Enchantress And The Guardian

Broken Ward

The following morning dawned far quieter than the day before, though the tension within the Blackwood estate had not eased. Lochlan wasted no time. Dev stood once more in the center of the garden, though today there was no gentleness in the lesson. The air felt charged and expectant.

“You will begin with shielding,” Lochlan instructed. “If witches are probing, your first defense must be instinctual.” Dev nodded, planting his feet firmly in the grass. He closed his eyes and drew in a steady breath. The familiar hum beneath his skin answered him at once.

“Raise it,” Lochlan said. Dev extended his hands slightly. The surrounding air shimmered faintly before forming a translucent barrier. It flickered at first, uneven and thin along the edges.

“Stronger,” Lochlan commanded. Dev tightened his jaw. The shield thickened, but the effort showed in the strain along his brow.

“Again.” Lochlan sent a small pulse of magic toward him. It was controlled, but sharp.

The shield buckled and Dev staggered half a step before regaining his footing. Frustration flared in his chest. “I had it,” Dev muttered.

“You did not,” Lochlan corrected calmly. “You forced it. Magic does not respond well to force.” Dev exhaled sharply, resetting his stance. From the library doorway, Quinn watched carefully. Her own lesson had begun earlier that morning, although it had not involved shattered glass or trembling walls.

Lochlan had placed a single silver coin upon a small garden table before her. “Do not move it,” he had said.

Quinn had blinked in confusion. “Then what am I to do?”

“Feel it.”

Now she stepped forward into the garden fully, her skirts brushing the grass. Lochlan gestured for her to stand opposite Dev.

“You will both work simultaneously,” Lochlan instructed.

Dev glanced at her, a faint smile touching his lips despite the seriousness of the lesson.

“Ready?” he asked quietly.

Quinn lifted her chin in response. “I believe so.”

Lochlan nodded once. “Dev, shield. Quinn, reach.”

Dev summoned his magic again, this time focusing not on strength but steadiness. The barrier formed more smoothly. Quinn closed her eyes. She did not feel power the way Dev described it, not like heat or pressure. For her, it was awareness. Threads. Soft and invisible, woven through everything.

She reached gently toward Dev’s shield. The air between them tingled. Dev felt it immediately, not an intrusion, but reinforcement. His shield steadied and strengthened without strain.

Lochlan’s brows lifted slightly. “Interesting,” he murmured.

Dev’s eyes flicked to Quinn. “What are you doing?”

“I am not certain,” she admitted, eyes still closed. “It feels as though… I am holding it together.”

Lochlan stepped closer, observing carefully. “Again,” he said.

This time he sent a stronger pulse. The magic struck Dev’s shield and held. Dev blinked in surprise. “That should have pushed me back.”

“Yes,” Lochlan agreed quietly. Quinn opened her eyes, startled by the approval in her father’s tone. A faint crack echoed from somewhere near the far hedge. All three of them turned in the direction that the noise had come from.

Near the edge of the estate grounds, one of the small ward stones, half-hidden among ivy, split clean down the center. Silence fell as Lochlan moved toward it immediately with Dev right behind him.

The stone was not shattered violently but instead had fractured under pressure. “Was that you?” Dev asked Quinn gently as he stood back up and took a step to stand beside her as she neared the two men.

She shook her head at once. “No.”

Lochlan crouched, fingers brushing over the surface. His jaw tightened, Dev and Quinn both noticed. “It was tested,” he said.

Dev felt that now too. It was faint residue clinging to the broken stone. Iron and ash. Witch magic.

“They are closer today,” Dev said quietly. Quinn stepped nearer, her earlier confidence dimming only slightly.

“Then they felt me,” she said. Lochlan stood slowly.

“Possibly,” he said, still staring at the stone.

Dev’s expression hardened. “Let them feel,” he said.

Lochlan’s gaze snapped to him. “That is precisely the attitude that will get you killed.” Dev’s jaw tightened, but he said nothing further. Quinn looked between them. The silent words between them all. Lochlan would not put his daughter in harms way.

“What if my power is not meant to destroy?” she asked carefully. “What if it is meant to protect?”

Lochlan regarded her for a long moment. “That may be so,” he admitted. “But protection alone does not end a war.” The last thing

Lochlan wanted was for his only daughter to be dragged into the middle of a war that had nothing to do with her.

Dev looked at Quinn again but truly looked at her. Her magic had not burned. It had not lashed out. Instead, it had strengthened him.

“That is not weakness,” Dev said firmly.

Lochlan’s eyes narrowed slightly at the argument. “No,” he agreed after a moment. “It is not.”

The wind stirred softly through the hedges. The fractured ward stone lay silently at their feet. The witches were no longer guessing. They were measuring. And now they knew there were two awakenings within these grounds.

Lochlan straightened. “I will double the wards tonight.” Dev nodded in agreement.

“And tomorrow?” Quinn asked. Lochlan’s gaze moved between them both.

Tomorrow,” he said evenly, “we prepare as though the scout has already chosen his moment.”

Dev felt something shift inside him. This was no longer distant and controlled in India. The waiting had changed. He feared that the next move to be made, was not going to be of their choosing.