Chapter two:A new threat
931 Words
Angora:
““Stop looking at me like that.”
I was crouched near the doorway, bent over my boots, tugging at the laces for the third time because I could not remember which one I had tightened first. The leather was worn soft from years of use, the metal hooks cold against my fingers, and still my hands hesitated as if they no longer trusted my own memory.
“You’re going to make me forget what I was doing again,” I added, not looking up. The words were meant to be light, teasing, familiar.
Kail did not answer.
That silence made my skin prickle.
I lifted my head and turned slowly. He stood near the window, tall and immovable, his broad frame outlined by pale morning light filtering through the glass. Beyond him, the forest stretched quiet and watchful, the ancient trees of Angrath Vale standing shoulder to shoulder like sentinels.
Kail’s arms were crossed over his chest, his shoulders tense, his jaw locked so tightly that a muscle ticked beneath his skin. He looked as though he was bracing for an impact no one else could see.
“What?” I asked, trying to sound amused as I straightened. “Did I put the boots in the pantry again?”
“No,” he said, his voice low and careful. “You didn’t.”
That was when I knew something was wrong.
I took a few steps toward him, the cold stone floor seeping into my bare feet. “Then why do you look like you’re about to fight the air?”
He turned to face me fully, and the expression in his eyes stole the breath from my lungs.
Fear.
Not the sharp, violent fear of battle or bloodshed, which I had seen etched into warriors’ faces often enough. This fear was quieter, heavier, as though it had been sitting inside him for a very long time and had finally grown too heavy to hide.
“You didn’t do anything,” he said. “There are just things I need to think through.”
“That never made you this quiet,” I said, folding my arms over my chest. “You usually paced. Or argue with yourself. Or glare at walls until they deserved it.”
A faint curve touched his mouth before vanishing.
“I was just… worried about the council…”
The word settled in my chest like a stone.
“Oh.”
I forced myself not to step back.
bad
“You think I was… that bad at it?”
“Angora, I was just concerned about you,” he said, choosing each word with care. “About your balance. About your power that refused to stay contained.”
My stomach churned. “You mean you weren’t confident about my training?”
He did not deny it.
“I haven’t hurt anyone,” I said quickly, heat rising in my throat.
“Not intentionally,” he replied just as quickly, his gaze never leaving mine. “And that is exactly what unsettled them.”
A sharp spark flared inside me, anger fighting the familiar curl of shame.
“So now I am dangerous just for existing?”
“Angora—”
“I followed rules,” I insisted, my voice tightening.
“You forget the rules,” he said softly, not unkindly.
The words stung far more than anger would have.
I turned away before he could see how deeply they landed.
---
The clearing lay beyond the Angrath Vale town, where the earth dipped low and the trees curved inward as if listening. The air smelled of damp soil and old leaves, and the silence hummed with something expectant.
“It is safer here,” Kail said, positioning himself several steps away. “Focus on restraint, not force.”
I nodded and planted my feet, drawing in a breath that tasted of pine and rain.
The pressure began almost immediately, coiling beneath my ribs, spreading heat through my veins. The world sharpened, every sound cutting too close.
The wolf pushed forward, restless and furious.
The magic surged alongside it, unstable and impatient.
They pulled in different directions.
“Kail,” I whispered, panic threading my voice. “Something is wrong.”
He moved instantly. “Look at me. Stay with me.”
I tried….really hard!
But the pressure snapped.
Power erupted outward, tearing free of my control. The ground fractured with a violent crack, wind screaming through the clearing. I felt resistance…..solid and horrifying…..and then a sound that froze my blood.
Bone breaking.
Kail was thrown backward, his body slamming into the rocks with brutal force.
“No,” I gasped, stumbling toward him as the world tilted. “No… please.”
Blood stained the stone beneath him, too dark, too much.
“Kail,” I begged, dropping beside him, my hands shaking as I pressed them to his chest. “Get up.”
His breath came shallow and uneven.
Relief crashed through me, followed immediately by terror so sharp it stole my breath.
The air still crackled with power I could not pull back in, humming like a threat.
“I didn’t mean to,” I whispered, “I-I'm so sorry,” tears blurring my vision.
He did not answer.
And as I knelt there, blood on my hands, the forest eerily silent around us, dread settled cold and absolute in my chest, making my eyes go wide with horror.
Kail was unconscious.
And I would need a healer for him.
Which meant…
They would know…..
The council would know now.
- Writer
