The Heir Of Ice And Dusk

Where I have the weirdest dream

"Maybe," Edgar said. "I thought it was better not to make friends. Befriend you was a mistake from the start. I've always worked alone, even more so when I found out my powers were dangerous. And I thought you could turn out to be a danger, too."

"I'm not sure I'll take it as a compliment," I said.

"Dangerous like fire," he explained. "Burning too wild, too quick. Passionate, determined, focused. I couldn't stand to be around you while I felt guilty about my life, my powers, everything. Besides, it was not wise."

"Is that why you said you couldn't stand me?"

"I wasn't protecting myself when I said that," his dark blue eyes looked right into mine, sending something that felt like pure electricity all over my body. "I was protecting you. From the hurt. I wanted to take care of this thing alone, and not burden you with more pain."

"Then," he added, smiling slightly. "You called me up. Said you wanted to talk about it. So many things have happened since that day that I don't know if you've realized you've never even mentioned it. But that's okay. It helped me to realize I could not try to avoid you. You'd always come back. I started feeling guilty, and I thought I owed you the truth."

"Wow," I said. "You've never talked that much since I met you."

"Never in my life," he confirmed. "I owed you the truth for too long. I'm sorry I lied about my powers when we first met."

"It was so long ago, and it made sense you didn't want new acquaintances to know..."

"What I had done," Edgar finished darkly.

"So, the vision...?" I asked, to change topic.

Edgar looked at me. I had never seen him look so sad and so defeated. There was tragedy in his eyes.

"The only way I can break the curse," he said gravely. "Is by dying."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "You're not even part of the family. You don't need to sacrifice yourself."

Edgar showed me his hands, as if he was showing me the very source of his powers.

"Maybe I should tell you what I did as a child, in detail. It eventually made me run away from home."

"You ran away from your home... to protect your parents?" I asked in disbelief. It was cruel the hand destiny had dealt me. I was beginning to realize how much Edgar was worth, and he was destined to die.

"You're making it sound honourable," he said. "It wasn't. There simply wasn't another way my father could have loved me and I wasn't sure that I loved him. I was unsure of many things."

"I told you the truth about my childhood," he added. "I never practised healing magic but I was good at mind spells. I was a weird little Enchanter. My father noticed my powers were strange. He was a hybrid, but his powers were more reliable than mine. He didn't have much magic in his veins, though."

"Like my mother," I said.

"He taught me the patience to read all those books about magic. He made no secret that he thought I was somebody else's son, and that he was worried."

"How old were you?"

"Seven. Then, things changed. One day, Brady Doyle was at our house visiting a patient. When he asked me if I wanted to be the one who did the healing, I didn't think much of it. Many families of Enchanters all over the world have weird powers. Take the Evanesco family in Spain. They know how to become invisible since they are born. They don't have to learn black magic to do it. And it is said that people in the Ember family... can bring people back from the dead."