Ember of Hope
Chapter 72

The light slowly faded and both of them rushed to her unconscious form.

“What do you think happened to her?” Raegan felt a tug at her heart but ignored it, “Do you think she’s pretending?”

Valiance checked her pulse. “I don’t think so. I think we should call mother. She’d know what’s happened to her”. Valiance got up and sent a guard to fetch his mother immediately. She looked at Katherine’s unconscious form lying there and just kept looking. Maybe she was trying to replace resemblance. Or maybe the answers to so many questions she wasn’t sure she’d ever voice in front of the woman.

Tamara came into the room and Valiance followed at her heals. “She probably burned out for some reason”.

“Burned out?” Raegan asked.

“It happens when you exert yourself too much. Or sometimes when you practice after a very long while after going without; the burnout occurs much earlier than usual”. Tamara sat down next to them and didn’t hesitate before placing her hands on Katherine’s core. Her hands started glowing slightly as she pressed them into Katherine. A minute or so went by and she got up from her kneeling position. “She’ll be alright. She just needed a little refill and I gave her enough”. Valiance picked a still unconscious Katherine and laid her on her bed. They were still talking in hushed voices when Katherine moaned and opened her eyes. She slowly sat up and rubbed her temples. All three of them just stood there; looking at her – All at a loss at what to do next.

When Katherine found them looking at her she probably remembered what had happened. “I didn’t realize I was so close to a burn out. It’s never happened to me in ages. Almost forgot what it felt like”, then she thanked Tamara for her help.

“I’m a healer. It was my duty.” Tamara replied flatly.

“As was I… once”. Katherine mumbled with bitterness. “Raegan, you have more power than me. I didn’t realize what you had when you were born. I think your power has been growing all this time. Usually witches are born with whatever they’ll have the rest of their lives but in some rare cases; their power can keep growing” she explained. “But what you have… I’ve never seen anything like it before. It’s too much raw energy. I wasn’t able to unlock all of it before burning out. We’ll do that some other time. But you should be very careful and start learning to control it as soon as possible”. She kept talking. “Tamara you need to see what you’ll be dealing with. It’s just too much”.

“What happens if I can’t control it?” Raegan asked.

“I don’t want to scare you but… anything can happen really. It can be dangerous for those around you. I should’ve stopped sooner but I couldn’t. It was like your power latched onto mine and took what it needed to get free. As I said, I haven’t seen anything like it before”.

“So in short I’m a freak. Great”. Raegan’s lips pursed.

“No, don’t think like that. It can truly be a gift if you learn to control it. Just know that it’s yours to command and not the other way around”.

“Well, this was enlightening. But thanks for your help”. Raegan turned around and stormed out of the room but not before getting a look at Katherine’s expression which told her she wanted to stop her. And she didn’t want to analyze it any further. She had new demons to fight.

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The excitement of the last few days had been dampened by Katherine’s new revelation about Raegan. They had sat every one down and recapped all Katherine had told them about her magic. Tamara kept assuring her that she’d teach her everything she knows but still Raegan was afraid… afraid of hurting others as Katherine had warned. Her father seemed worried but he tried to put on a brave face for her sake. Valiance, Damien and Sarah kept trying to cheer her up but she couldn’t expel the fear out of her heart.

What if she lost control? What if she hurt someone? What if she lost someone? Would it have been better to let her magic stay bound as Katherine had suggested? Should she ask her to bind it again? Thought bombarded her in every waking moment and nightmares were a constant companion at nights. But still the thought of getting her powers bound once again was unsettling. It made her nauseous to even think about it? What kind of a freak was she? What was she to do now?

As soon as she woke up every day, she sought out Tamara and they spent hours either sequestered in a room or out in the woods; away from anyone who could get hurt. Valiance had tried to accompany her a few times but she never even let him finish his request before shooting it down. She was not going to put her damn mate in danger. She’d snapped at him the day before and though she regretted it she wasn’t willing to change her decision to not let him near her during her sessions with Tamara.

She was learning the art of witch healing. It was very different from what the actual healers could do but it helped focus her energy which felt like a live wire inside of her. But she was thankful for the outlet she had now. Tamara tried to make her exert her energy as much as possible so that the chances of it doing any harm could lessen. Raegan loved Tamara for not sugar coating things for her as others tried to do to ease her worries. No, she took her teaching seriously and warned her about everything that could go wrong in any way. And after a few days Raegan thought she was actually becoming better at control.

So it came as a shock when one night while kissing her mate she shot him to the other end of the room when she let her emotions get the better of her. He collided with the wall so hard he left a crack in his wake. He shook his head as if to clear out of the daze the impact had caused. Valiance tried to assure her that he was fine but she wasn’t listening. All she could see was his body flying through the air and colliding with the wall. She looked down at her hands that were still tingling with the aftereffects of her power. Valiance slowly approached her but she shook her head, “Don’t come near me. Stay where you are”. Her voice was shaky.

Valiance tried to say something but she beat him to it, “I mean it Val. Stay there. I’m going out for a bit”.

“Raegan I’m not letting you go out there alone at this hour and in this state of mind. I’ll stay back; I promise, but at least let me come with you please”.

“Don’t you dare come after me Valiance D’evreux.” She snapped before storming out of the room with tears streaming down her face. She could feel him through their bond… his hurt for her. And she felt devastated at the way she’d snapped at him after almost putting him through a wall. She clenched her fists so hard that her nails pierced her skin; making her palms bleed. The sting didn’t even register as painful in face of the pain her own mind was inflicting on her.

She wanted to scream at the world. She never seemed to get any break. One thing after another bad thing kept happening to her like she was the one cursed. She was walking fast without a destination in mind. After a while she reached the edge of the woods where Valiance used to wait for her to take her to a new place almost every day. Those days were simple. She didn’t know what was in store for her but she didn’t have her mate by her side. A mate without whom she couldn’t survive anymore. A mate whom she’d almost killed and then yelled at just minutes ago. She kicked the trunk of a tree and yelped as pain shot up her fingers. She wasn’t even wearing shoes and she was just now noticing.

She started taking off her clothes and hung them on the nearest tree. Then she focused on summoning her dragon forth and fortunately it didn’t take long for her to shift. For a minute she just reveled in the change. Tilting her face up to the sky; she closed her eyes and let the breeze do its magic. Her senses in human form had improved tenfold but this… this was beyond exceptional. She could hear even the littlest of animals scurrying through the woods. A sudden urge to chase them filled her heart. As if her gigantic ass could fit through those trees. Needing to fly; she took off on a run and spread her wings wide. She’d learned that running gave her the boost to launch into the air much easier than pushing at the ground with her legs.

Her flight had improved over the days but it was still a work in progress. She wanted to fly far away from the people she loved so that she wouldn’t ever have a way of harming them. But she couldn’t… she couldn’t leave them behind… not a single one of them… Valiance, Sarah, Damien, her father, Val’s parents, Nina, and Fenrys… even grumpy Gen. Roth. So she’d learn to control her magic and she’d do it soon. But till then she had to distance herself from everyone. She’d talk to Tamara… tell her what she’d done… Tamara would understand and help her. But tonight she’d allow herself to be miserable alone.

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