She was screaming, pleading, begging for them to stop as she was forced to her knees, her hands cut, and a mark placed
upon her head.
No, this must be my mind playing tricks on me. I would know. I would feel it if she were hurt or worse, dead.
“What is happening!?” April shouted as she kneeled in front of me, cupping my face in her hands.
“Ornella was here.”
“Morgana what do you see?!” April shouted at our younger sister who closed her eyes and a silver glow wrapped around
her body.
Her magic was always the most magnificent and beautiful of all of us. A power far greater than our parents could have
imagined. They sadly weren’t here to see how their youngest daughter's magic manifested. It created things out of nothing, but
could also see things that happened in the past. Only if those events weren’t old. Any older than a few days would be lost to
history.
“I see Ornella. She was here.”
“How? Where was she going?” April asked, still looking at me closely.
I couldn’t speak, locked in this memory of a spell, watching it play out the same time as Morgana.
“I don’t know, someone is doing some sort of ritual on her.”
“How did they cross the border?”
“April, I cannot answer your questions. Something happened here, something powerful.”
As the memory faded, my body shook with the aftershocks. It took a few deep breaths until I could stand again. I was
thankful none of our soldiers had seen me at a weak point. Percy made sure everyone stayed back.
“How long ago did she pass us?” Vanessa asked.
“Two days ago. She seems to be heading back to the castle, but she wasn’t alone.”
My mind raced with all the possible reasons they could have done a ritual using Ornella. Perhaps they were trying to get
rid of our bond. When one of us dies, the other also dies. That was our way—the payment. Our marriage bond was different, it
went deeper than I could have imagined. I’d already questioned the priestess if it was something else and all her answer had
been was to trust the Goddess.
I couldn’t feel Ornella’s pull anymore. The force that drew me to her was gone and it was only then did I feel the emptiness
inside me. As if something had been taken from me, deep within my soul.
I’d never noticed it before until it was not there. That warm feeling I’d always got when I thought of Ornella or saw her.
Even when I was angry and trying to push her away, that feeling still lingered there, urging me to find her. Be with her.
And now it is gone.
