Verveville's Curse

Chapter50

Kaida’s pov

I couldn’t shake it.

Even after the meeting ended, even after everyone filed out and Kael kept that smug look on his face beside Willow, I couldn’t stop replaying what I felt.

That power. That surge. It wasn’t wolf. Not only wolf. It carried something sharp, something that cut through the air, almost like it wanted to burn me just by being close.

Willow didn’t even notice. She was flushed, embarrassed, trying to keep her head down. She had no idea what she carried inside her.

But I did.

And I had to be sure.

That night, I went into the little room where I kept herbs and roots, where I hid the things passed down to me from my mother. Not many people knew I studied these things. Not even Kael. Wolves preferred claws and tooth. But I always wanted to understand the other side. Witches. Spells. Blends that only certain bloodlines could drink.

I lined up three glass cups on the table. My hands shook as I poured. Red. Brown. Blue.

When she walked into my chamber later that evening, I was already waiting. I’d set the table with three glasses. Each filled with a different substance, looking harmless, almost like colored water. Red. Brown. Blue. But I knew what they carried.

Willow stepped in, smiling soft, still carrying that glow she always has around Kael. My brother’s eyes follow her everywhere, I can’t even pretend not to notice. But tonight, I wasn’t thinking about their bond. Tonight, I needed to know what she was.

“You called for me?” Willow asked, sitting down gently. She looked tired but curious, her eyes flicking to the glasses.

“Yes,” I said quietly. My hands trembled a little, but I forced them still.

“What’s this?” she asked, looking at the glasses.

“A Luna’s blessing,” I lied. The words tasted like ash. “Something small, a tradition. To test your strength. To… welcome you in fully.”

She didn’t question. Not even once. She only nodded, trusting me.

That trust hurt.

I swallowed hard, my chest squeezing. I didn’t want to do this. Not to her. But I needed to. Because if what I felt earlier was true, then everything we thought we knew about her, about her bloodline was wrong.

I pushed the first glass forward. The red one, thick and sharp, it looked like wine, but it wasn’t. It carried a root mixed with wolfsbane. A werewolf could handle it. Barely. A witch couldn’t. A human would collapse.

I slid it across the table. “Drink.” My heart thumped.

I whispered in my head, Kael, forgive me. Willow, forgive me.

She lifted it, sniffed, wrinkled her nose. “It smells bad.”

“Just drink.”

She tipped it back, swallowed. I waited for her to choke, for her body to reject it, for her wolf to fight it. But nothing. She set the glass down, wiped her lips, and smiled like it was nothing.

“Done,” she said.

My chest tightened.

I picked up the second glass. The brown one. Earthy, dark, carrying powdered bone and a potion known to snap a witch’s blood awake. If you were one, it would open the veins, feed magic. If you weren’t, it would make you choke.

This one should floor her. A wolf shouldn’t be able to handle it. She picked it up, raised her brow at me. “Really? Another one?”

“Yes.”

She drank. All of it. Coughed once, made a face, but she straightened right after.

“That one was worse,” she muttered, shaking her head.

My hands were cold. My wolf stirred inside me, whispering that this wasn’t natural. That I was walking into something I didn’t want to face.

My hand shook as I reached for it. This one was the deadliest. I shouldn’t even have had it here, but I’d hidden it years ago, after hearing stories. It was poison to anyone except something not fully wolf, not fully witch. It was a hybrid’s trial. It could stop a human’s heart. It could rip a wolf’s veins. A witch’s body would reject it. But a hybrid… a hybrid would live through it. The blue… gods, even I feared the blue.

I almost couldn’t bring myself to give it. My chest hurt. My wolf whined inside me. Don’t do it.

But I slid it forward anyway.

The red liquid was harmless to wolves, but it burned witches down from the inside. The brown one, the opposite. Only witches could take it without collapsing. And the blue… It wasn’t meant for anyone. No wolf should be able to drink all three. No witch should either. That’s why hybrids were only rumors, stories told in the dark.

But Willow wasn’t a story. She was here. Sitting at Kael’s side, walking in our house, carrying a power that made my bones ache.

I told myself not to do it. That it was wrong. That Kael would hate me for risking her. That Willow herself, if she ever found out, might never forgive me.

But I had to know.

The third glass sat waiting. Blue. The deadliest. My palms sweated just looking at it.

I wanted to stop her. I almost snatched it back. I almost told her it was over, that she passed, that I didn’t need to see more.

But my hand stayed frozen. And she was already reaching for it.

She lifted it to her lips. Drank.

Willow stiffened. Her hand slammed against the table, the glass rattling. Her body shook, her chest heaving. I leapt forward, ready to grab her, to undo it, to beg her forgiveness.

But then…

She steadied. Just like that.

Her breathing slowed. Her body relaxed. She sat back, her face pale but strong. She looked at me with those dark, questioning eyes.

“What… was that?” she whispered.

My own eyes burned. Tears rushed up before I could stop them. My knees hit the floor as I pressed my forehead to the wood.

My wolf howled inside me. Because I knew what this meant. Hybrids weren’t just rare. They were hunted. They were feared. They were said to bring ruin and power both.

And Willow, our Luna, my brother’s mate.. she was one.

She was alive. Standing. Looking at me with clear eyes.

No wolf could have done that. No witch either.

Only one thing could.

My stomach dropped.

She was a hybrid.

I stared at her, my throat tight, my chest hollow. She had no idea what she’d just proven. She brushed her hair back, waiting for me to say something.

“Well? Did I pass?” she asked, half-joking.

I forced a smile. My lips trembled with it.

“Yes,” I whispered. “You passed.”

She beamed, so proud, so bright, not knowing the weight of it. She hugged me quick before leaving, humming under her breath.

The moment the door shut, My knees hit the floor. My hands covered my face.

A hybrid. A wolf and witch in one.

That wasn’t supposed to exist. That wasn’t supposed to be possible.

Her mother… her father…

No. I shook my head, tears stinging my eyes. I couldn’t say it yet. I couldn’t even think it fully.

I whispered an apology, to Kael, to Willow, to the Moon itself.

“I’m sorry,” I breathed. “I had to know.”

And now I did.

The truth that would change everything.