The Ancient Magus' Bride: Shadow Bride, Moonlit Promise
She has no magic. No family. No place to belong. But when the "beloved child of night" arrives at Glendower College, Lucy Webster's cursed gift—her strange, unwanted perception—may be the only thing standing between Chise and the darkness closing in around her.
Lucy Webster has spent eight years surviving. Surviving the massacre that took her family. Surviving the whispers that call her cursed. Surviving as an auditor at a college of magic where she's tolerated at best—and hated at worst. With
The Ancient Magus' Bride: Shadow Bride, Moonlit Promise - Confrontation in the Moonlight Grass Forest — The Night the Mask Comes Off
The air in the antiquarian archives felt far heavier than it had the day before.
Lucy Webster tucked her shoulder-length black hair behind one ear and spread a thick stack of newspapers across the desk. Her bangs fell into her eyes. She brushed them aside with her fingers and lowered her deep brown gaze to the pages.
(Chise has been avoiding me since that night.)
Something tightened in her chest, a dull, squeezing ache.
Ever since she'd witnessed Finn and Chise holding hands in the night garden, Chise hadn't been able to meet Lucy's eyes. If they passed in the corridor, if they crossed paths in the dining hall, Chise would flinch and turn away—as if Lucy's very presence stirred up some buried pain.
(I hurt her.)
She'd only wanted to warn her. Only wanted to tell her how dangerous Finn was.
But in Chise's eyes, Lucy's words had looked like nothing more than an attack—a cruel smear against the man she trusted.
Lucy turned a page. The smell of old paper pricked at her nose. Dust motes drifted lazily through the slanting afternoon light.
—Twelve years ago.
A record of an epidemic of unknown origin that had swept through the village near the academy. Many villagers had died. The mortality rate among young women had been especially high.
Lucy traced the article with her fingertip.
"Lady Cecilia Ashford, betrothed of a distant branch of the Earnsworth family, deceased."
A small headline in the obituary column. Lucy's finger stopped.
Cecilia.
(This is the woman Finn—)
The article stated only that Cecilia had lost her life to the epidemic, and that her betrothed had been consumed by grief. No photograph. Just a name, a date, and a few short lines.
Lucy reached for the old lending ledger that sat beside the stack of newspapers. The checkout records for the forbidden-texts section of the antiquarian archives. She opened the thick, leather-bound volume.
Her fingertips trembled.
(Who borrowed the forbidden texts twelve years ago?)
She turned the pages. Turned. Turned.
And then her hand stopped.
"Finn Earnsworth."
His name was there.
The book he'd borrowed was a forbidden text on the resurrection of souls. The return date was exactly one month after Cecilia's obituary had run.
Lucy's vision swam.
(So it's true.)
(Finn is trying to bring Cecilia back.)
(And for that, he needs Chise's power.)
Her throat went dry. Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth.
Twelve years ago, Finn had lost the woman he loved. And now, at the end of all that grief, he meant to use Chise as a vessel.
(Behind that gentle smile, twelve years of madness were hiding.)
Lucy closed the ledger.
Her fingertips had gone cold.
"Webster."
A voice came from behind her, sudden and sharp.
Lucy's shoulders jerked. She looked up.
The old sorcerer Olson Pendragon stood directly behind her. Librarian of the Tower of Silence. His white hair was combed back, and he wore small, round spectacles. He was staring intently at the ledger in Lucy's hands.
"Lending records for the forbidden texts are not to be removed from this room."
"Ah—I'm sorry."
Lucy hurriedly returned the ledger to its place. Her fingers fumbled. The book nearly toppled off the edge of the desk.
Olson caught it without a word.
"Your return deadline is today. Don't forget the materials you've borrowed, either."
"Y-yes."
Lucy gave a small nod.
Olson said nothing more. He vanished into the depths of the stacks.
Lucy let out a long breath.
(My heart is pounding.)
She pressed a hand to her chest. Her heart hammered against the inside of her ribs.
(Calm down. Calm down, Lucy.)
(Nothing is over yet.)
She gathered up the newspapers and the ledger, then left the antiquarian archives behind.
The moment she stepped into the corridor, a flash of red hair caught the edge of her vision.
Chise.
Lucy's feet stopped.
Chise was walking toward her from the far end of the hall, a few books cradled in her arms. She lifted her face—and their eyes met.
—Just for an instant.
Chise's expression went rigid.
Then she wrenched her gaze away.
Something inside Lucy's chest cracked, loud enough to hear.
(Ah. Of course.)
(She's avoiding me.)
But this time, Lucy wasn't going to let her escape.
She stepped forward, planting herself in Chise's path.
"Chise. Wait."
Chise stopped. But she wouldn't look at Lucy's face. The red-haired girl pressed the books against her chest and stared at the floor.
"We need to talk."
Lucy's voice came out thinner than she'd expected—so faint it surprised even her.
Chise said nothing.
Silence fell over the corridor.
Somewhere far off, students were laughing.
"...You know, Lucy, sometimes you're kind of scary."
It was a small voice.
Lucy's breath stopped.
Chise went on, still without lifting her head.
"The way you talk about Finn. The way you've been digging into my power without asking. ...It feels like you're deciding everything for me, somewhere I can't see."
"Th-that's not—I was only—"
"I'm sorry. Right now, I just... I want to be alone for a bit."
And with that, Chise walked past her.
Her footsteps receded.
Lucy stood frozen in place.
(Scary, huh.)
(I was scaring her.)
She'd meant it as a warning. She'd meant to protect her.
But to Chise, Lucy's words had been a blade.
Lucy put a hand against the wall.
The cold stone leached the warmth from her fingertips.
(Even so.)
(I can't stop digging.)
(Because if I stop—Chise will really—)
Lucy bit her lip.
The taste of iron spread through her mouth.
—After school.
Lucy stood at the entrance to the Earnsworth forest that spread out behind the academy.
The sky was covered in thick clouds. Wind threaded through the trees, rustling the leaves. From deep in the woods drifted the smell of damp earth and rotting leaves.
(I'll follow the traces of Finn's magic.)
Lucy closed her eyes.
Her sensing ability read the magic flowing through the forest like a map.
When she was twelve, she'd seen the flow of magic running through the veins of the moonlit grass in the night garden. Since that day, Lucy had been able to see a map of magical currents.
(That way.)
Finn's magic. A thick, stagnant residue laced with the stench of death, trailing deeper into the forest.
Lucy stepped forward.
Dead leaves crunched underfoot.
The forest at night was a different creature from the forest by day. The shadows of the trees seemed to writhe. The wind whispered at her ear.
Lucy focused her sensing ability.
The traces of Finn's magic led toward an old ritual site.
—The place blocked by that barrier.
She must have walked fifteen minutes or so.
Lucy stopped.
Before her stood an old stone building. Moss-covered walls. A half-collapsed roof. At the entrance, an iron door, rusted and ajar.
(The barrier—)
Lucy examined the entire structure with her sensing ability.
(It's weakened.)
The last time she'd come, the barrier had been strong enough to numb her fingertips. But now its power had clearly faded.
Lucy approached the iron door.
She reached out.
—Snap.
A light jolt of pain ran from her fingertips to her wrist.
But it wasn't as bad as before.
Lucy gritted her teeth and pushed the door.
Giiiii...
The sound of rusted iron echoed through the forest.
The door swung open.
Lucy stepped inside.
Cool air wrapped around her skin.
The interior was dim. The ceiling was high, and old candelabras lined the walls. On the floor, some kind of magic circle had been drawn in black ink.
(So this is the ritual site.)
Her sensing ability sounded an alarm.
(Finn's magic is thick here.)
(And there's another magic, too.)
(Chise's magic.)
Lucy's heart hammered.
"Well, hello there, Lucy."
A voice.
Lucy spun around as if she'd been struck.
Finn Earnsworth stood there.
His long silver hair was tied back in a single tail, and his jade-green eyes were narrowed. From the crown of his head curved a pair of gently sweeping goat horns. An old scar crossed his left cheek. His white gloves were always on.
Finn wore a serene smile.
"Coming to a place like this all alone. That's dangerous, you know."
Lucy took a step back.
Her back hit the cold stone wall.
"What are you doing here?"
Her voice shook.
Finn approached her slowly.
"'What am I doing,' you ask. This is my family's land. I suppose you could call it a stroll."
"Liar. You're trying to make Chise into a vessel."
Lucy shouted it.
Finn's feet stopped.
His jade eyes narrowed to slits.
"A vessel?"
He tilted his head.
"No, that's not it at all. She's no vessel."
Finn took another step toward her. Then another.
"She's a key. A precious key—one that will bring Cecilia back."
A chill ran down Lucy's spine.
(A key.)
(Chise is a key to him.)
Finn's smile deepened.
"Your sensing ability really is a nuisance. That night, you saw something at the bottom of my magic, didn't you?"
Lucy didn't answer.
She couldn't.
Finn had come to a stop right in front of her.
Close enough to touch, if he reached out.
"But it's a shame, really. Chise believes my words over yours."
Lucy's chest throbbed.
"Whatever you say, whatever you do—it's useless. Chise is in the palm of my hand. She can't escape now."
"Chise doesn't belong to you!"
Lucy shouted.
Tears blurred her vision.
"Chise isn't your tool! And she's not a replacement for this Cecilia of yours, either!"
Finn laughed.
"A replacement? No. She could never be a replacement. Cecilia was so much more... warm, and soft—"
His jade eyes gazed off into the distance.
"Chise is just a key. A consumable, to call that girl back."
The blood drained from Lucy's body.
(A consumable.)
(Chise is a consumable to him.)
"Don't you dare!"
Lucy glared at him.
"Chise is alive! She's not a tool for your dead lover!"
Finn let out a soft breath.
"There's nothing you can do. You're just an auditor. A sorcerer's apprentice. You don't have the power to defy me."
Finn turned his back on her.
"The ritual is soon. Don't interfere. Otherwise, your precious Chise will suffer for it."
He walked toward the back of the ritual site.
Lucy could only watch him go.
Her legs wouldn't move.
Her fingertips trembled.
(I can't do anything.)
(I can't do a single thing.)
Tears rolled down her cheeks.
—And then.
"Hey."
The undergrowth rustled.
Lucy gasped and turned.
Short copper-red hair, shaved close on the left in an asymmetrical cut. Amber eyes. A piercing in her right eyebrow. A black leather band around her left wrist.
Alice Swayne emerged from the bushes.
A candy rolled around in her mouth.
"You okay? Your face is white as a sheet."
Lucy tensed.
(This girl is working with Finn's plan.)
(Why is she here?)
Alice snorted at Lucy's wariness.
"I'm not with that horned bastard. ...Well, technically, I was about to be."
Alice glanced toward where Finn had gone.
"...A vessel, huh."
Her voice dropped.
"Calling Chise a key, a consumable. What the hell does he think people are?"
Anger flickered in her amber eyes.
Lucy was confused.
(She's angry?)
(She's worried about Chise?)
Alice turned to face her.
"You really gonna protect Chise?"
Lucy's words caught in her throat for a moment.
But then she nodded.
She wiped her tears and looked Alice straight in the eye.
"I will. I'll protect her, no matter what."
Her voice was shaking.
But she didn't look away.
Alice stared at her for a long moment.
Then, unexpectedly, she smiled.
"Tch. Fine."
She clicked her tongue.
"I'm not siding with anyone. Not Finn, not you."
She crunched the candy between her teeth.
"But if you're serious—I won't get in your way."
Lucy's eyes went wide.
"Huh...?"
Alice turned her back.
"See ya. Don't push yourself too hard."
And with that, Alice disappeared into the depths of the forest.
Lucy watched her go.
(She won't get in my way.)
(Her.)
(When I thought she was the enemy.)
Something small and warm kindled in Lucy's chest.
(Maybe I'm not alone after all.)
Lucy looked up at the sky.
Through a gap in the thick clouds, the moon showed its white face.
—The next morning.
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