“Yes!” He nods frantically. “She said the woman was using forbidden magic to cloud your mind. That she was dangerous. I was helping protect you from dark enchantment!”
“Can you sense any dark magic on me?” I demand.
He blinks, confused by the question. “I—What?”
“You’re a witch. You can read magical signatures, detect enchantments. Can you sense any dark magic on me? Any trace of magical coercion or manipulation?”
His hands rise instinctively, magic flickering around his fingers as he reads my aura. The golden light plays across my skin for several seconds before fading away.
He shakes his head, petrified. “No,” he whispers. “There’s nothing. No magical influence at all.”
I crouch down slowly, my movements predatory and deliberate. My hand shoots out, gripping his jaw with claws that
