The witch hunt
595 Words
The fire was still warm in Kade’s hearth when the first knock came.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Not a knock, really. A threat.
Kade rolled out of bed in a blur, instinct flaring as his claws peeked through. Mira was already awake, sitting up naked beneath the sheets, the cursed mark on her shoulder pulsing with awareness.
“They’re here,” she whispered.
Kade didn’t ask who.
He already knew.
The Elders.
He threw on pants, grabbed the iron dagger from under the bed, and motioned for her to stay hidden. Mira rose anyway, slowly wrapping herself in his oversized shirt. She didn’t cower. Didn’t run. If they wanted her, they’d have to bleed for it.
Another boom, this time followed by a voice:
“By order of the High Council, surrender the cursed one, Mira Thornveil, or face disarmament and exile.”
Kade flung the door open with a snarl. “Try it.”
Four Enforcers stood outside — cloaked, armed, fangs bared. Behind them, two Elders with glowing staffs and silver circlets.
“She has broken treaty,” one Elder said, eyes like knives. “She consorts with enemies. She invoked forbidden power—”
“She is power,” Kade snapped. “And she’s not going anywhere.”
Inside, Mira stepped forward. Her presence filled the doorway like a storm cloud.
“You want to exile me?” she asked softly. “How can you exile what you can’t contain?”
The Enforcers drew weapons.
Kade lunged.
The fight was savage.
Claws against steel. Magic against instinct.
Kade fought like an Alpha who had nothing left to lose. His body became a blur ripping through one Enforcer, then spinning to protect Mira’s flank. Blood splashed the walls.
Mira’s eyes glowed silver, then black, then a terrifying violet. Her cursed mark spread across her chest as she raised her arms and the ground rippled.
Roots burst from the floor. Vines coiled around the attackers, squeezing, snapping bones like twigs. One Elder managed to fling a ball of dark light it grazed her arm, sizzling her skin.
She didn’t even blink.
She turned to the Elder and whispered, “Kneel.”
He laughed.
Then screamed as his legs snapped backward, folding him to the ground in a heap.
Mira strode forward, blood dripping from her fingers.
“You want to call me a monster?” she whispered. “Then let’s redefine the word.”
The last Enforcer dropped his weapon and ran.
Coward.
The room reeked of blood and broken magic. Kade’s chest heaved, blood dripping from a gash across his shoulder. Mira ran to him, eyes wide.
“You’re hurt.”
“I’ll live,” he rasped.
A soft voice came from the hallway. “So will I. For now.”
They turned.
Tessa.
Mira’s stepsister. Beaten, limping… but alive.
“I warned them,” Tessa said, grimacing. “But they didn’t listen. The council isn’t going to stop. They’re calling for full execution. You’re officially an abomination in their eyes.”
“I always was,” Mira muttered.
Tessa hesitated, then held something out. A small, glowing rune stone.
“It’s a tracker. They planted it in your bedding. You have twenty minutes before the entire High Guard is here.”
Kade growled. “We’ll kill them all.”
“No,” Mira said.
She looked at the blood, the bodies, the shivering air.
“I need to end this… but not here.”
Kade met her gaze. “Where then?”
Mira’s voice was steel and sorrow.
“I’m going home.”
- Writer
