DARK MAGIC
Yvan’s home comes into view just as the last of the day’s light is slipping below the horizon. The warm glow emanating from the cozy, well-kept cottage contrasts sharply with the cold dark outside.
Yvan signals to our mare, and she slows to an easy trot as we pass by his mother’s expansive gardens, covered up for the winter.
We dismount and enter a small, tidy barn, stabling the mare alongside a dappled gray horse that whinnies happily when it catches sight of Yvan. As I unsaddle our horse and prepare some grain for her, Yvan makes a point of spending a few minutes with the gray gelding, an animal, he tells me, that he grew up with and raised from a foal.
Then we make our way to his house, my heart pounding in anticipation.
Things will be all right, I tell myself. Yvan said his mother is fair-minded.
As we approach the cottage, Yvan seems to hesitate. I hug myself nervously, pulling my woolen cloak tight. The air is chill and damp, and it will only get colder now that the sun is down. I eye the fire-lit windows, yearning to go inside and get warm.
Yvan turns to me, looking unsure. “Perhaps you should wait here, Elloren. I’ll speak to her for a moment before I introduce you.”
“All right,” I agree, feeling increasingly apprehensive.
Yvan walks up to the door and knocks as I stand in the shadow of a large oak tree, like some unwanted thing in hiding. A woman who is obviously Yvan’s mother opens the door. She’s him, only older and female. They have the same angular, beautiful face, the same riveting green eyes and the same long, lanky build. Only their hair is different, hers a rich, shockingly vibrant red to his brown.
I wonder why Yvan told me he looks just like his father. It’s clear he takes after his mother completely.
Yvan’s mother gives a start when she spots him, her two slender, graceful hands flying up in delight. She throws her arms around him in a warm embrace.
I push back my cloak’s hood and start unwinding my scarf as I watch their joyful reunion. I shake out my hair as I prepare to introduce myself properly—my voice unmuffled by layers of fabric, my features unhidden, only the green glimmer of my skin still disguised. Yvan’s mother might as well see me for what I am right off. Best to get the shock over with.
I desperately want to make a good impression on this woman, even more so than I did with Diana’s family, and my stomach twists and clenches as I wait.
Yvan says something to his mother that I can’t fully make out, but I hear him mention my name. Her smile fades, replaced by a look of confusion. She turns her head in my direction, as if straining to peer into the darkness.
Taking this as my cue to approach, I emerge from the shadows, my heart pounding hard against my chest. As I step closer, the light from inside their house spills over me.
Yvan’s mother’s expression morphs into one of stunned horror, and she steps backward, almost losing her balance. “Yvan,” she gasps, one hand finding her throat, her eyes riveted on me. “What are you doing? Why is that...thing here with you?”
Yvan glances over at me with confusion, as if to check that he and his mother are looking at the same person, so violent is her reaction. “She’s not a thing,” he says, placing a steadying hand on his mother’s arm. “She’s my friend.”
Her head whirls around to face him. “Your friend?”
“She has a name, Mother. It’s Elloren.”
“Yvan, I must speak with you,” she says with frantic vehemence, her eyes darting toward me as if I’m an evil apparition, something terrifying back from the dead. “Alone. Now.”
Yvan’s brow is knit tight as he sends me a look of concern. “Just give us a moment, Elloren,” he says kindly before following his mother into the house.
The door shuts firmly behind them, cutting off most of the light and casting me in frigid shadows once more. It’s like Clive Soren all over again.
But Clive quickly came around, I attempt to console myself.
I wait for a moment, feeling cold and dejected, before summoning the courage to step onto their porch and linger by the closed door. Eavesdropping for the second time today makes me uncomfortable, but this is going badly, and I want to know how much worse it’s likely to get.
“Have you given leave of your senses?” Yvan’s mother hisses. “Do you know what she is?”
“I do,” he replies, his voice tight.
“Do you realize how dangerous she is? How dangerous they all are? Why is she with you?” Her voice is filled with dark suspicion.
“I know what you’re thinking. You’re mistaken.”
“Please, Yvan, please tell me she’s not your lover.”
Yvan hesitates for a moment before answering. “No, she’s not.”
“Are you in love with her?”
Again, he hesitates. “She’s my friend.”
“Did I raise you to be such a fool? Do you have any idea what kind of dark magic flows through that girl’s veins?”
I wince, all too aware of the dark power I feel whenever I’m around Lukas, but Yvan spits out an incredulous laugh. “She’s been wandtested, Mother. She’s a Level One Mage.”
“You can’t be friends with that girl, Yvan,” she insists, her tone urgent, as if this is shaking her to the core.
“I understand your concern—” Yvan starts, trying to reassure her.
“You don’t understand anything!” she cries with startling ferocity, her words cutting into me like a whip. “They are monsters, Yvan! Monsters! They will do anything for power! For control! You have no idea what they’re capable of! You were just a child—”
“She’s not anything like you think she is!”
“How could you bring that vile creature to our home?”
“She’s not a creature! If you knew her—”
“What, you think you know her? You think she can be trusted?” She pauses for a moment, and when she speaks again, her voice is full of fear. “How much have you told her, Yvan? What does she know?”
“Nothing. I’ve told her nothing.”
I’m thrust into a deeper confusion.
“Don’t you have any respect for the memory of your father?” Yvan’s mother rages.
“She didn’t choose the family she was born into!” he vehemently counters. “I thought you, of all people, would look past her appearance and give her a chance.”
“She is Carnissa Gardner’s granddaughter!”
“She cannot help who she is! No more than I can!”
“Even if, by some unlikely freak of nature, she’s not as monstrous as her relatives, her aunt sits on the Mage Council! She can’t stay here, Yvan. I can’t have her in my home!”
“We have nowhere else to stay.”
“You have a place to stay, Yvan. You always have a place here. But not that monster you’ve brought to our home. She will never set foot under this roof.”
“Then we’ll find somewhere else to go.” His voice has grown hard as flint.
“Yvan, send her away,” his mother pleads. “I’m sure she has more than enough money—”
“No, she doesn’t. She works in the kitchens with me.”
Yvan’s mother makes a contemptuous sound. “I find that hard to believe.”
“When have I ever lied to you?”
“Of all the young women you go to University with, you pick Carnissa Gardner’s granddaughter to be your lover—”
Yvan lets out a bitter laugh at this. “Lover? I already told you that’s not the case. And please, tell me, Mother, exactly how am I supposed to have a lover?”
This gives her pause. “Yvan... I never...”
“I’m not a child anymore,” he says firmly. “And you didn’t raise me to be a fool.”
“I can’t have her here, Yvan. You have to understand that. This girl is a danger to us all.”
“Then I’m leaving. Elloren’s waiting for me out there in the cold, and it’s dangerous for her to travel alone.”
“Dangerous, how?”
Yvan hesitates for a long moment before answering. “There’s an Icaral after her.”
“An Icaral.” There’s an edge of bitter sarcasm in her tone. “Well, Yvan,” she says acidly, “I hope that Icaral finds her.”
There’s the sound of furniture being pushed against the floor and footsteps approaching the door.
His mother calls out, “Wait... Yvan!”
I jump back as Yvan emerges from the house and slams the door behind him. His eyes are blazing with anger. He strides quickly toward me and takes my arm, leading me away from the house, back to the stable. He’s walking so fast, it’s almost impossible to keep up with him.
Once we’re in the barn, I watch silently as he unhitches our horse, his jaw and neck rigid with tension, his movements clipped, the horses responding to his uneasy mood by growing restless themselves.
We walk away from the house on foot, Yvan leading the horse beside us.
“What are we going to do?” I ask, growing worried as his home disappears behind us. It’s dark now, and very cold. I have very little money with me and based on what Clive said earlier about Yvan sending most of his income home, I suspect he’s also low on funds. “Where will we stay?”
He doesn’t answer me right away, and I can just make out his jaw ticking as he stares straight ahead. Finally, he stops, brings his free hand to his hip and looks down at the ground in frustration before looking back up at me. “I’m sorry, Elloren.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“I didn’t think...” His words trail off, replaced by a heavy sigh. Yvan motions ahead with his hand. “There’s an inn about a half-hour’s ride east. It’s not the most luxurious place in the world, but we might be able to find lodging there for the night.”