Not only that, but once a tracker touched someone and determined their magical abilities, they could trace that individual anywhere; some debated it could be anywhenas well. If Yesenia had no powers, as she'd been told her entire adult life, Helena's touch a moment ago would mean nothing.
However, Yesenia's doubts about her lack of magic and how she'd suddenly ended up in the past made her question the declaration of being defective at eighteen. This female, though, could confirm or deny her lack of magic definitively. Because a tracker could no more ignore identifying a fae witch's power than a vampire could stop drinking blood.
Mustering up her courage, she blurted, "Do I have any magical abilities then?"
Helena studied her with searching eyes. "You truly don't know, do you?"
Even without the low-humming compulsion to answer the female, Yesenia didn't miss a beat. "No. I was told I was deficient, that some genetic abnormality meant I would never have powers although I could, theoretically, still pass on magical traits to my children."
That was the only reason Derek Yates back home had wanted her.
Helena shrugged. "Whomever told you that is full of rubbish. You have powerful magic, Yesenia. So much so, I'm not sure I want to tell you what it is just yet."
Her heart raced. It was hard not to instantly believe Helena, but after a decade of people avoiding and shunning her simply because she didn't possess magical abilities, Yesenia needed concrete details. "So let me take my best guess: Is it something like being able to wield time?"
The fae witch female smiled. "So youdoknow what ability you possess, after all. Without it, you wouldn't be here, I'd hazard to guess."
She vaguely heard Nora gasp, but Yesenia couldn't hear anything but the pounding of her heart and the words "time-wielder" repeated inside her head.
She wasn't defective, some female to be pitied for being born an abnormality. No, she was the opposite of that. Time-wielders were some of the most powerful of all fae witches, not to mention extremely rare.
And all these years, everyone had been wrong, oh so wrong, about her.
Memories she'd long ago buried rushed forth:
Shortly after discoveringshe had no magic, her boyfriend broke up with her and said, "You should go live with the humans. You may be a freak to them, but at least they can stand dirtying their cocks with your defective pussy."
Her best friend pulling her aside for what was to be their last ever lunch together. "Sorry, Yesenia. My father won't let me see you anymore. It's stupid, but he thinks your lack of magic is contagious. And I can't defy him, I just can't."
And even the magical college that had accepted her had soon sent a letter saying, "There are no courses or degrees you can complete here. We've reversed our decision and you're no longer admitted here."
And all thathad happened because of some inept assessor panel. It'd turned her life from just bearable enough, given her shitty father and enforced separation from her mother's family in Mexico, to free-falling darkness.
It'd taken her years to accept the loneliness, the stares, the whispers she heard everywhere she'd gone.
And all of that had been because of a fucking lie.
Anger boiled inside her, churning her stomach. She'd lost essentially ten years of her life for no reason at all.
And then the utter sadness and grief at losing those ten years because of a lie weighed her down like a heavy pile of stones.
Her eyes heated and she was this close to breaking down and sobbing in front of strangers. And if she did that, she wouldn't be able to get what she desperately needed now—information and maybe a promise of training.
At the reminder she had magic, and how shewasa real fae witch after all, she managed to blink away the emotions in her eyes.
Taking a few deep breaths to clear the lingering emotion choking her throat, she focused on the only positive she could think of from it all: at least her father hadn't been able to profit off her ability.
Then more of her reality set in, beyond the pain of her past. Yesenia had been thrown back to 1890, supposedly byher own power. But why? If she was going to escape marrying Derek and try to find a way to save her brother and sister, wouldn't she have taken them all to the past?
And if her wish back in Boston, to find her own happy ending, had been honored, she sure as hell wouldn't have taken the choice away by delivering her to Leo as his bride.
Unless fate knows something you don't.
No, that couldn't be true. Yes, the stories about time-wielders had given them a reputation for matchmaking, but surely she'd do a better job of it for herself. She'd always wanted a quiet life, one of companionship and love, with mornings spent in bed with some hot sex and vacations spent lounging in the sun.
Her dream hadn't included fighting a constant battle with a vampire full of himself, who seemed to delight in pushing her every button.
But regardless of Leo and what she'd do about him, hope blossomed in her chest for the first time since waking up in this strange place.