Elara's POV
Rain started falling as I sat on the sidewalk.
Of course it did.
My fancy ceremony dress—the one Vivienne had spent hours preparing—was already dirty from being dragged across the floor. Now it was getting soaked. I didn't care. I couldn't feel anything except the emptiness inside me.
Ash pressed closer, trying to shield me with his body. His fur was getting wet too.
"Miss Elara?"
I looked up. Our elderly gardener, Marcus, stood at the estate gates holding an umbrella. His kind face was twisted with concern.
"You should go," I said quietly. "They'll punish you for talking to me."
"Let them try." He crouched down, holding the umbrella over me. "I've worked for this family for forty years. Watched you grow up since you were a baby. And I know—I know—you didn't do what they said."
Tears burned my eyes. "Thank you."
"Here." He pressed something into my hand. A small leather pouch. "It's not much. My savings. Should get you a room for a few weeks."
"Marcus, I can't—"
"You can and you will." His voice was firm. "Your mother would haunt me if I let you sleep in the streets."
My mother. Who died when I was twelve. Who never got to see what her husband would become.
"Did she know?" I whispered. "Did Mother know Father was like this?"
Marcus's silence was answer enough.
Before I could ask more, the estate doors burst open. Guards marched out, and my stomach dropped when I saw who led them.
Caspian. With Vivienne hanging on his arm like a prize.
"Still here, Elara?" Caspian called out, his voice dripping with fake concern. "I thought you'd have crawled away by now."
Ash's growl rumbled through his whole body.
"Easy," I whispered, gripping his fur. "Not yet."
Caspian strutted closer, Vivienne giggling beside him. Behind them, more people emerged from the estate—former friends, magical nobles, everyone who'd watched them destroy me.
"I want to make sure everyone understands what happened tonight," Caspian announced loudly. "Elara Thornwood attempted to steal her family's ancient power using forbidden blood magic. We had no choice but to intervene."
"Liar!" The word exploded from me before I could stop it. I struggled to my feet, Ash supporting me. "You planned this! You and Vivienne—you stole my magic!"
Several people in the crowd shifted uncomfortably.
"Listen to her," Vivienne said with mock sadness. "The dark magic has affected her mind. She actually believes her own lies."
"I have proof!" Caspian held up a small vial of dark liquid. "This was found in her chambers. Forbidden ingredients for a ritual that would have killed her entire family."
My mouth fell open. "That's not mine! I've never seen that before!"
"Of course you'd deny it," Father's cold voice cut through the rain. He stood in the doorway, looking down at me like I was trash. "But the evidence is clear. The Council has been notified. You're lucky we stopped you before you hurt anyone."
"The Council?" My voice came out small and scared.
"They've already issued your exile," Father continued. "You are forbidden from entering any magical territory. You cannot attend Arcanum Academy. You cannot contact magical families. You are cut off completely."
Each word was a knife.
"But where will I go?" I asked. "How will I—"
"That's no longer my problem." Father turned his back. "You are not my daughter."
Something inside me broke that was different from the magic. Something that could never be fixed.
Marcus squeezed my shoulder once, then hurried away before the guards could target him.
"Come on, love," Vivienne purred to Caspian. "Let's go back to the party. I'm sure everyone's eager to celebrate our engagement."
Wait. What?
"Your engagement?" I stared at them. "But Caspian, you were engaged to me!"
Caspian laughed. "Was I? I don't recall that. Do you, darling?" He kissed Vivienne's hand.
She beamed at him, then looked at me with pure venom. "Sorry, sister. But some of us know how to keep a man."
They swept back inside. The crowd followed, whispering and pointing at me. Within minutes, the street was empty except for me, Ash, and my small pile of belongings.
I sank back down to the wet ground. "They planned everything. Every single thing."
Ash whined and licked my face.
"I have nothing," I said to him. "No magic. No family. No home. What am I supposed to do?"
He bumped his head against my shoulder. In our bond—now so thin and fragile—I felt his emotions clearly. You have me. You'll always have me.
"I know." I buried my face in his fur. "You're all I have left."
We sat there until the rain stopped. Then I gathered my things—a few clothes, some jewelry I could sell, Marcus's pouch of coins. Everything I owned fit in one small bag.
"Okay." I took a shaky breath. "We'll find somewhere to stay. Figure out what to do. We'll survive this."
But as we walked away from the Thornwood estate, I felt eyes watching us. I turned and saw a shadow move in an upper window. Too big to be human. Too still to be normal.
And in that moment, something whispered in my mind—a voice that wasn't mine or Ash's.
They didn't take your magic, little witch. They locked it away. And the only key...
The voice faded.
I stopped walking. "Ash, did you hear that?"
He tilted his head, confused.
"Never mind." I shook my head. Maybe I was going crazy. Maybe the trauma had broken something in my brain.
But two blocks later, we passed an alley, and I saw them.
Three figures in dark cloaks, watching us. When I made eye contact, they didn't look away. They smiled.
And their eyes glowed red.
"Run," I whispered to Ash.
What?
"RUN!"
We bolted down the street. Behind us, I heard footsteps. Fast footsteps. Getting closer.
"Help!" I screamed, but the street was empty. Everyone was either at the party or hiding from the rain.
We rounded a corner into a dead-end alley.
No. No, no, no.
The three figures appeared at the alley entrance, blocking our escape. They moved forward slowly, like cats playing with mice.
"Elara Thornwood," one of them said, his voice rough and wrong. "We've been waiting for you."
Ash positioned himself in front of me, teeth bared.
"Who are you?" I demanded, trying to sound brave. "What do you want?"
The middle figure pulled back his hood. His face was human but wrong—too pale, veins too dark, eyes burning like coals.
"We want what was promised to us," he said. "Your father made a deal twenty-three years ago. A daughter's power in exchange for his position on the Council."
My blood ran cold. "What?"
"The debt is due." He smiled, showing pointed teeth. "And you, little witch, are payment."
They lunged forward.
Ash leaped to meet them, snarling and snapping. But without my magic strengthening our bond, he was just a large wolf against three demons.
One of them grabbed me, his hand like ice against my arm.
"No!" I fought, kicking and screaming. "Ash! ASH!"
My familiar howled—a sound of pure rage and desperation.
And then something impossible happened.
The thin golden thread of our bond—the one I thought was broken—suddenly blazed with light. Not my magic. Something else. Something that came from Ash himself.
He stopped being just a wolf.
Shadow exploded from his body. His form shifted, grew, changed. The demons stumbled back, hissing.
"Impossible," one breathed. "A familiar can't—"
Ash's howl cut him off. But it wasn't a wolf's howl anymore.
It was almost human.
And in that moment before everything went dark, before my exhausted body finally gave out, I saw something that my brain couldn't process.
I saw Ash standing on two legs.
I saw him reaching for me with hands instead of paws.
I saw him becoming something no familiar had been in a thousand years.
I saw him becoming human.
Then the world went black, and I fell into nothing, thinking:
This changes everything.