Free Web NovelChapter 348: Chapter 348
In the margins of that book, written in faded ink, had been warnings: malevolent spirits often used glamour to infiltrate homes, disguising themselves as trusted faces before unleashing ruin upon the unsuspecting.
Knowing all she did, Circe should have been afraid. But when she searched within herself, past the caution she always felt around Dena, all she found was surprise and an insistent curiosity. She wanted to know more about this being. About her aunt. Perhaps understanding Dena would bring her closer to understanding her own situation. And if not that, then at least she might glean some fragment of who her mother had truly been before marrying her father and burying pieces of herself beneath secrecy.
For a fleeting moment, it seemed as though she were measuring Circe’s worth, weighing whether she deserved the truth.
"That’s right," Dena said at last, her voice calm. "I have a form that differs from the one you are seeing."
The confirmation only deepened Circe’s curiosity.
"I want to see your true form," Circe said, the words slipping free before she could stop them. Her heart thudded, but her gaze did not waver. "Can you show it to me?"
With the look Dena gave her, Circe half expected to be struck down for her boldness or, at the very least, dismissed once again. But neither happened.
Dena stood perfectly still as the change began. There was no whispered incantation. No flare of visible magic curling from her fingertips as witches were rumored to do. There wouldn’t be because Dena was no witch. She was something other, something that existed between realms, something that wielded dominion over souls just as Circe did.
The shift was subtle at first, like light bending around her form. The air shimmered faintly. Then, in the span of a single breath, she transformed entirely.
Her once-rounded ears elongated into elegant points. Her fingers lengthened, nails hardening into curved claws sharp enough to tear through flesh. Along her neck and arms, a crystalline sheen spread like liquid glass, forming delicate, translucent scales that caught the light and refracted it in faint hues of violet and silver. Her skin appeared almost luminous, as if lit from within, and a soft pale-purple glow radiated from her body, pulsing faintly like a heartbeat.
She was no longer merely beautiful in a human sense. She was otherworldly.
A creature that was ethereal in a way that felt both wondrous and dangerous. The kind of beauty that could inspire either worship or fear.
Circe could only stare.
This was nothing like what she had imagined. She didn’t even know what she was looking at, if she were being honest. The radiance pouring from Dena rendered her momentarily speechless, her thoughts scattering like startled birds. Awe rooted her to the spot.
When she finally found her voice, the question tumbled out unguarded.
"What are you?"
It was not the first time she had asked that very question, yet she had never received a true, definitive answer. When Dena remained silent, offering no explanation, Circe pivoted quickly, desperation edging her tone."Did my mother look like this as well?"
It was more than a simple inquiry.
"Yes," she replied softly. "She did. We are halves of the same soul, after all."
Circe absorbed the words slowly. Through Dena’s watchful gaze, it was clear she could see the turmoil unfolding behind Circe’s eyes, the dawning realization of how much had truly been hidden from her. freewebnσvel.cøm
Circe had always been able to sense blatant lies. But lies by omission were different. And that, she now realized, was what her mother had done for years. Deceiving her by simply withholding the truth. And now Circe was realizing that her mother had a different physical form that she had never seen and would never be able to see now that she was gone. It was a truly saddening thought, one that she would forever have to live with.
She swallowed, pushing the melancholy down as best she could.
"Why do you need the glamour to begin with?" she asked, forcing steadiness into her voice. Her efforts were useless In the end since Dena could still see the sadness that lingered as though it was painted on her face.
"Do you truly believe that if your mother had met your father looking like this, he would have seen past her appearance? That he would not have labeled her a vile monster?" Her glowing gaze hardened slightly. "Your father was a man hostile to anything that did not fit within the narrow mold he deemed acceptable for humans."
The words settled heavily between them, illuminating truths Circe had long known to be true from her father’s hatred for vampires.
For the first time since Circe had known her, there was something almost gentle in her voice, a softness that did not quite fit the sharp angles of her usual demeanor.
"I don’t agree with much of what Thalora chose to do in her life," she admitted, her gaze drifting somewhere distant, as though she were recalling old memories. "But I can acknowledge this, she was right to hide her true form."
Circe’s brows drew together, confusion and frustration tightening her expression.
"Why can’t you tell me what you are?" she demanded, more insistent. "How am I supposed to trust anything you say when you still deliberately keep me in the dark about so many other things?"
The shift in Dena was instantaneous.
The fragile gentleness vanished as though it had never existed. In the span of a single second, her features shifted as she reverted to her previous form, and her lips pressed into a thin, displeased line. Whatever vulnerability that had flickered there moments before was gone, sealed behind a tall wall.
"I never asked for your trust," Dena replied, her voice now stripped of warmth. "We made a bargain. I agreed to teach you about your powers in exchange for your help in reviving my sister. That is the extent of our arrangement." Her eyes locked onto Circe’s. "I will honor that deal. Nothing more."
