A shadow moved near the doorway, and I froze, spine stiffening.
“How are you feeling?” Rene’s voice was a soothing balm to my wrecked soul.
Tears pricked my eyes at her calming presence. I shrugged, not at all trusting my voice.
Rene stepped fully into the room, closing the heavy door behind her with a soft click. She crossed the space without hurry, her bare feet silent on the worn wooden floor. Her long robes whispered around her ankles as she moved.
“I heard what happened,” she said gently, placing a hand on the back of a nearby chair. “And I wanted to check on you.”
I blinked hard, refusing to let the tears fall. “I’m fine,” I lied.
Rene arched a brow, her gaze drifting to the open books, the scattered notes, and the dark circles under my eyes. “You look like you haven’t slept.”
“I didn’t.”
She didn’t press. She just eased into the seat across from me and folded her hands in her lap. “You’re angry.”
“I’m everything,” I whispered. “Angry. Hurt. Betrayed. Embarrassed. I trusted them. I let myself believe I finally belonged somewhere.”
Rene tilted her head. “You do.”
A bitter laugh escaped me. “Do I? Because it seems like everyone knew more about me than I did. They signed me away like I was a bargain deal. Gave me to a man who didn’t even want me until it served his purpose. And I thought…” I trailed off,shaking my head. “I thought maybe something real was forming between us.”
She nodded slowly. “Maybe it still is.”
My eyes snapped to hers. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Obviously, she was siding with her son— which wasn’t surprising. “After what he said? After what he hid?”
“Love,”Rene said softly, “is not always born in truth. Sometimes it’s forged through the fire of our failures.”
I chewedon my bottom lip. “I don’t think he wants me here after all of this is over with.”
Rene leaned forward and held her hand out to me. I hesitated before I finally placed my palm in hers. I knew she could read me, but I didn’t care what she would find. Not now. What else was there to hide? I was pretty sure she’d known my secret since the beginning anyway.
“Magic is such a funny thing,” she whispered as she looked down at our joined hands. “You have it in you, even if you can’t feel it.”
I blinked.
“What do you mean?” I asked, my voice barely above a breath.
She looked up at me, eyes glowing with the kind of knowing only a mother, or maybe a witch, could possess. “Magic doesn’t always look the way we expect it to. Some power is loud—flames and lightning and spells shouted into the wind. But some…” Her voice softened even further. “Some is quiet. Subtle. Rooted in intention and in the soul.”
My brow furrowed. “I don’t cast. I’ve tried. Nothing happens.”
“Have you ever stopped trying and just listened?” Rene asked. “Not forced it. Not feared it. Just… let yourself be?”
“I’ve been told since I was a child that I was nothing. That I had nothing.”
“Then they were wrong.” Her hand squeezed mine gently. “I’ve felt your energy since the day you arrived. It hums around you like a song waiting to be sung. Null, Maple?No.You’ve been suppressed. Caged. You are not powerless.”
My throat tightened. “But Rune—he said—he was expecting something when we weretogether. When it didn’t happen…” I shrugged. How did I even explain this? Especially to his mother?
Rene’s lips twitched, not quite a smile but something knowing. “Because he doesn’t understand yet. Men, even magical ones, often mistake performance for power.” She released my hand and tapped the center of my chest. “What lives here? That’s where the magic truly is. And it’s stronger than you know.”
A quiet beat passed between us. My heart thundered with so many emotions I couldn’t separate them anymore.
“I don’t know what happens next,” I admitted.
“You listen to your heart, you pore over your notes, and you will find what you have been looking for all along.”
