No Witch Way Out (Maeren Series Book 2)

by Mercedes Jade

  There had been something about the peaceful solitude that drew her, a few moments of silence, with only her own thoughts.

  To a child never alone in her thoughts that solitude was blessed.

  “Balance is my strength,” Victoria was insisting as Elizabeth started paying attention to the conversation once more.

  Victoria was using magic to form a ball of water and another of green fire, one in each hand, as she followed behind Kim without gawking.

  When you had a castle for your residence, then the simple grandeur of Kim’s home might be overlooked.

  It would take an incredible amount of precision to hold two such opposing powers, equally, at the same time. Elizabeth was a little envious of the other witch’s control.

  Kim must have been impressed, as well, because she stopped and turned around to see Victoria’s display.

  Or not.

  “Hold onto your magic and stop wasting it. You’re going to need every bit of your power, if a royal dragon has got his fangs into you,” Kim said, holding up her hands, palms-out, so they could all see the glyphs she'd painted on them.

  Those were new.

  Kim grabbed Victoria’s hands, without shielding, putting out the fire like wet fingers pinching a match. The ball of water took a few seconds longer, turning into a fine cloud of mist, like from an ultrasonic humidifier.

  “Come along,” Kim said, turning back around to lead them.

  “What was that?” Jill asked in an awed tone.

  “Magic, clearly, Glinda,” Elizabeth replied. As if she had all of the answers. She wasn’t supposed to be cheating by peeking into Kim’s mind.

  “I thought Kim was nearly soulless and it was a piece of air that our mother shared?” Jill said, although it sounded as if she was questioning it.

  “Same page as you. No idea how but I hope we’re about to learn,” Elizabeth replied, just as mystified..

  Kim had never used magic around them before, only taught it to them.

  She had shown Elizabeth the glyphs she needed for the portal tracking spell and helped her trace the symbols over and over.

  She described how to let a trickle of fire magic warm Jill’s skin, so any fire lord her student tried to convince to taste her wouldn’t be able to resist.

  She had even deciphered texts on advanced Maerenian potions for their mother to prepare, in anticipation of their eventual exit from the castle.

  It probably would be best to keep from Victoria that last bit, the knowledge of Kim’s indirect involvement in poisoning her.

  Still, the sudden magic show was highly unusual, even if it might seem mundane to Victoria.

  Elizabeth got chills thinking of the last spell Kim had taught her, along with the magic-imbued ink Kim had created specifically for her to use to warn of imminent, life-threatening danger.

  It had been no simple trick.

  Had their mother told Kim the red warning spell had activated at court before they escaped?

  The dojo they entered was neat, swept daily, and the floors polished by junior trainees, after practice.

  Although the wooden planks were aged with use from the many students that attended the martial arts classes, they felt nicer under Elizabeth’s feet than the perfectly laid planks at the fancy practice room at the castle.

  The floors gave a little, squeaked in a way that set Jill at ease in her thoughts, familiar with every spot that gave a bit and those that held firmer.

  “Jill, come help me with the floor,” Kim said, bending down at the far corner of the room to lift the false-bottomed rectangle of flooring that covered that corner.

  This was the area of the dojo that Elizabeth knew best.

  The spelling circle had been drawn with chalk so many times that the white dust was permanently ground into the cement, hidden underneath the floor.

  This circle was smaller than the grand one at the castle, which Victoria had mentioned. This one was only about three feet in diameter, but it was meant for use by one or two witches at the most.

  Smaller circles concentrated the power and were easier to hold and use than larger circles, per Kim’s teaching.

  Elizabeth had never seen this circle set because the glyphs Kim had made her memorize hadn’t been activated in practice, except for the warning spell, and for that one, no barrier was needed.

  Victoria looked ready to jump right in and start spelling, but one arched brow from Kim paused her.

  “Draw the protection glyphs here, first,” Kim said, handing Victoria a standard pencil and pad from the spelling supplies.

  The chalk and other school supplies blended in with Kim’s role as a teacher, even if it did seem a bit strange in the dojo.

  The chalkboard she had on the wall could be used to plan martial arts lessons, at least.

  It only took a few seconds for Victoria to draw three glyphs.

  Elizabeth recognized the symbol for blood, with two dots under an upside-down sickle moon, but the circle surrounding all of it and half triangle were new to her.

  The other two glyphs had elements of both fire and water, which made sense, given Victoria’s magic.

  Kim took the pad and made some quick modifications. She drew a circle around the dots in the first glyph and left out the sickle moon. She modified the glyph with the fire symbol to also represent air magic.

  “You need to remember your bond to Elizabeth. If you forget her in your protection, then you leave an opening for the dragon to slip in, if he is clever,” Kim counselled. “A blooded Lasier will remain tied by the chi to her bonded witch, until her service is completed.”

  “How could the dragon use his connection?” Jill asked, coming closer to peer at the glyphs Victoria had sketched.

  Jill had a greater grasp of Maerenian, glyphs, and spell work, because she needed them for the earth potions used in healing.

  “Every connection must go through your defences to join one to another,” Kim said, answering Jill. “Think of the connection as a straw between Victoria and Elizabeth. It can suck up the power on either side. The same can be said of any contamination or malicious magic. No matter how good your shield, the straw provides an opening, if one knows where to look.”

  It made the Lasier bond sound like a huge weakness, although the power sharing might offset that disadvantage.

  Perhaps that was how the claims worked, which were done in a fairly similar way, by forming a bond.

  The male elemental’s magic could be sucked by the claim tattoo, spelled with magic ink onto the witch’s skin, and this could be what provided the protection to the witch when it was triggered.

  Victoria quickly sketched another glyph and then repeated the modified glyphs to Kim’s satisfaction.

  She kept the pad and accepted the chalk handed to her by Kim.

  “Let’s do this,” Victoria said.

  Elizabeth looked up from the glyphs she was studying on the sketchpad in surprise.

  “Me?”

  “Do you know any other witches blood bonded to a dangerous male, whom she would rather avoid tracking her down?” Victoria queried.

  This was not a conversation that she wanted to have in front of Daemon’s mother or her own mother.

  In fact, she would really prefer not to discuss it at all.

  Too bad keeping her silence wasn’t going to stop Daemon from coming after her. It also wouldn’t keep Geer out of her head.

  Time to come clean.

  “I haven’t been honest with all of you,” Elizabeth started.

  “Is this what you wanted to talk about before we came over?” her mother asked, sounding a touch guilty. “Has Daemon used his claim to track you?”

  “What claim?” Kim asked, her tone rising in pitch.

  Drat. Elizabeth couldn’t clam up now. Time to confess everything!

  “It wasn’t Daemon,” Elizabeth answered at the same time.

  “She has more than one claim, Kaila?” Kim asked, giving Elizabeth a more thorough look over.

  O
h, Maeren. She had stuck her foot in her mouth now.

  “No, I do not have more than one claim. Daemon’s claim is plenty. It’s still on my shoulder, even though we’ve been out of Maeren for a week,” Elizabeth said.

  She didn’t miss the relief in Kim’s shoulders as the other witch dropped some of the tension from them and relaxed.

  Of course, Daemon’s mother would support his claim.

  “What is it you wanted to tell us, then?” her mother prompted.

  “I picked up my own dragon ‘suitor’ from our trip to the caves. He’s been with me since we left the castle. He can see and hear what I do, when he’s in my head. It’s the same for me, whenever he drops in, although I can’t control the connection. It isn’t part of my magic,” she explained, leaving off the part about her lightning.

  Kim didn’t know about her more shocking powers yet.

  Maybe she wasn’t going to be confessing everything today.

  “You were having dragon nightmares after being bitten and you didn’t think it was important to tell anyone sooner?” Victoria asked.

  Elizabeth looked over to her. “No, this only happens when I’m awake. It’s like I’m hallucinating. I was going to tell all of you, soon. I just didn’t want to add this worry on top of everything else that has happened, when it seemed harmless enough. Dragos is far away.”

  “Flaming dick on a stick,” Kim muttered.

  Everyone turned to her. Elizabeth’s mouth might have dropped open in shock at hearing the former queen swear like a raunchy earth soldier.

  “You will both get in the circle and place new protections against dragons, while I explain to Kaila exactly what all of this means. This isn’t some simple spell or blood bond, you realize?” Kim asked, looking pointedly at Victoria.

  “Yes, I understand,” Victoria replied.

  “Fine,” Elizabeth said with a good deal less grace then she should have used.

  She was angry at the dragons and their tricks, almost stealing Victoria from under her nose, but mostly she was disappointed in herself. She had left them all vulnerable to attack by keeping secrets.

  Elizabeth stepped into the circle. It felt very different with Victoria standing there with her, as if the space had somehow shrunk.

  Even thought they were in the human realm, she could suddenly feel the power in the air, waiting for someone to tap into its potential.

  The circle seemed to hum as if begging for Victoria to set it.

  “Get naked,” Victoria told her, stripping off her top. She was braless. The pants went next.

  There wasn’t even alcohol involved.

  “Uh, wait a minute,” Elizabeth said. She looked over to the other witches for help.

  “The glyphs go on skin,” Kim said. “Closer to your centre chi is better.”

  The tiny cloud blob tattoo with its jagged bolt flashed at Elizabeth from Victoria’s shoulder.

  Elizabeth hadn’t exactly shown her mother the claiming tattoo she had on a quarter of her body yet. Witches may not be a modest lot, but this was going to be worse than revealing a tramp stamp.

  Victoria’s tattoo was minuscule.

  Elizabeth’s tattoo screamed a whole lot of trouble.

  Please let her mother not freak out.

  Victoria had folded her clothes and placed them outside of the circle. Elizabeth copied her, reluctantly pulling off her underwear.

  She had lived amongst humans too long to not feel her nakedness.

  The room was really quiet.

  “Wait,” her mother called, before Victoria could set the circle.

  Damn.

  “Is that the claiming mark from Daemon?” her mother asked, stepping closer.

  Kim gasped as Elizabeth turned on the spot.

  She let them see how it carried over her shoulder and danced along her scapula. May as well get this over with, so she could get the glyphs done and then dress to hide the evidence of her indiscretion.

  “That boy is reckless,” Kim said. “What is he thinking, dividing his power like that?”

  This time Victoria’s jaw was the one to drop when Kim referred to Daemon as ‘that boy.’

  Seemed the informal princess could be surprised, although she had no idea Kim had every right to call her son whatever she wanted.

  “What do you mean dividing his power?” Jill asked.

  “He put his familiar on Elizabeth’s shoulder,” Kim said.

  He did what?

  The dragon tattooed on Elizabeth had the mythological look of a magical creature, but the ink was unmoving. Daemon’s familiar definitely didn’t belong, sleeping on Elizabeth’s skin.

  Victoria backed away, staring at Elizabeth like she was wearing a devil on her shoulder and not a simple tattoo.

  A sense of foreboding crept up Elizabeth’s back. She had known there was something wrong with such a big claiming tattoo.

  Was the dragon going to tear from her skin and burn her up for crimes against the first prince?

  It was bad enough that the shifter was in her head. She didn’t need any more dragons.

  “How is that possible?” Victoria asked. She was scared and it made her sound younger.

  “A familiar?” Her mother spoke with curious wonder.

  It wasn’t surprising that her mother was unaware of familiars. Elizabeth and Jill hadn’t heard of them before court, and even then, it seemed like something the nobility kept secret.

  Only the more powerful magic could pull familiars into reality.

  “A familiar is a magical construct that is formed from the soul. Daemon has a dragon,” Victoria explained.

  It seemed to ground Victoria by teaching something. She stepped closer to Elizabeth, again, and reached out, not quite touching the dragon’s ink, but she studied it.

  This wasn’t the first time Elizabeth had shown Victoria her tattoo, so that meant even the princess had been unaware that a familiar could be stored on someone else’s skin.

  That also probably meant Victoria wouldn’t be able to tell her how to get it off, either.

  “Prince Daemon placed a part of his soul upon Elizabeth’s shoulder with his claim?” her mother clarified.

  Mom was freaking. The pitch of her voice was perilously close to a screech near the end of her question.

  “It’s just a claiming tattoo. There have been no dragons manifested,” Elizabeth said to reassure her.

  Yet.

  A dragon made of pure lightning? No wonder Victoria had backed away.

  Everyone knew Daemon carried out executions using a bolt of lightning, straight to the chest.

  Was it actually his familiar killing the doomed criminals?

  “That is not just a claim,” Kim said. “Get into the circle and have your glyphs done!” she ordered. “We’ll talk afterward.”

  Victoria eyed her dragon. “Let’s do you first.”

  Great. Her case was direr.

  Victoria circled with water, sipping it from her gourd that she had left on her pile of clothes.

  Earth users usually carried a little container of dirt or dust with them as well, reliant on an element that might not always be near them.

  Air and fire had the benefit of the necessary element being around—all of the time in the first case, and coming directly from the chi, in the latter.

  The worried thoughts of Kim cut off as Victoria set the circle.

  Elizabeth would have blocked them soon, anyway, determined not to snoop on the witch that had helped them so selflessly.

  Whatever conversation her mother had with Kim, when they first came back from Maeren, clearly had not covered everything.

  Kim was probably going to have questions about the claim and her son, once Victoria got their warding fixed. It promised to be an uncomfortable conversation.

  “Are you ready?” Victoria asked, ignorant of Elizabeth’s inner turmoil.

  “Yeah, let’s get this over with,” Elizabeth replied.

  No point, delaying the inevitable.

&n
bsp; Victoria drew the glyphs on the floor with chalk. “Put your hands on this one, first,” she directed, pointing to the glyph with the symbol for blood.

  Elizabeth kneeled and carefully put her hands, palm down, on the chalked glyph, careful not to smudge the lines.

  Victoria put her hands on top of Elizabeth’s hands, and they burned with power. She must have used fire to set the glyphs.

  Lyrical Maerenian poured out of Victoria’s mouth, similar to when she had called her green tiger familiar to fight George.

  Elizabeth didn’t know if she could repeat it.

  The tiny fluctuations in Victoria’s voice sent power flowing down their joined hands and into the chalk.

  Victoria sang to the magic over and over like a chorus, and the third time a wave of power travelled from their hands, hitting the water barrier with a visible ripple.

  Her chest burned. Elizabeth looked down and saw a glyph appear on her flesh in a reddened area, like a sunburn done with a stencil. It smarted like a sunburn, too.

  The dragon’s mouth was open on Daemon’s tattoo, looking as if it was going to take a bite out of her first protective glyph.

  When the glyph appeared on her body, Victoria shifted her hand to touch three fingers to it, as if setting it in place.

  They repeated the process twice more, the other glyphs going to her back, by the dragon’s tail, for fire that would substitute for her lightning, and another one by her ribs, for her air.

  Victoria quickly repeated the process herself for her own protection glyphs. The last one seemed to take a lot out of her. The water barrier made an ominous cracking sound as the power wave hit it.

  Slapping her hands down beside the circle barrier, Victoria quickly absorbed her magic back into the gourd and dropped the circle before it fractured.

  “Well done,” Kim said. She handed Victoria her clothes first.

  “It will at least keep my soul grounded,” Victoria said with a shrug.

  She expended high-level magic like some people did a hundred push-ups every morning. There was no sense of superiority in her voice.

  Elizabeth accepted her clothes from her mother. She wanted the tattoo covered up as soon as possible.

  “So, will this block the dragon as well as Daemon from using their blood bonds to track me? How often does it need to be renewed? Can I get it wet or does it wash off?” Elizabeth asked, thinking of the warning glyphs, with magic ink, that Kim had taught to her.