The Wizard

Chapter 17

"Love is not seen with the eyes, but with the heart."

William Shakespeare.

Eduarda had long been free from the influence of her tormentor, but she needed to pretend because he was too powerful and dangerous. With patience as her guide, she honed her arcane talents in solitude, clandestinely enhancing her abilities in the manner she was able, drawing upon the scant teachings her betrothed had imparted. She soon unearthed the harrowing truth that Samuel had cast a lethal toxin upon her, one that threatened her very life should she stray too far from his sway-times during which he maintained her neutrality.

It was Igor who undertook the task of instructing her in the mastery of her own physiology, and through his guidance, she effortlessly purged the venom. Yet, she did so with such discretion that not a soul harbored the slightest inkling of her ordeal. When they went to Porto Alegre, Samuel authorized and Eduarda took the opportunity to pick up some of her things at her parents' house, leaving a secret message in the bedroom with the old rune game, using her powers to transform the pieces into the Celtic alphabet, hoping he would have the idea to go there. She had an unrestricted confidence in her groom and knew that he would spare no effort to free her once again, keeping herself patient and always training hard.

The more time passed, the more worried she became because she was sure that something happened to Igor for him not to have appeared yet. Samuel said, once, that he was fighting against his own ghosts of the past and she did not understand, but that meant that something happened to him to take so long. Despite this, she did not lose faith and always trained, feeling that her powers increased every day.

Samuel traveled a lot and infiltrated with all subtlety in organized crime and politics, specializing in corrupting people for his purposes. The more success he achieved in this, the more happiness he showed and the more disgust he aroused in the false wife.

That day, they were in Rio de Janeiro, in a luxurious hotel in Barra da Tijuca neighborhood that faced the sea. He had left for a meeting with a corrupt senator who had been attracting to his business, many of them of a very dubious nature, and she felt very bored because she had been forbidden to go to the street. Since her escape with Igor, the demon took heavy measures and the only place where she could be alone was in her room, because he also did not want anyone to take advantage of the woman.

Locked in the room, she played with her powers performing the most diverse experiments, but even that ended up tiring someone at the end of some time, especially when she felt in captivity, as was her case.

Sad, she remembered her groom and the cabin in the forest of the canyon, when she was free and with the man of her life, the last decent and tasty days she had. She felt a great concern for him, because she was sure that, if something serious had not happened, he would have tried to rescue her. What she feared most was that he was dead, but she tried to avoid thinking about it, although her faith became more and more shaken as the days went by.

The longing was so strong that she tried to imagine every detail of the place, remembering the few days of joy she had when he saved her a few months ago. It was as if she felt in her memory the cool wind of the end of the day and the smell of the forest, while listening to the singing of the birds rhythmically with the rustling of the leaves in the breeze. Along with all this, she imagined Igor by her side, taking care of her with affection while handing her the traditional red rose accompanied by his irresistible smile.

Without apparent explanation, Eduarda began to hear a noise incompatible with the room where she was because it was the noise of birds and wind blowing in the trees of a forest, not to mention the peculiar smell of the bush, as she had been imagining.