Emerald Mountains (The Dream Traveler Series Book 2)

by Nicole Knight

  Axel shared that he did have a conversation with his mother about that, and after many tears, she confirmed he did have magic. As far as she knew, he could move objects around, but that’s all she discovered before she purchased the potion to block his magic. She feared that Eduard would have him killed if he found out.

  Instead, the potion worked too well and made him immune to magic, and instead, he became a collectible Eduard had to have.

  Violet, Axel, Wisdom, Beetie, and I were in the library in our plush chair’s brainstorming. The temperature was beginning to drop with the change in seasons, and the castle became chilly at night. We were all facing the fireplace, brainstorming the next steps.

  Next thing I knew, the flames in the fireplace began to look irregular. I could almost make out a face in the fire as it crackled and popped louder.

  Before I knew it, we were staring at Kennan’s face through the flames. He was staring directly at Violet.

  “Good Evening, my future bride,” he said to Violet.

  Violet looked at his image in disgust.

  “Did you enjoy my storm?” he asked her.

  “I did not,” she answered, her voice was firm like reprimanding a child.

  “That’s a pity. All I am looking for is to bond with you and make our now three Kingdoms one. That was a plot twist I was not expecting. You see, I was just going to sweep in and take over, but you legally becoming Queen of Ubrem Glacies is even better. Now when we wed, I will be able to lead all three legitimately.”

  “Don’t ever plan on that happening,” Violet told him.

  “Oh, but you see, I have already won. You are hiding in your castle, which you have learned is no longer safe. Every minute you resist me is another minute you put your friends and family in danger.”

  “Why do you want the Kingdom’s?” I asked.

  “Stupid men have thought to destroy magic-workers, but they were weak-minded, destroying those they couldn’t understand. While Tate has very few magic workers, your kingdoms have lots of untapped potential. Why destroy what you don’t understand, when you can enslave it and use it to make you more powerful and rich? You think we have power now, here and back in Arlington? We are looking to expand in both.”

  “Ah, so your selfishness knows no bounds?” Violet asks him sarcastically.

  “No, it does not, but I can also be very giving Violet. I have given you multiple chances to change your mind, but you are stubborn, and I can admire that.”

  Violet cut him off.

  “What is it you want from the magic workers?”

  “Isn’t that obvious? Some can create precious metals, gold, silver, gems. I need more wealth to expand. There was a rumor that Eduard had some of those magic workers stashed away. However, my spies never found any. So I will keep searching, I know they are out there.”

  Those magic workers we freed were precisely who he is looking for. I was so proud at this moment for Violet sending them all far away and spreading them out. She is ahead of her time.

  “Well, you selfish prick. You will get nothing from me, my body, my kingdom’s, and certainly not my people for you to enslave. If you want all of this, you will have to die for it, because I am willing to fight and die to protect it. You mark my words. I am not hiding; I am planning. You will wish you never laid eyes on me, Kennan. If you want to play God, you will have to do a little better than this,” she said as she threw her cup of tea at the flames.

  It didn’t extinguish them entirely, but Kennan was gone.

  We all stared at her in disbelief. She had just taunted him, and things were already bad enough.

  “What?” She asked us, sensing our stares.

  “Why are you taunting him?” Axel asked. “Are you out of your freaking mind?” he added.

  “No, I’m not, and I already have a plan,” she said.

  She wore a smug smile. She had a plan, and I could see the excitement dancing behind her eyes.

  “Wisdom, Victoria mentioned in her books a truth serum. Is that something you can make?” she asked.

  “Yes, given enough time and the ingredients, but Violet, it is highly unethical,” he answered.

  “Unethical is a moot point Wisdom. He will murder all of you, which is way more unethical than what I wish to do.”

  She then looked at Axel.

  “I need your best spies. We are going to sink all of Tate’s naval ships,” she told him.

  Everyone’s eyes got huge.

  “Violet,” he protested.

  “Don’t Violet me. He wants to terrorize me, but I am going to show him that only one of us can be God. It might as well be the one who is a reincarnation of a Goddess. He is from another Kingdom and may not know of the prophecy, so he will underestimate me, and I will use it to my advantage. I will take away everything that he thinks gives him power.”

  Beetie just smiled at Violet like they were riding the same crazy boat.

  “Violet, what do you need from me?” she said.

  “Use that brilliant mind of yours to figure out how I can get our family safely hidden. Two, think of more ways to terrorize the hell out of him.”

  “Done and done,” she said and hurried out of the room.

  “You are really going to do this?” I asked her.

  She looked directly at me like she was looking through my soul.

  “Trinity, I will protect everyone I love and my Kingdom. Sometimes bullies need to be put in their place. Children get put in their place by parents; he will be put in place by a reincarnation of the Goddess.”

  I smiled at her.

  “Then I’m in,” I told her.

  “I love you, Trin,” she said.

  “I love you too, Vi, and we are going to take him down.”

  Axel shook his head and gave up. He knew he wouldn’t win this one. Violet called the shots, and I was backing her up.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  Violet

  It’s been two weeks since I ordered Axel to send an elite group of knights to Tate to sink their naval ships. Before they were sent, we put the elite group through rigorous testing.

  Axel had been following me back to my apartment when I slept here. During that time, I showed him military and action movies. He sat in front of the TV mesmerized by what he was watching. When I told him I wanted to make our group a little less old fashioned and a lot more this, he was in full agreement.

  Back in Morthsoul, we put this to the test, training the knights in close quarters hand to hand combat. We fitted them with hidden blades and ditched the traditional armor. We were now going to be stealthy with every move here on out.

  When we were satisfied that our elite squad named the Tate Terrorizers were well trained, we sent them off with Molotov’s to light the entire fleet on fire from afar. They were then to hide in the mountains that border Corone and Tate until they were confident they were not followed. Then they could re-enter Morthsoul.

  We also fed them false information in case Kennan captured them. That way, they thought our next attack would be months away while building our armies. But in reality, it could be in a matter of days. Once we were notified that the naval fleet went up in flames, we would send another elite squad to vandalize every monument, shrine, or building belonging to the Smarts.

  Hopefully, this would be enough to shake them up. If able, the same group would then seize an upcoming shipment of goods to the castle and distribute it to nearby villages.

  Kennan loves power, and I will take every last bit of it away. I don’t care to have the power for myself, but I need to put him in his place or take him out.

  What struck me as weird is that everything had been silent from Samantha. Aside from her cornering me back in Arlington Prep, I haven’t seen or heard anything from her. That scared me a little more than Kennan, who was obnoxious and wanted to make sure you knew it was him terrorizing you.

  That was not Samantha’s style, and I hoped she wasn’t waiting in the wings for her chance to take me down, while her b
rother had me distracted.

  But now we would wait, and begin planning our next moves.

  Wisdom had just finished gathering all of the ingredients needed for the potions that Victoria wrote down for me.

  Wisdom was going to start brewing the potions tonight but wanted to do a little more research since many of these ingredients were dangerous. I was out of my element there and would let him do his thing and then bring me up to speed. When all of this is over, I will take time to learn about the scientific research completed in the Morthlands.

  In the meantime, I was speaking with Aunt Beetie. She was aware of our plans to go to war once this escalated too far. After all, why poke the bear unless you are ready to fight him?

  “You need to have things in order. We never suspected what would happen to your friends Thanian and Clarissa, but here you are ruling their Kingdom. You need to have your affairs in order in case the worst happens.”

  “I know, but it’s so difficult to think about,” I told her.

  “I can only image,” she told me.

  “Would you want the job to step into my place?” I asked her.

  “Oh honey, I am honored that you trust me to fill your shoes. But your job is for the young, and I am certainly not young.”

  “Then who should I ask to take over? I think it needs to stay in the family. Star and Luna are far too young.”

  “Why not Trin? She is just as involved with running this Kingdom as you are.”

  “But Trin isn’t family,” I told her.

  “Child, what are you talking about? She’s your cousin,” she told me.

  Why is it that Beetie is always the one to drop family bombshells?

  “Are you sure?” I asked her.

  “Yes, dear, Trin is my grand-daughter. Did she not tell you?”

  “No, she didn’t,” I said sadly.

  Why didn’t Trin tell me?

  “I’m going to go find out why I’m just now learning this,” I told Beetie.

  “Be easy on her dear, she loves you, and you are her family.”

  ☼

  “You have a confession to make,” I told Trin.

  “I do?” she asked.

  “Yes, you do. Great Aunt Beetie was talking to me about who I should name to take the throne should I perish in the wars to come. I suggested her, but she suggested someone much younger, who is just as involved in running the Kingdom as me. I was shocked when she told me I had a cousin I didn’t know about,” I said pointedly.

  “I’m sorry, Vi, I really am. Things just have been so hectic. I was going to tell you eventually,” she said.

  “Why not when we first met? You knew exactly who I was then.”

  “I was so taken aback by everything that was about to happen. I didn’t want to overwhelm you. Telling you that you are my cousin could wait. Not to mention, no one in the castle knew who I really was. I was spying on Eduard for my family, in case there was ever a day we could take back our Kingdom. Which you did, and made us all proud.”

  “Trin, I am ecstatic that you are my blood. I’m just sad that I found out, on accident by Aunt Beetie, who thought I knew.”

  “You are ecstatic?” she asked me. She clearly didn’t believe me because I wasn’t jumping up and down.

  “Yes I am, once the shock wears off, I’ll be calling you cuz from now on.”

  She smiled at that.

  “We are okay?” she asked me.

  “Yes, as long as you promise to never keep a secret from me again,” I told her.

  “That’s the easiest promise I’ll ever make,” she told me.

  “Good, because I need my successor to be completely open and honest with me, at all times.”

  “Your what?” she asked me.

  “You heard be. Your Grandmother is absolutely right. If I am no longer here, you are the next best person to step into my place. I would be honored if you would do this for me.”

  “I don’t know what to say, Vi, that’s overwhelming.”

  “You can start with yes.”

  She smiled and nodded her head. Then she wrapped her arms around me in a firm hug. It was a hug that showed everything we felt.

  She may be my cousin, but she felt more like my sister.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  I need to get my magic back, and that’s why I am standing here in Wisdom’s office, which is more like a laboratory. Even the dark grey stone contributes to the mad scientist feel.

  We first are going to make the potion to heal my body. It’s been through a lot lately, between the assassin I fought in my room, my poisoning, the shipwreck, and my journey back to the castle. The weeks have been grueling, and I am the smallest I can ever remember being. Even Trin commented on how much weight I had lost.

  Also, Victoria saw that I would need my magic back, and stuck this concoction in the journal, so she did it for a reason.

  We were just finishing up this first potion.

  “The last ingredient is lavender for taste,” Wisdom said.

  He dropped the dried lavender pieces into the large mixing pot he had over the room’s fireplace. It looked almost identical to a witch’s cauldron, but I didn’t think that Wisdom would appreciate the comparison.

  When the lavender hit the liquid, it turned a shimmering purple, just as the instructions said.

  “All done,” I told Wisdom after glancing at Victoria’s instructions one last time.

  “Are you sure you want to go through with this?” Axel asked me, from his spot on the wall where he was leaning.

  “Positive,” I stated firmly.

  Wisdom used a ladle to scoop up the liquid into a glass.

  “Victoria stated you need to drink it all for it to work,” Wisdom told me.

  “I will,” I said as I nodded at Axel.

  I held my glass cup in a mock toast and then started chugging the liquid.

  I don’t know what the hell Wisdom meant when he said he added lavender for taste. This tasted like absolute shit.

  After finishing the whole glass, I took a deep breath. I looked at the faces of Wisdom, Axel, and Trin, who had just entered the room.

  “Anything happening?” I asked them.

  “You tell us, do you feel anything different?” Wisdom asked.

  “No, I don’t,” I said, feeling a little disappointed.

  Then suddenly, I felt only what I could describe as a pure adrenaline rush. My heart began racing, I broke out in a sweat, and my stomach began to roll.

  I looked down at my hands and saw that they were purple, so were my arms and my legs. Axel’s eyes got huge. Trin covered her mouth to cover up her giggle at seeing me coated in a bright purple. Wisdom didn’t look surprised. Maybe he knew this would happen, and he didn’t warn me.

  Then as suddenly as it started, it stopped. My skin faded back to my pale white. I stopped sweating, my heart rate slowed down, and my stomach calmed down.

  “Glad that worked,” Wisdom said, already back to business.

  “Me too,” I said.

  “Do you feel any different?” Trin asked me.

  I took a second to take stock of my body.

  My clothes felt like they fit a little better, maybe I gained back some healthy muscle mass, and my eyes felt less tired. I ran my fingers through my hair, which felt healthier, and my fingernails had grown some.

  “Yes, I feel much better,” I said, telling the truth.

  It felt like I had more energy, and I wasn’t as fatigued.

  I may need to use this potion again after what is to come.

  Wisdom began throwing together ingredients with speed and precision into a new pot.

  He added the golden thread, honeysuckle, dragon’s scale, and several other ingredients I couldn’t identify. He also had to add a drop of his blood as someone with magic to brew the spell and several drops of my blood.

  I had no idea how this all worked. But by now, I figured there are many things at play, and they are all bigger than me in the grand scheme of things.r />
  I may be a pawn piece here, but I was a piece in a magical game of chess. The key here was magic; it was threaded through everything I have done and will accomplish.

  I watched as Wisdom added a drop of his blood, and then I took the knife from him, and cut my hand over the pot.

  I watched as the liquid boiled and changed colors before my eyes. The last ingredient was nightshade, a typically very dangerous ingredient. As it dropped into the potion, the colors began to change continuously.

  One look at the potion just gave off the whole ‘magic’ vibe.

  Wisdom stirred the potion in a precise way. One stir clockwise, and then one counter-clockwise and then repeat thirty times.

  I waited in anticipation for him to announce that he was done. He poured it into another glass, and it was still changing colors. It spanned all of the colors of the rainbow in random order, over and over. The liquid continued stirring itself in the glass, and despite Wisdom boiling the liquid, the drink felt ice cold.

  “Don’t forget the chant,” Wisdom said.

  “Wisdom, I have spent just as much time looking at the instructions, I know what to do.”

  He just nodded at me to get on with it then.

  “Ashes to ashes, blood to blood, my magic has dried up to dust, so restore it, you must. Renew the magic that runs in my veins, now that I have healed my body’s pains. I cry out to the Goddess to replenish my soul with magic’s touch.”

  I chugged the liquid, and it felt ice-cold as it trickled down my throat, and then it became hot like fire as it rested in my belly.

  A swirling mist formed around me as my skin changed color again; this time, it mimicked what the potion did. I was lifted into the air with the mist circling around me.

  I looked like I should be a disco ball in a rave. The only thing I was missing was the kids on the LSD and the loud techno music.

  Then when I thought things couldn’t get any crazier, I got a cold chill, and then an immediate hot flash. Then a burst of bright light and what I can only describe as pure magic burst from me. My hands, mouth, nose, ears, magic was just pouring from me and then around me. It then entered back through my nose and mouth.