In reality, her life has not always been so seamless.

Born an abandoned, to the horror of her parents, Evie was forced to hide her abilities from a young age. Her twin Samuel was born an accepted, and it was clear that the twins' parents hoped Evie would somehow grow out of it. When she didn't, she was forced to learn creative ways to hide her abilities. That was where her interest in herbology and toxicology came from. Her healing magic and budding earth magic lent itself well to these arts, and Evie's parents were able to brush off their daughter's magic as merely being learned skills.

Too concerned with her own struggles, Evie hardly saw (read: was willfully ignorant of) her parent's treatment of her twin. This ignorance grew into a judgmental dislike, for while Evie was forced to be better, Samuel seemed perfectly content to just limbo below the bar of mediocrity. Even when he was forced into becoming an ascended, still Evie viewed Samuel's actions as a slight against everything she'd ever worked for. He'd been born normal, and then had been given the gift of ascendacy, while she was forced to hide who she was. Sam was made more powerful, and yet still appeared weak in her eyes, and after all that Evie had to do to stay worthy in the eyes of their parents, she took his lack of initiative personally, and what was merely a rift between two incompatible siblings grew into something deeper.

And while a part of Evie longed for her twin, the disappointment she saw in her parent's eyes at the mere mention of him was enough to keep her far, far away. She knew what their cruelty was like, and she'd worked too hard to risk their wrath for a brother she knew hardly anything about anymore.

Other