spell I learn in class one step further than I should, but what’s the point in attending a Nightworld Academy if I don't learn?
I need extension, not to be held back at everybody else’s level. If the class creates a tiny fire in their hands, I make mine a fireball and send it flying across the room towards the water witches. I’m doing the teacher a favour—if they're slacking in class, you can be damn sure that they’ll stop gossiping and conjure ice or water to stop my spell.
“Theodora, I don't believe Matt holds any ill will. As he says, this is for family reasons. His family are too high in the Confederacy to allow a member to defect to the Dominion,” says Sofia.
“Is that so? And Andrei’s family? His grandfather is head of the vampire council and look at what Andrei’s mother did.”
Her outburst takes me aback. Theodora stays out of politics and runs her academy how she wants. Andrei’s family history should put him into Ravenhold automatically, but she allows him to stay. Why is Theodora bowing to others now?