The Alpha's Forbidden Witch

Chapter 6 – The Acceptance Letter

SERENA

I stopped under a big pine tree that gave a little shelter. My hands shook as I pulled the pendant out again. This time the chain felt warm against my cold skin. I opened it the same way as before. The letter was still inside, glowing softly like it had its own light.

I unfolded it carefully and the letter changed from what I had read earlier. I didn't care much then I started reading from the beginning.

"Dear Serena Ashwood,

If you are reading this, then the old witch has done her job and you have survived the first awakening.

You were never meant to live as an ordinary orphan. Your blood carries power older than the kingdoms themselves.

Mooncrest Academy is waiting for you. The headmaster already knows your true name. Show this letter to no one until you reach the gates.

Trust the dragon inside you. It will protect you when the time comes.

This letter was written on the third full moon of the winter cycle, eighteen years before your birth."

I read that last part twice. Eighteen years before I was born. That did not make any sense. I was only twenty one. How could someone write a letter to me before I even existed?

"This cannot be right," I said out loud. My voice sounded small in the middle of all that snow.

"Who wrote this? How did they know my name? How did they know I would be running through the mountains right now?"

I kept reading. The letter talked about classes I would take, about staying away from certain noble families, and about a room already prepared for me in the east tower.

It even mentioned that I should trust the vampire prince if he offered help. Vampire prince? I had never met any vampires.

My head spun. I leaned against the tree trunk and tried to breathe slowly. First the wings at the execution. Then Elara dying in my arms. Now this impossible letter. It was all too much. I felt like I was living in someone else’s story.

"Why me?" I whispered. "I was just a normal girl who worked in the kitchens and stayed out of trouble. Now everyone either wants me dead or calls me Your Majesty."

A cold gust of wind almost blew the letter out of my hands. I folded it quickly and put it back in the pendant. The top clicked shut again like it was happy to be closed. I hung it back around my neck and hid it under my dress.

I had to keep moving. If the letter was real, then Mooncrest Academy was my best chance. Maybe someone there could explain what was happening to me. Maybe they could even help me prove I did not kill Kael’s Luna.

The path got steeper. My legs burned with every step. Snow stuck to my dress and made it heavier.

I slipped once and fell hard on my knee. Pain shot up my leg, but I got back up. I could not stop moving.

As I walked, I talked to myself to stay awake.

"Just get to the academy, Serena. Find answers. Figure out the wings and the glowing blood. Then maybe you can go back and make Kael listen. Make him see the truth."

The sky started to get lighter. Morning was coming. I hoped the light would make the path easier to see.

My stomach growled. I had not eaten since the bread at the sanctuary. Elara’s face flashed in my mind. The way she sacrificed herself so I could run. I owed her and I would not waste what she gave me.

I took the pendant out one more time and opened it. I stared at the date again. Written years before I was born.

Then I noticed something at the bottom of the letter that I missed before. A big wax seal pressed into the paper. It showed a dragon with spread wings holding a crown in its claws. The royal dragon seal.

My breath caught. Royal. As in kings and queens. As in the kind of power that could make whole kingdoms kneel.

The letter really was from someone important. And it had my name on it.

I closed the pendant fast. My heart beat hard against my ribs. Whatever waited for me at Mooncrest Academy, it was bigger than I thought. And it had been planned long before I took my first breath.

I started walking faster this time. I just hoped I would reach the academy before whoever wrote that letter decided it was time for the next part of whatever plan they had for me.