Seventeen
I let the cold air wake me up, heightening my senses as I approached the bench across the way. I could feel the magic pushing me away, urging me to pass by and not stop until I was well away from it. I fought the urge. I felt for the edges of the spell, finding it at the end of the bench. I poured a little of my own will into the equations and unraveled it.
Belladonna appeared before me looking gaunt and disheveled. She was no longer the woman who’d tended my wounds and shown me kindness even when I had been fighting the pull of the Council’s guidance and support. Somewhat surprising to me that even after I’d failed to save her son, she’d still treated me with respect. I almost didn’t recognize the woman before me now.
“Belladonna?”
Hearing her name made her eyes flutter open
