The Poisonous Rose

Chapter Seventeen

      By the time Lucas finished, he was almost crying again. Forsythia's pulse seemed to have nearly faded. He stood up from the chair he sat in and kissed her forehead. A tear from his eye escaped and fell onto her face. He laid the hand that he still held onto her chest and turned away from her, unable to look at her lifeless form any longer.

He thought he heard some sort of twinkling sound, but he chose to ignore it. His fear had come true. If he cared about anyone else, they would die too. He couldn't take the pain. He sat back down in his chair, burying his face in his hands.

What happened next, he wasn't prepared for. He felt a new presence in the room and looked up. A woman with golden hair and brown eyes stood before him, wearing a white gown with long flowy sleeves. Her eyes were so familiar. He couldn't remember why. His eyes widened as another person appeared. It was a man with red hair and gray eyes, which were also familiar. Lucas couldn't place where he'd seen those eyes before.

"You did it," the woman said in a soft voice. She had an English accent. "I'm so sorry for everything I did. I wasn't in control of it. Even from the start." Her brown eyes looked down, away from his face.

The man nodded in agreement. "We both are deeply sorry for everything we did. We couldn't control our actions. There were forces bigger than anything we ever could have thought up against us. Is there any way you could ever forgive us?"

Lucas didn't know what they were talking about. He didn't even know who these people were. "Um . . ." was all he managed to say. He stared at them, a scowl on his face. "Who are you?"

The woman looked up at him and frowned. "You don't recognize us?" Lucas shook his head. She seemed a little hesitant to say anything at first. She looked over at the man.

Lucas didn't even know how these people got in here. Unless they had magic, there was no way this was possible. He watched as a silent conversation passed between the two.

"My name is Orla, and this is Archer," the woman said. Lucas's eyes widened and he took a few steps back, not believing them. "I know you won't believe us. We apologize deeply. We don't look like the evil sorcerers we were. You have to realize, our powers were taken advantage of. We trusted someone we shouldn't have."

Lucas stared at them, still not quite believing it. That's when he remembered where the eyes were from. Orla had always had dark brown eyes. Archer had gray eyes. "No way," Lucas muttered. He just couldn't believe it. "If you were under some spell, why are you suddenly back to being who you were before?"

"You did it," Orla said simply. She looked over at Forsythia and some kind of emotion passed across her face. Lucas didn't know what it was. She went over to the side of the bed and pushed a piece of Forsythia's hair behind her ear.

"Leave her alone," Lucas said angrily, clenching his fists. Orla turned to look at him with a sad look in her eyes.

"I wouldn't expect you to understand. I know this will sound like I'm making things up, but Forsythia . . . she's my daughter. I'm the woman who left her and her father the day after she was born. I was the witch. I didn't want to, trust me I didn't. But the dark forces working against me made it so I had to leave, and become the Dark Witch."

For some reason unknown to Lucas, he believed her. It was the way she said it, and the way she looked at Forsythia with such gentleness in her eyes.

"If you have magic, then tell me how to fix her. She was pricked by one of the black thorns. Tell me how I can save her," Lucas begged her. There was a look in Orla's eyes that made Lucas furrow his brow. "What is it?"

"I already told you. You did it. You broke the curse. Forsythia will be fine in time. For now, she only sleeps."