The Dragon Kings' Forbidden Witch

She had never fully allowed herself to see her magic like this, had never permitted herself to marvel at it, to understand it, to accept it as part of who she was. But here, alone in her chamber, with no one to see, no one to judge, no one to fear what she might be capable of doing ...here, she could simply look at the fire and acknowledge its beauty.

And as she watched the fire dance, her smile began to fade.

The realization crashed over her with the weight of a physical force: she had been so caught up in the trial, in the kings’ attention, in her new status as a ward, that she had neglected something crucial.

She had not visited Atheris in days.

The ancient dragon, who had been her companion since childhood, who had taught her magic, who had protected her and guided her, she had missed her usual visting time to his cave.

What was he thinking? Was he wondering where she was? Was he concerned about her?

Or...and this thought brought a bitter smile, was he being sarcastically amused by all of this? Knowing Atheris as she did, the dragon was probably finding the entire situation utterly entertaining.

Morgana’s smile faded entirely as another realization struck her.

When things calmed down, when she had time, she needed to visit him. She needed to tell him what had happened, needed to hear his ancient wisdom, needed to understand what all of this meant.

But how?

The thought sat like a stone in her chest. She was the ward of the kings now. People noticed her. People followed her. People watched her every move, assessed her every decision. She could not simply disappear into the night and make her way to the mountain cave where Atheris waited.

Or could she?

The memory of the invisibility spell surfaced in her mind like a forgotten treasure suddenly remembered.

Atheris had taught it to her weeks ago, but she had not used since that day and had almost forgotten its existence. The spell was complex, demanding concentration and intention. But if she could master it, if she could truly become invisible, then she could move through the palace unseen. She could visit her mother without being caught. She could see Atheris without anyone knowing.

Morgana closed her eyes and focused on the spell.

She felt the threads of magic within her, felt the power that existed in her blood and her bones and the very core of her being. She reached for those threads, gathered them, and directed them with intention and will.

When she opened her eyes, she looked down at her hands.

They were translucent.

She could see through them, could see the bed beneath them, could see the pale outline of her flesh but nothing more solid. She pulled the covers over her legs and found that they too became translucent, ghostly, barely there.

Morgana stood slowly and moved to the mirror.

She expected to see her reflection. Instead, she saw only the room behind where she stood. The reflection was gone. There was no evidence of her presence at all.

She raised her hand to her face, looking at the empty space in the mirror where her reflection should have been. Still nothing. She was completely invisible, completely hidden, completely absent from the world of sight.

A smile spread across her face, visible only if someone were standing in front of her, and even then, only as the faintest shimmer of expression.

She could do this.

She could move through the palace unseen.

She could visit her mother without being caught.

She could see Atheris without anyone knowing.

She could...

Her thought stopped abruptly as another realization struck her.

She could visit the ancient dragons in the Sanctum.

The pull toward them had never fully faded. Even now, knowing that they were heavily guarded, knowing that visiting them would be dangerous, knowing that the last disturbance in the Sanctum had nearly destroyed the entire wing of the palace, she still felt the pull. The connection was there, undeniable, magnetic.

There was something about them that called to her, that demanded her presence, that insisted on connection in a way that defied logic or caution.

But visiting them now would be foolish. The dragons were unstable, dangerous, closely guarded. The risk of discovery was enormous. And if she were discovered there, if it were known that she had the power to move unseen through the palace and had used that power to approach the ancient dragons, the consequences could be catastrophic.

No, she decided. Not now. She would speak to Atheris about it, would ask the ancient dragon’s counsel about whether approaching the palace dragons was wise. For now, the knowledge that she could do it was enough.

She closed her eyes and willed herself back to visibility.

The translucence faded slowly, like the breaking of a spell. Her hands became solid again. Her legs became opaque. Her reflection gradually returned to the mirror.... tired, thoughtful, marked by everything she had endured.

She moved back to the window seat and sat there, staring out at the palace grounds below, her mind spiraling through the possibilities and the dangers and the questions that had no answers.

***

How long she sat there, Morgana could not have said.

Time became strange when her mind was trapped in spiraling thought. Minutes could feel like hours. Hours could pass like minutes. The sun moved across the sky in its slow arc, creating long shadows that gradually shifted as the morning turned toward midday.

She sat at the window and thought about all the ways her life had changed in such a short time.

She thought about who she was beneath all the changes, if there was still a girl under the ward’s status and the fine dress and the magic in her blood.

She thought about what it meant to be special, to be chosen, to be the center of attention for forces that were far larger and far more powerful than herself.

The knock at the door pulled her from the spiral of her thoughts.

It was sharp, purposeful, and somehow both welcome and unwelcome at the same time.