Defensive Magic

WINTER TERM - February 1st

Aries didn’t want to talk about the prophecy and there was a full moon coming. More than that, it was a lunar event with a name - the Grand Illumination. All three moons would be full. Marblebrook had mentioned it at the last new moon coven meeting. It was a notable night for large-scale rituals. There would be a ritual I’d be missing out on. But well, doesn’t change the fact that it’s still a full moon. I’d still be a werewolf.

And that was the other thing… the whole beast of the situation. The thing with Aries— the prophecy— I’d decided a few things. First, I wasn’t dumping him. It was selfish, yeah. It probably would have been the right thing to do. But gods help me. The thought of letting him go again hurt like a knife to the heart. I’d tried it already. It didn’t take. I couldn’t do that again.

The next thing, I was going to need more wolfsbane. All those months ago, I’d nearly shifted into a wolf in the middle of the Sanctum. I’d growled at Aries, prepared to lunge. I’d felt guilty before, but now it was more than that— stupid, dangerous, far too close to something unforgivable. It didn’t matter if shifting sucked worse than usual. It didn’t matter if the potion tasted like rot. If it made Aries even marginally safer, it was worth it. I could quietly poison myself on wolfsbane for all I cared, so long as it meant he never crossed paths with my wolf.

Lastly, he was doomed. The prophecy wasn’t new. It was a decade old and no one even connected it to Aries until a few years ago. I learned through Marblebrook that sometimes things were less set in stone than they seemed. But with Aries? No, this always happened. The future changed but this part of it never did.

I love him. He might not know that. Probably doesn’t. And it’s cosmically unfair that he’s meant to die, probably by my own hand.

Fate really is cruel like that sometimes.

Anyway, I’m getting this out now. Best have it off my chest. The full moon was still days away. Aries was annoyed, but physically fine. I had this moment, so I was taking it.

So, that’s where I was: I showed up at Aries’s door. With a rose. In my best coat.

The rose might have been overkill. It wasoverkill. I’d never given anyone flowers before. Not even Ianthe. They’d been expensive in Caburh. Too hard to grow. Too little sun. But here, there were flower shops, vendors with carts, bushes on the roadside. This one I’d bought for a few copper pieces. A yellow rose. It made me think of sunlight. Made me think of him.

I told the vendor I was planning a date and she tried to take it back— apparently yellow is the wrong color. It meant “friendship” or “I like you but not in that way.” But I hadn’t known that. I could bet money that Aries didn’t know that either. I was going with the yellow one.

When he got the door, Aries was squinting, a little disheveled. There was a smudge of ink on his cheek. I’d caught him mid-studying, mid-nap. And all I could think was, good, you’re not busy.