I burst into the mansion with my teeth bared. My mother lay in the parlor room, a servant kneeling beside her and holding up a golden tray of chocolates. Queen Antonia sipped at a glass of wine and read the daily news as I stormed in, barely giving a glance up.
I changed into a man, and the servant gave an uneasy stare. My shoulders heaved as I bellowed, “You are a completemonster!”
Mother rolled her eyes and threw aside the paper. “Come now, Ethan. Be reasonable.”
This was asinine. I couldn’t believe my mother could just lie there, drinking wine and eating bonbons after she’d tried to take a young girl’s life. She was deplorable.
“Yourreasonhas departed for madness! What has taken over you, that you find it appropriate to make an attempt on the life of my mate?”
Mother jumped upward from her seat. She threw the edge of her robe back as she said, “That peasant is no mate of yours. She’s rejected you as your mate to whore around with the common folk. You think I haven’t read the news? The press is making a mockery of my son, and by the gods, I won’t let that happen.”
“Her absence from my side ismy fault,” I growled. “Don’t blame her for my own transgressions!”
“I refuse to allow that tart to embarrass my son by acting like a common hussy!” Mother’s voice trembled with power and rage. “She lost you your crown. She’s lost you your dignity. For the gods’ sakes, Ethan, what more will you lose to try to keep this girl?”
“I will go to the ends of the earth for her, and farther still. Do not ask me why, for you could never understand how to love.”
“She doesn’t want your bond anymore!” Mother threw her arms high. “Why does it matter whether she lives or dies?”
I’d heard enough. My mother just wouldn’t stop. Words couldn’t convince her otherwise. She’d never cease in her actions to hurt Emma, and I had to stop it.
Kill her, the demon purred, and my anger flashed.
I hadn’t taken an order from the leshane since I’d learned he was inside of me. But this time, I listened.
“You have tried to kill my mate for the last time.” My shoulders rounded as I prepared to change. Mother’s eyes widened, and the servant backed away to a corner of the room, shaking with terror.
Before I could transform, the doors burst open again. I whirled around. I barely had seconds to process before Lady Magdalina stormed in, her eyes quaking with all the fury of the gods.
She threw her arm up; an invisible force blasted my mother backward, slamming her against the wall and turning over the couch she lay on. The servant screamed and ran out as fast as she could.
Mother shakily climbed to her feet. As she did so, Lady Magdalina curled her manicured claws around her throat. “Just who do you take me for?” Lady Magdalina seethed.
My mother’s heels kicked at the marble floor as she tried to get Magdalina’s hand off her neck. She went to answer, but couldn’t. Her voice came out in a strangled way as her eyes bugged out of her head.
“I warned you what would happen if you dared to attack one of my students atmyschool again,” Magdalina hissed. “As you obviously didn’t heed the first warning, I’ll have to make the second more permanent.”
Mother screeched in pain as Lady Magdalina’s hand burned red with a curse. Mother’s eyes watered, and by the gods, it scared me when Magdalina leaned in to whisper… like she was enjoying this.
“One of these days, I will make you pay for what you have done,” Lady Magdalina growled. “And you will rue the moment you dared to challenge me.”
Lady Magdalina let her hand slip. Mother fell to the floor, gasping. There was a red hand mark there that looked like blemished burns, and they were spreading across her face at a rapid rate, marring her once-beautiful features. Magdalina had hexed her.
I went to take a step forward, but Lady Magdalina flung an arm out, blocking my way. “Ethan Nowak, if you lift a finger to harm her, I will permanently expel you from Arcanea University,” Lady Magdalina threatened. “Do not touch her. She is mine.”
Gods only knew what that meant. But at that moment, I was more terrified of Lady Magdalina than I was angry at my mother. I slowly backed off.
Lady Magdalina was still smoldering. Her chest heaved as she pointed a bony finger at my mother. “You have gotten your last example of what I am capable of. I will not hesitate next time to send you exactly where you belong. So I suggest you keep within the realms of your domain, and I will stick to mine.”
She began her walk out. “Ethan, come.” Magdalina snapped her fingers, and I went. I followed her out of that mansion without question, though once we were outside, I couldn’t quench the words that escaped my lips.
“She’ll try to harm Emma again. She—”
“I have provided her with a little something that will be a painful reminder of the penalties of her transgressions,” Magdalina seethed. “She will think twice. Rest assured, Emmaline’s safety is paramount to me. I suggest you begin making it a priority of yours.”
Her words ate away at me like acid as she escorted me back to campus. I knew Lady Magdalina blamed my mother for what happened to Emma.
But a part of her blamed me, too. I was Emma’s shifter— her Companion. I was supposed to protect her.
