20. Violet

20

VIOLET

The hallway seems endless as we leave Thorne's room, bustling with activity that passes me by. My mind is still churning with thoughts of the entity in the library. Flint and Caine flank me like protective guards, but for once, their presence isn't entirely comforting. After seeing that thing again, I'm not sure anything can make me feel truly safe. Not in my soul where I know it can see all my deep, dark secrets.

"You okay, baby girl?" Flint asks, his voice low.

"Yeah," I lie, forcing a smile. "These last few weeks have been a riot. I'm still trying to catch up and just be me, you know?"

"Yeah."

I don't think he does know, though. He has always been a Snow Dragon. Now, if he were suddenly human, it would be a different story.

In this maudlin silence, that I know is worrying the guys, but I can't seem to help, we stop off at the dining hall for to-go sustenance and then move on to the main building for lectures.

When we're halfway to the halls, a familiar voice calls out behind us.

"Violet!" Amara's soft tone makes me turn. "Just the person I need to see."

I turn to find her striding towards us. There's an intensity in her eyes that makes me nervous.

"Actually, we were just—" Caine starts, but Amara cuts him off with a wave of her hand.

"Lectures can wait. Professor Blackthorne has given me carte blanche with Violet's time."

I exchange glances with Flint and Caine, eyebrows raised. They both look reluctant to leave me, but despite her brusqueness, we all know Amara's right. I need to understand these powers better, especially after what just happened in the library.

"Go on," I tell them. "I'll catch up later."

Flint squeezes my hand before they leave, and I follow Amara down a different corridor, sipping my blood as we go. She leads me to an empty room whose walls are lined with ancient tapestries depicting scenes of magickal battles. More than interested, I examine the tapestries, feeling a rush of excitement wash over me as I take in the scenes.

"Sit," she commands, gesturing to a chair. Turning from the tapestries, I sit, and she perches on the edge of the teacher's desk, studying me with those piercing eyes. "Something's happened. "

It's not a question. I shift uncomfortably under her gaze. "What do you mean?"

"Your aura is disturbed. Like ripples in a pond after someone's thrown in a stone." She leans forward. "Tell me."

I don't want to reveal that we entered a secret chamber underneath the library, nor anything that happened down there. If the staff find out, we will be stopped from trying to access it again. However, I can use this opportunity to learn more about Morgan, perhaps.

"I'm starting to believe that I am the true heir," I venture, watching for her reaction. She appears to be pleased with that news, so I continue. "But I'm ashamed to admit, I don't know anything about Morgan le Fay. Can you tell me things about her?"

Amara's lips curve into a small, knowing smile. "Oh, I'm so glad you asked!" she says, clapping her hand delightedly. "And I'm so glad to hear that you are coming around to realising your true potential, Violet. Morgan le Fay wasn't always the powerful sorceress of legend. She started as a young girl with powers she didn't understand, seeing things others couldn't see. Her family thought she was mad, or attention-seeking."

My throat feels dry when I hear that.

Amara stands and assumes teaching mode, fixing me with that penetrating stare that unnerves me. "Morgan was born with a gift - or a curse, depending on who you ask. She could see beyond the veil between worlds and could perceive things others couldn't. But more than that, she had the power to affect both realms."

" Both realms?"

"The physical world and what some call the spirit world, though that's an oversimplification. Morgan understood that there isn't really a separation - it's all one reality, just different aspects of it. Most people can only perceive and interact with one aspect. Morgan could work with all of them through the veil."

"The veil." I've heard Flint use this term before to represent the clingfilm, which leads me to think about the entity in the library, how it seemed to exist in both realms at once, or was it me? Or both? "Are you saying I should be able to do this?"

"Yes." Amara's voice softens. "She was feared for it. People didn't understand her powers, didn't want to understand them. They called her a witch, a demon, a threat."

"Just like everyone here thinks I'm dangerous."

"People, creatures, fear what they don't understand. It has been that way since the dawn of time, and it will continue to be the case until the world breathes its last. You are not the problem, dear girl. They are. Morgan turned that fear into power," Amara continues. "She learned to control her abilities, to harness them. She became one of the most powerful practitioners of magick ever known, not despite her differences, but because of them. "

"What else could she do?" I ask, leaning forward in my chair. "What was she capable of?"

Amara's eyes take on a distant look, as if seeing through time itself. "Morgan's powers were vast and varied. She could command the elements, bend reality to her will, heal or harm with a thought. But her true strength lay in her ability to see the connections between things - between worlds, between people, between past and present."

I hesitate but then say, "Like how I sometimes get flashes of something. Memories that aren't mine, feelings that seem to come from somewhere else?"

"Exactly." Amara nods approvingly. "Morgan had that same gift. She could tap into the memories of places, of objects. She could see the threads of fate that bind all things together."

Threads of fate. I think about the ancient book in the library and how familiar yet foreign it had felt under my fingers.

"Morgan's blood runs in your veins, Violet. Her power, her gifts - they're part of who you are. Just as she could see what others couldn't, so can you."

"But she wasn't a vampire," I point out. "How does that affect things?"

"No, she wasn't. But she was something else entirely - a bridge between worlds. Your vampire nature actually complements her powers in many ways. Vampires exist in a space between life and death, between physical and spiritual. It makes you an even more perfect vessel for her abilities. "

I stand up suddenly, needing to move. "This is a lot of pressure."

"Where is the pressure, Violet? No one is asking you to do anything that you aren't ready for. Know that Morgan faced similar challenges," Amara says softly. "She wasn't born knowing how to control her powers either. She had to learn, to practise, to fail and try again, and she had to face entities far more dangerous than you can imagine, to survive."

I gulp as I think of the thing underground. "What kind of entities?"

"Beings of shadow and ancient power. Some tried to destroy her, others tried to use her for their own purposes. Many feared her potential, just as they fear yours now."

A chill runs down my spine as I remember the entity's words: Morgan's knowledge belongs to us now.

"How did she deal with them?"

"She learned to understand them. To see them not just as threats, but as part of the greater tapestry of power she was meant to work with." Amara stands, moving to one of the tapestries on the wall. "Look at this."

I approach the ancient fabric. The scene shows a woman—Morgan le Fay—standing in a circle of light, surrounded by shadowy figures. But unlike the terror-filled scenes I'd expect, she seems to be conducting them, directing their power rather than fighting it.

"She learned to work with the shadows?" I ask, disbelieving .

"She learned to master them," Amara corrects. "To understand that darkness and light are both necessary, both powerful. It wasn't about good versus evil, but about balance and control."

"But the Order of the Shadow's Descent..."

"Is trying to corrupt that balance, to tip it towards chaos." Amara's voice hardens. "They've twisted Morgan's teachings, perverted her understanding of the shadow realm. That's why you're so important, Violet. You have the potential to restore the balance she maintained."

I stare at the tapestry, at Morgan's serene face as she conducts her symphony of shadow and light. "How? I can barely control my vampire abilities, let alone these powers."

"That's why we're here. Morgan didn't learn alone, and neither will you. But first, you need to accept who and what you are. All of it—vampire, witch, heir to Morgan's legacy. Stop fighting your nature and start embracing it."

"And if I can't?"

"You can. You must. Morgan faced the same doubts, the same fears. But she understood something crucial. Power isn't good or evil. It's how we use it that matters."

I think about the ghost in the library and how it had known me since childhood. How it has been watching, waiting for me to come into my power.

"Was Morgan afraid?" I ask suddenly. "Of her powers, of what she could do? "

Amara's expression softens. "Of course she was. Fear is natural when facing something so vast, so unknown. But she didn't let the fear control her. She used it, learned from it, grew stronger because of it."

Just like I'll have to do. Whether I like it or not, this is who I am. Morgan's heir, a bridge between worlds, a wielder of powers I'm only beginning to understand.

Amara smiles, and for a moment, I see something ancient and knowing in her eyes. "The path won't be easy. Morgan's power comes with a price, with responsibilities you're only beginning to understand."

"I'm ready," I say, and I'm surprised to find I mean it. After seeing that entity, after feeling the power in the library, I know I can't run from this anymore. Just like Morgan, I have to face what I am and what I can become.

"Then let's begin," Amara says, raising her hands. The air around us begins to shimmer with power. "Show me what you see when you look beyond the veil."

I close my eyes and reach for that other sight. Even though I've never actively done this before, I know it exists within me. It has to, or I wouldn't have heard the forest when no one else could or see the ghost. The fear is still there, but it's different now. It's not a paralysing terror, but a healthy respect for the power I'm learning to control.

Morgan faced these same challenges and walked this same path, and if she could master her powers and learn to work with both light and shadow, then so can I .

I am her heir. I believe that now, and to be completely fair, it's time I started acting like it.