Sweet Ambrosia (Pure Magic Book Three)

Chapter Eleven

I followed him outside and into the evening air. He sat down at the table and put his head in his hands.

I sat beside him. “Hey.”

He didn’t look up. “Hey.”

“Don’t stress this. It’s not going to happen overnight. And you need to know, you have nothing to prove.”

“I have everything to prove.” He spoke quietly, his voice almost a whisper.

“No you don’t,” I reassured him. “Marco, I think we all believe you. Especially after today.”

He simply sighed. We were silent for a little while until I finally spoke up.

“So, you’re quite powerful and educated in spells. You were next in line for the sage role?”

“Yes,” he leaned forward and looked at the floor. “But, I screwed it up. As usual.”

“What happened?”

“Morgyn didn’t tell you?” He looked at me. “I know he brought it up when I was demanding our reentry into the realm.”

“I’m sure there’s more to the story than that.” I smiled slightly, further trying to reassure him.

He sighed again. “I had started learning dark magic on my own time. I knew I shouldn’t, but I did it anyway. I got cocky, much like I was when Damien and I came back. Another student challenged me to a duel. When I lost, I got angry. I used black magic on him. I still didn’t really know what I was doing and the spell failed. So I resorted to hitting him.” He balled his hand up into a fist. “I immediately regretted it, and not because I was caught. I felt stupid for letting anger and cockiness get to me. An investigation showed that Damien and I both knew dark magic. We were banished by Morgyn, since he was the most powerful sage. This made my anger worse. I envied him. He was younger than me and held the highest position of power in the realm. I thought ‘why isn’t that me? Am I not good enough?’ And so, my anger and jealousy grew. Being banished and away from the place I loved just made it worse, and Morgyn became the target of my rage.”

“So you went back.”

“Yes, finally,” he nodded. “I can conjure visions. Like this.” He held out his hands and summoned what looked like a white screen. Within it, an image of Morgyn talking to Jewel appeared. “It’s like a video recording I guess. This is happening right now, inside. I always did this, obsessively, every day to see what was going on in the realm. When they added you as a new sage, something within me snapped. I was angry that you all came out of the dragon war practically unscathed. I….it was Damien’s idea to create a war. We conjured magic to make the dragons rebel. We caused that war. It was our plan to weaken all of you to take control of the realm. Morgyn dying wasn’t part of the plan, so I was happy when he was revived. I wanted him to see me take control. I wanted him to feel the pain I felt. The anger, the jealousy. All of it.” He stopped and put his head down. “God.” His voice broke. “I regret so much. I just want to go back and change it.”

“Marco.” I stood up. “Follow me.”

He lifted his head. “What?” He stood up.

I didn’t say anything, but hugged him tightly. “That’s over now. I can’t speak for everyone, but I can say I forgive you. Okay?”

He nodded.

We pulled away and he laughed a little. “And maybe one day, miss therapist, I could tell you about my childhood.”

I grinned. “I’ll be waiting.”

We laughed and stepped back into the apartment.

Morgyn greeted us. He and Jewel were working on a project together. I watched as Marco headed over to the bookshelf to grab a spellbook. He went back outside to read it.