AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I force a laugh and shake my head. “You have a really fucked up way of showing it.”
“I know.”
I glare at him. “You know?”
He nods, straightens, runs a hand over his short dark hair. “Yeah, Ro, I know. I should have talked to you before it got to this point.” I snort, but he keeps talking. “You know what I am?”
I hesitate, then nod. “Yes. Do you know what I am?”
A grin splits his face. “From the first moment I saw you. I can’t believe it took those assholes this long to realize it. I kept waiting for you to tell me, to recognize that we’re the same. It took me forever to realize that you have no fucking clue what exactly you are.”
I scowl at him. “I’m a witch. Granted, not a very good witch. But still a witch.”
Cohen slowly shakes his head. “No, Rosalind. You’re notjusta witch. There’s no way you could ever be lumped in with Julie Colms and Morgan Bettencourt. You are so much fucking more than them.”
My heart rate picks up again and I have no idea why, just that it feels like I’m on the precipice of something here, on the verge of discovering something that will change my life even more than it’s already changed.
I swallow and shake my head. “I’m just a witch, Cohen. One that’s only been casting for a few months.”
He leans forward again, eyes bright with excitement. “No, Ro, you are a wild card.”
Huh.Not what I was expecting him to say. Definitely not life changing, not standing on a precipice and falling into the unknown. I’m not even sure I understand what he’s getting at.
“Okay, Cohen, I’m a wild card.”
His brows lower. “You say that like you don’t believe me, but you should. You have power, Ro, so much power, and you don’t belong to a coven.”
He’s not wrong. How many times have I had that same thought? How many times have I fought with Fielder about this? “This is what you wanted to point out to me?”
“No, Ro, what I want to point out is you don’t need to join a coven. You don’t need to fall in line and follow their rules. You don’t need to let them limit you.” As he talks, his eyes light up, like he can see it. “You already figured out that the sects aren’t limited to their specific elemental magic, despite what they’ve been told.”
I have no idea how he knows that. None. But I don’t bother to deny it either.
“If you join the Seven Stars Coven, wildcard, you’ll be told what you can do. Be limited in your power. They will not let you blossom in the way you’re capable of.” His words strike a chord with me. It’s something I’ve thought a lot about, ever since I accidentally used air magic that shouldn’t have belonged to me. What does it benefit to limit the power of the people who can handle it?
The answer is obvious.The elders.They benefit by keeping every one less powerful than them. I would bet that they all know that they aren’t limited by anything other than their own lack of imaginations.
“Fielder-” I start, but Cohen points a finger in my face, furious.
“No. No, wildcard, don’t tell me how they’re going to help you, how they taught you so much. Don’t tell me they care about you. They’ve proven that they don’t. Putting your name forward to join their coven, to limit you.” He sounds so angry about it.
I frown. “I don’t think that’s what they’re doing, Cohen. They’re helping in the only way that they know how.”
He nods, leans back in his chair. “You’re right. They are. But the problem with that, Ro, is that they’re limited already. They’ve been told that this is as good as it gets, under the heel of Robert Harris and the other elders. They think the only way to make sure you’re safe is to bring you into the fold. But I know that the better way to make you safe is to give you the fucking tools to protect yourself. To cut all those strings that are tying you down and to let you bloom.”
I blink at him. He motions at his tattoos. “You know what these are?”
“Runes,” I say, slowly. “Spells.”
He nods, a proud smile lighting his face. “That’s right, and do you know how many of these I’m supposed to have access to, wildcard?”
“I’m gonna guess none, Cohen.”
He nods. “You’re right. I was born technically an inept, like Merritt. I was born with a small sliver of magic that, if given time to grow, would have placed me in what the Septem Stellae coven calls Serpent and Hive.” Gabe’s sect, which specializes in animals and insects. Interesting.
“But,” he continues. “I’m like you, born to a family that doesn’t have a history of magic users. I was raised outside of all the bullshit and I claimed my power, learned to cast on my own, grew without guidance. Since I had no guidance, I discovered I have no boundaries, no limit, no magic I can’t learn and master.”
What he’s saying makes so much sense. I can see how this would be the case. The Elders of the Coven trying to keep their members with less power, not wanting to allow anyone to get stronger than them.
