Chapter 10: Memory Lane
791 Words
Seraphine’s POV
The knock came before the sun finished rising. I was already awake all night, sleep never really came after Rhydian left.
I sat on the floor most of the hours with my back against the wall, every time I closed my eyes I saw his face.
The guard opened the door. “Alpha wants you. Now.”
I stood up, my legs felt stiff. I pulled on the same black dress from yesterday because it was the only thing clean.
My hair was a mess and I followed the guard down the hall without speaking.
Lysandra waited at the bottom of the stairs.
She stood with her arms crossed across her chest and her eyes locked on me the second I appeared.
“Where do you think you’re taking her?” she asked Rhydian.
Rhydian didn’t even glance at her. He stood by the front doors with his cloak already on.
“Pack business,” he said.
Lysandra stepped forward. “She’s a witch. She has no place in pack business.”
He turned his head and met her eyes. “I decide who has a place. Not you.”
Her hands dropped to her sides and her fingers curled into fists.
Rhydian didn’t wait for her answer and jerked his head toward the door. “Let’s go.”
I walked past Lysandra without looking at her.
The air outside was cold and refreshing. Rhydian didn’t speak as we crossed the clearing and entered the tree line.
I kept my steps even with his, but my heart was beating so fast.
He led me deeper than I expected. I knew exactly where we were going.
My stomach twisted tighter with every step.
The sound of water grew louder, and ferns brushed my calves.
We stepped through a curtain of vines to the waterfall, nothing around had changed. The rock we always sat on was still there.
I stopped and couldn’t breathe properly.
Rhydian stopped too, staring at me. He gave that calm expression, but his eyes were sharp.
Quickly, I forced myself to breathe well and I made myself look around like I had never seen this place before. As if it was just another pretty spot in the woods.
Though my eyes went straight to the big cedar tree on the left side. The bark still held the heart we carved when we were young and dumb and so in love.
Inside the heart our initials. S.W. + R.M.
I stared at it too long and Rhydian noticed.
He walked closer to the water’s edge. “Ever been here before?” he asked, sounding friendly.
My throat felt dry.
“No,” I said. “Never.”
The second the word left my mouth my magic answered. A sharp flare of violet light sparked under my skin.
Rhydian’s head turned slowly.
I walked toward the water and stopped at the exact place they always stopped, three steps from the pool’s edge, right where the water touched the toes of my shoes.
I lifted my hand without thinking and my fingers reached for the cedar trunk.
I froze when I realized what I was doing.
Rhydian was already behind me.
He leaned over my shoulder, and his breath brushed my ear.
“How did you know which tree?” he asked quietly. “There are hundreds out here.”
My heart slammed so hard I spun around quickly. My back hit the trunk and pressed into my spine.
He stood right there.
My mind raced for something, anything that sounded real.
“My magic,” I said. My voice came out shaky. “It… feels things. Old emotions and places where strong feelings happened. It pulls me.”
But still, he kept staring.
“Really.”
“Yes. My magic absorbs echoes,” I said. The words came out quickly. “Places where love was strong, where people were happy and where they hurt. It leaves traces. Witches feel them. That’s all.”
He didn’t move and kept staring at me, those stares made my skin burn.
He stayed quiet for a long time. The waterfall roared behind us, birds called somewhere high in the trees and mist kept rising from the pool.
Finally he nodded.
“Okay,” he said, but didn’t sound convinced.
He turned toward the path we came from.
“We should head back.”
I followed him.
My legs felt heavy that moment and my heart still raced faster.
He didn’t speak again until we reached the place where the vines hung thick and the forest opened up.
Then he asked a question I didn’t see coming.
“So why did you react so strongly to a place you claim you’ve never been?”
- Writer
