"I knew it! I knew you were behind this!" Isabella's friend shot a magic missile straight at my face.

The crowd surged forward, hurling fireballs and ice shards at me.

"You should be grateful you even have a wand, you picky wretch!"

"You don't deserve the one Isabella gave you!"

I stumbled back under the barrage of spells and had no choice but to turn and run.

As I ran, Adrian appeared at Isabella's side in a flash of light.

He pulled her into his arms, shielding her from a threat that wasn't there, his cold glare pinning me in place.

In his arms, Isabella hid her triumphant smirk behind a mask of tears.

Remembering the flash of white light on my wrist, I gritted my teeth.

While I was recovering at home, Adrian actually came to my room.

I slapped the potion from his hand.

Vials and pills scattered across the floor.

He gave me a complicated look.

Then he picked up a pill, pinched my jaw, and forced it into my mouth.

He leaned in, his voice a low snarl at my ear. "Swallow it. Or choke on your pride. I don't care which."

Staring into his threatening eyes, I clenched my teeth and swallowed the antidote.

Finally, the uncontrollable words stopped.

He waited a moment longer, making sure I was stable, then turned to leave.

At the door, he paused.

"You have nothing to say to me?" His voice was tight, stretched thin by a pain he refused to show.

He knew. He had to.

We were both ghosts from another life, and I hadn't offered him a single word.

I kept my eyes shut. "No."

He gave me one last, long look before shutting the door.

After that, my reputation in the village was utterly ruined.

People spat my name like a curse.

"Scheming witch."

"Ugly hag."

I disappeared for a while.

Everyone said I couldn't stand living in the village anymore.

But a few months later, I returned.

Under Adrian's care, Isabella was glowing.

She was more beautiful than ever.

When she saw me, she patted my shoulder. "I know you're bitter, but a person has to accept their own shortcomings. You can't have what isn't yours, Eva. Adrian chose me. It's not something I control. And it's not something you can change. Understand?"

I had no time for her games.

I turned my back on her.

The moment our shoulders brushed, Isabella let out a piercing scream.

She collapsed backward, right into the arms of Adrian, who had just entered.

Her eyes immediately reddened. "Eva, I was just trying to welcome you back. Why can't you understand that I'm trying to help you?"

Adrian's brow tightened.

He pulled her behind him. "Evangeline, apologize."

I just scoffed.

His face darkened.

"My choice was mine," he bit out, his voice cracking like ice. "It had nothing to do with her. Stop hiding. Stop tormenting her."

Just as he finished speaking, a horn blast shattered the tension.

A herald from the Church of Holy Light, mounted on a shimmering unicorn, held a scroll aloft.

"A summons for the Lady Evangeline!" the herald's voice boomed, shattering the tension. "For achieving the highest marks in the Paladin trials, you are summoned to an audience with the High Bishop himself! He will name you the first female Initiate Paladin in the history of the Church!"

"A Paladin?" Isabella gasped.

"You? With your pathetic flicker of magic? You passed?"