The early morning mist hung low over the forest, wrapping the clearing in a ghostly silence. Magnus Greer stood near a worn wooden table, his sharp eyes focused on a map spread across its surface. A fire crackled nearby, casting long, shifting shadows across his strong features and the group of men gathered around him.
Magnus tapped a point on the map, the place of Ronan's tower, and spoke coldly and deliberately: "There she is. The cursed girl. The one they all talk about behind locked doors."
One of the men, a wiry little fellow with a nasty scar across his cheek, shifted uneasily. "You sure it's worth it, boss? Because going after her will bring trouble-Ronan is not someone to mess with, really. "
Magnus's lips curled slowly in a sly smile, and his eyes seemed to glow like gold coins in the firelight. "Ronan is a fool who thinks that power is something you will guard. Real power is something you use-and Selene, she's the kind of power that would change everything."
Another man spoke up, his tone wary. "She won't come with us voluntarily."
Magnus chuckled, a deep, gravelly sound that set the cold creeping through the group. "Permission is not what I'm asking. If she won't come willingly, we'll make her. It is as simple as that. "
He stood upright, a figure of great height, radiating command. "We have our best men keeping watch over Ronan's fortress 24/7. As many angles as possible are to be pieced out alone with her every move to assess the weakness. And when it's just right, we take her. "
"But what if Ronan fights back?" asked the scarred man.
Magnus's smile vanished, his face hardening into stone. "Then Ronan will learn what happens when you get in my way. He can't protect her. Not from me."
The men nodded, their unease clear, but they didn't argue. Magnus's word was law, and they knew better than to question him.
Turning away from the table, Magnus stared into the dark forest, the flickering firelight playing across his face. He imagined the power Selene could bring him, how unstoppable he'd be with her under his control.
Softly, almost to himself, he muttered, "Soon, Selene. You'll understand that you belong to me. And once I have you, no one will dare challenge me again."
***************
Every muscle in Selene's body felt sore but stubbornly would not show weakness under Ronan's piercing gaze.
"Focus, Selene," broke the chilling silence with his cold voice. "If you lose control, you lose everything."
She clenched her teeth as the stinging retort almost escaped her mouth. No, he would not see her frustration. Instead, she tightened her hold on the wooden staff, forcing herself to concentrate further. Anger was simmering beneath, and she drew into that with every swing and strike.
The staff felt like an extension of her own strength; but at each movement, it weighed even more, testing her beyond her limits.
"Again," Ronan said, like his stare, in a cutting voice.
With a firmer grip, Selene swung the staff in a measured requiem. Heat rolled under her skin and the world suddenly slowed. The buzzing of air seemed charged with something invisible even as she struck the dummy with it; brimmed with a force, splinters exploded in flying directions.
Curtain sparing reactions. Wolves stood still: wide-eyed, they turned to her. Ronan, in the heartbeat, jumped to his feet, but lord only knows from that unlighted expression on his face that a lot must be happening in secret.
Selene stared at her hands while her breath came heavily, struggling to subdue what had just happened. The staff lay shattered behind her feet, and her palms felt hot, as if lightning had struck them.
"I-I didn't mean it," she whispered just audibly.
Ronan's icy glare seemed to bore through her, and she thought he was going to shout at her, but he just turned and told Kealen, "Reassign all people their jobs. This is not a performance.
Kealen nodded, barking orders that scattered the onlookers, though their curious glances lingered.All this time, Ronan's gaze had been fixed on Selene, his face a storm of calculation and something she could not quite put her finger on.
"Come with me," he ordered.
Selene wavered a moment, but the steel in his voice clearly did not allow her the least argument. She walked into the fortress after him, and her thoughts raced.
Inside the dim glow of the chamber, Ronan paced like a caged predator. The stone walls seemed to press closer around between them, discarding any surroundings and multiplying the pressure already in the air.
"What is happening to me?" pronounced Selene, interrupting the silence.
Ronan's movement stopped short as his glare ensnared hers. "You are beginning to manifest your powers," he said simply.
"What powers?" she asked with an irritated tone. "I never asked for this!"
"No, but it's who you are," Ronan replied with a cold tone. "The prophecy is not wrong. You are dangerous, and if you can't learn to control it, then you'll destroy everything around you."
Selene's hands balled into fists at her sides. "And that's all you care about, isn't it? My usefulness to you."
Ronan's jaws clamped tight; he simply kept mute.
That night, Selene's restless footsteps echoed softly through the empty hallways of the fortress. Her mind was a whirlwind of confusion and fear, each thought tangled with the last. She couldn't shake the feeling that everything around her was spiraling out of control. As she passed a half-open door, faint murmurs reached her ears, pulling her in against her better judgment.
The sound of her heart hammering in her chest as she strained to hear all set her instinctively freezing into the shadows.
"You saw what happened today," Ronan's voice floated out of the half-closed door, low and taut as though a thread had been pulled too tight. "She's more powerful than we thought."
"Power is not the problem," Kealen's voice followed, edged with caution. "It's:" If she loses that control—"
"She won't," Ronan interrupted sharply, his tone growly. "Because I won't let her."
Then, silence covered the room, so heavy and full of unspoken things. Then Kealen's voice, lower, more reflective, broke the silence: "Why are you, Ronan, so determined to keep her? This... It's not just about the prophecy, is it?"
Selene's breath caught in her throat, feet seemingly frozen into the ground, leaning in closer every nerve alert.
"You don't understand," Ronan's voice softened, almost vulnerable, yet underneath it all was a harshness still lurking just below the surface. "The seer told me not just of her power, but that what follows her is destruction, destruction that can tear everything to shreds if I don't keep her controlled. I cannot be weak. Not again."
Kealen's voice was softer now, filled with a kind of understanding, yet there was a sharp edge to it. "You mean like with your family?"