Queen Witch

by Elle Middaugh

  “There’s that new one,” I said, pointing vaguely. “The one that just opened up near the old pier.”

  Maren raised an incredulous brow. “The one in the Barge district? The one that supposedly caters to pirates?”

  “What’s a pirate?” Gage asked.

  “They steal things, dude,” Elijah answered with a catching grin.

  I rolled my eyes, but smiled too. “Never mind. It was a stupid idea.”

  “I kinda like it,” Elijah said, glancing at Maren for approval. “I’ve never been on a swashbuckling adventure before.”

  Gage chuckled and let loose a crooked smile so sexy I wanted to lick it off his face. “I’m always up for adventure.”

  “Then let’s go!” I decided quickly, leaving Maren no room to disagree.

  The longer we debated, the further Nerissa got away from us.

  Chapter 4

  The Barge district was just that: an oily patch of beach where rusty, barnacle-ridden vessels chugged in and out of the harbor all day—and all night, if you were a pirate. The establishment I’d referred to would probably be nothing less than savory. I wished I wasn’t dressed so finely. I actually thought about rolling around in the dirt, but refrained.

  The café was situated on stilts overtop the ocean, a rickety thing that would no doubt crumble as soon as a storm blew in. It had been given a fresh coat of paint, though, and the dock that led to it looked new and sturdy.

  Inside, we sat down at a booth, one couple on each end, and glanced at the menus. Eyes followed us from every direction. Some of them had patches.

  The smell of fried food was only barely discernible above the heavy stench of unwashed flesh and fishy garments. Gage didn’t seem to notice, and Elijah didn’t seem to mind. Maren’s nose was twisted unpleasantly, and I had a feeling mine was too. You could tell who the blood-born royals were in the bunch.

  I cleared my throat and tried not to breathe too deeply.

  “So... what are you having?” I asked Gage with an encouraging, closemouthed smile.

  He lifted his gaze from the menu and locked eyes with me.

  Oh my God, I’m such a goner....

  “Considering fish is the only meat on the menu, I suppose I’ll be having that.”

  I’d never met a dragon shifter before, so I didn’t know much of anything about them, least of all their eating habits. “Are you strictly a meat eater?”

  He grinned and nodded. “I don’t really tolerate a vegetarian diet well.”

  I accidentally smiled wide, and instantly felt like I ate a skunk.

  “That’s incredibly interesting,” I said, green eyes wide with wonder. Learning about him almost completely distracted me from the awful odor.

  He cocked his head. “It’s just food, Eliza.”

  He said my name! It sounded perfect on his tongue. I wanted to taste it.

  That’s when I realized I was staring at his mouth. Quickly, I looked away.

  He nudged my shoulder with his. “What are you having?”

  I glanced back down at my menu, skin tingling where we’d touched. I wondered what kind of person he was beyond the beautiful exterior. Would I still crave him in a few weeks when I knew him better? Or would his shiny newness wear off and expose an ugly beast underneath?

  “Hmm,” I mused. “Probably the fish and chips?”

  Maren somehow managed to scrunch her nose further. “How can you even think about food right now?”

  “I know!” Elijah chimed in. “We’re, like, mere feet away from real-life pirates! I’m way too excited to be hungry!”

  Maren’s eyes widened in disbelief, but a smile crept onto her lips anyway. Elijah’s enthusiasm and easygoing nature were contagious.

  I looked at the gruff crowd, all still staring at us, then averted my gaze outside. We’ll just eat, and get the hell out of here, I told myself. My knee started bouncing nervously.

  Outside, I could see down the coast for miles. A tiny hill rose up from the shore with tall grasses and little white flowers blowing in the ocean breeze. The tops of gravestones were just visible above the weeds.

  I wished so badly to have a deep breath of fresh air.

  But then I caught a glimpse of wavy red hair—Nerissa’s hair? I couldn’t be sure. It happened so fast I was barely sure I’d even seen it. Maybe it was just a red flower on the other side of a headstone? Maybe it was a red bird flying by?

  I pursed my lips. I honestly didn’t want to take the chance. If Nerissa was out there, then foul play was at hand, and in a graveyard? That was even worse.

  “I, uh….” I glanced back at our group, who’d been quietly waiting on a server. “I have an idea. Why don’t we get our food to go and have a picnic instead?”

  “Oh thank God!” Maren nearly shouted.

  Elijah grinned. “You really hate the smell, don’t you?”

  Maren nearly gagged just at the mention of the stench.

  Smiling wide, Elijah offered to wait on the food so the rest of us could head outside.

  “You sure?” Gage asked him, in a big-brotherly sort of way.

  Elijah leaned closer. “Are you crazy? I am loving this! These pirates are so cool! Look at them all growling and dirty. I wonder what it’s like to be part of the crew?”

  Gage ruffled Elijah’s jagged hair. “Just don’t go finding out.”

  The three of us stood and walked outside, but Gage folded his arms and stayed by the door.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, glancing between him and the graveyard.

  He smirked. “I’m not leaving that kid alone in a room full of criminals. If he gets into trouble, he’s gonna need some backup.”

  I cocked my head. “So you and Elijah are just going to brawl with a whole tavern full of pirates?”

  “I’m a dragon,” he said, as if that should have explained it all.

  It actually probably should have.

  “Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that,” I said. I didn’t need a bunch of incinerated bodies and half the Barge district burned down.

  He gestured to the hilltop. “Why don’t you set up this picnic of yours? We’ll be up in a few minutes.”

  I had a bad feeling about leaving him. He didn’t really want to be here in the first place. What were the odds he’d leave me and try to escape back to his own realm somehow? I needed him in the upcoming trials. I couldn’t win without him.

  “I see you looking all worried,” he said, almost teasingly. “We’ll be up soon. I promise.”

  This was a critical moment in our relationship; I could feel it in my bones. I had no idea if dragon shifters had some sort of honesty policy that would ensure the truth in his words, but I knew that I needed to give him the benefit of the doubt.

  My mother used to say, “I’ll give you the rope, you can hang yourself.” As in, I’m giving you some trust and freedom here, so don’t screw this up. I needed to give Gage a little rope. If I didn’t, he’d always feel more like a prisoner than a partner.

  I sighed and smiled, hoping it didn’t look too fake. “Okay. We’ll be up that hill over there.”

  He nodded, and I grabbed Maren and walked away.

  “All right, what’s really going on?” she whispered. “No way in hell would you willingly enter the Barge district, least of all to eat.”

  Clever girl.

  We lifted our dresses to the knees and stepped into the grass, climbing slowly to the top.

  “I thought I saw Nerissa heading this way,” I admitted.

  Maren frowned. “So?”

  I gaped at her. “What do you mean ‘so’? She’s our sister, and she’s always up to something. We’ve known that since we were kids, and especially since....”

  “Trae,” Maren finished, nodding. “True, but like you said, we’ve known about her tendencies for a while. Why all of a sudden start following her because of it?”

  “I don’t know. I guess with the Trials starting, I just don’t trust her at all. And now that she’s got that henc
hman, Julian, helping, I’m even more scared of what she’s up to. Did you notice what’s at the top of this hill?”

  Her lips thinned. “A graveyard.”

  I nodded, not needing to say anything more.

  We reached the top and dropped to our knees behind a couple of crooked headstones. I peered out around the right; Maren leaned left. Far across the field of graves, just as I feared, sat Nerissa and Julian, hand in hand around a tall pillar-like headstone.

  My heart practically stopped. I might not have understood the finer points of dark magic, but this absolutely did not look good.

  Slowly, a shimmering wisp of gray curled up above them and gradually morphed into the transparent form of a man.

  “She can summon ghosts?” Maren whispered in alarm.

  I swallowed hard, but my mouth was dry. “It sure as hell looks like it.”

  I had no idea how that was possible. What would such magic require as a price? Blood? Sacrifice? And to what end?

  Suddenly, a voice rumbled just behind my ear.

  “What the hell is she doing?” Gage asked, slipping in beside me. He’d come back, just as he’d promised! I was more than relieved.

  I turned to him, eyes full of surprise—and desire. He was so close, it sent a shiver up my spine. His lips were mere inches from brushing mine.

  A fire sparked behind his eyes and his gaze became intense. I wasn’t sure what caused it, but it made me want to kiss him. Fiercely.

  Licking my lips, I tried to concentrate. “I think she’s... a necromancer.”

  “A what?” Gage asked, frowning. He ducked further behind the gravestone and closer to me.

  “A necromancer,” I said, repeating the terrible word. “Someone who uses dark magic to communicate with the dead, possibly even raise their corpses from the ground.”

  “Why the fuck would anyone want to do that?”

  I sniffed out a soft chuckle. His brashness had caught me off guard.

  “Divination of the future, I suppose. Sometimes digging into the past for secrets. Sometimes... using the corpses to do their bidding.”

  “Like a real-life zombie apocalypse!” Elijah said on the other side of Maren, braces gleaming as he beamed.

  It was like the kid didn’t have a solid grip on reality.

  “Great,” Maren muttered, rolling her eyes.

  Just fucking great, I mentally corrected. If Nerissa knew the future, then she’d know how to win the Trials. If she won the trials, she’d have our kingdom’s army at her back for whatever choices she made—good or evil.

  I peered out around the side of the stone once more.

  There was no possible way I could know what she knew, but there were ways of learning the course of destiny—even for good witches.

  “I have an idea,” I whispered.

  Chapter 5

  “A luck potion?” Maren moaned from the alchemy room of the palace. “That’s the best you’ve got?”

  I also held up a crystal ball and a sprig of lily of the valley. Their little white bells jingled silently.

  “The more important point is,” I said, “it’s not the only thing I’ve got.”

  “For fuck’s sake, Eliza,” Maren cursed. “You’re going to use flowers against evil spirits? That doesn’t sound even remotely helpful.”

  I shrugged proudly. “We’ll see about that.”

  I wasn’t sure where the pride came from, though. Divination had never been one of my stronger suits.

  Gage plucked a daisy from a potted plant in the back. “What’s this for?”

  “It’s also a sort of prophesy and prediction,” I said with a wave of heat to the cheeks. “It’s generally used to tell whether or not someone loves you.”

  His eyebrow quirked. “Really? How does it work?”

  I took the flower from his fingers, and slowly pulled at a thin, white petal. “He loves me,” I said, gazing into his beautiful blue eyes. Then I plucked another. “He loves me not. You go the whole way around the flower until, on the last petal, you find your answer.”

  He grinned and took the flower back. “Sounds kinda silly to me.”

  “In a way, it is. But not all of these methods are quite so childish. Crystal balls are a much stronger force of magic, even though they’re often quite fickle with what they reveal. That’s where I’m hoping the luck potion will come in handy.”

  “What are you expecting to see?” he asked, grabbing a fillet of fish from a plate.

  We’d eaten most of our lunch on the way back to the palace, but apparently the dragon was still hungry.

  I shook my head, amused. “I don’t know.”

  Then I placed the ball in the center of a mosaic tabletop shining with beautiful gemstones. The stones each helped with divination as well as clarity of thought.

  Carefully plucking a bell from the branch, I crushed a lily of the valley flower into glittering dust.

  “Lily of the valley flower, give me divination power.”

  Guiding the wispy tendrils of magic into the crystal ball, I stirred the object to life. Before I lost the chance, I quickly swallowed the luck potion and stared intently into the glass.

  Images immediately appeared. Chaotic snippets that I could hardly even process before they flashed to new ones. Places, faces, objects, colors, and emotions. I needed to steer the thing in a more definite direction.

  I crumbled a flower and used the magic to ask a question.

  “Flower sitting in my hand, tell me what Nerissa’s planned.”

  But the ball fogged up into a mysterious gray cloud, hiding all images from my sight. Apparently that was a question even the ball didn’t know the answer to. Perhaps Nerissa had already used some protection spell against her plans?

  I crumbled a whole handful of lily bells and tried again.

  “Flowers lying in these piles, will Nerissa win the Trials?”

  The mist in the ball cleared, revealing bits and pieces of images once more. Nerissa’s face, smiling. Catfish, shaking and alone. Me, sprinting through the capital streets, ultraviolet light painting the city in an otherworldly glow. Gage, bleeding from a stab wound to his side. Deep music pulsing through the air and vibrating up my feet. A massive beast roaring with salivating fangs. Children locked in a cage, crying to get out. Nerissa laughing, red curls shining in the moonlight. Me clutching a pearly shield in one hand and a crystal-blue dagger in the other. The dominant sensation overwhelming me was fear... followed quickly by sorrow, anger, and desperation.

  I blinked and realized my heart was racing and I was crying. I shook my head to clear the visions, but they’d been practically burned into my mind. Whatever happened in these trials would be awful. And worse, Nerissa appeared to be winning.

  Gage put his face in front of mine, blocking my line of sight to the ball.

  “You okay, Eliza?” he asked, brows furrowed as he studied me.

  I swallowed hard and wiped my tears. I tried to laugh, but it sounded more like a sob. “God, I almost wish I hadn’t taken the luck potion. I might’ve actually done better without seeing those things....”

  “What did you see?” Maren asked, replacing Gage’s face in front of me.

  I shook my head, trying to vocalize the emotional assault. “Catfish was in danger. Gage was in danger. And I was running through the city, but it didn’t look like the city. It was dark, almost purplish, and everything glowed with a strange vibrancy I’ve never seen. And there was a terrifying beast, and kidnapped children, and shields and daggers….”

  I knew I sounded like a crazy person. But one thing above all else had become crystal clear: I had to do whatever it took to beat Nerissa and win the Queen Trials.

  “So, like,” Elijah said from across the room, “does she win?”

  “I didn’t see for sure,” I said, voice accidentally revealing my doubts, “but it seems like she might. I absolutely cannot let that happen.”

  The three of them nodded, apparently sharing my opinion. A necromancer with ultimate po
wer was a recipe for disaster.

  “So what will you do?” Gage asked me, concern swirling in his eyes as he crossed his muscular arms. “How do you change the fate you saw in the crystal ball?”

  I stood and put the ball back on the shelf.

  “I’m going to have to train harder.”

  Gage cocked his head. “How much time to you have?”

  “I’m not sure. I’ve heard of the trials being as short as a week in between, but also as long as a few months.”

  The entire ordeal was largely up to the ancient witch in charge. Whenever she felt it was time, then damn it, it was time. We had to be prepared always. I just didn’t know what all that entailed.

  I always figured I’d be in friendly competition with my younger sisters, just for shits and giggles. Everyone knew Nerissa was the more talented witch in the family and that she would likely win the whole ordeal. Now I was seriously regretting the fact that I hadn’t taken my practice sessions more seriously. I mean, come on, using magic to fix a broken mirror? That sure as hell wasn’t going to help me deal with any of the shit I saw in those visions.

  “Well,” Gage said, as he began to pace around the small alchemy room, “where are your weak spots? What is your sister better at than you?”

  I scoffed. “Everything.”

  He glanced at Maren, who unfortunately nodded. “She’s better than all of us at everything.”

  Gage pursed his lips and nodded also, seemingly deep in thought.

  “I can’t do magic,” he said after a time. “But I can help you increase your strength, speed, and stamina. I can teach you how to use a dagger, too, or throw a punch.”

  I nodded. “Okay, sounds good. When do we start?”

  He shrugged. “You said you could have as short as a week, right? May as well start right now.”

  I bit my lip, wishing he had the same exercise in mind as I did, but knowing full well that he didn’t. “What do you suggest we do first?”

  “Running.”

  Fuck my life. Was he serious? I hated running.

  Suddenly my brain flashed to the image of future-me sprinting through the capital streets in a panic. Apparently running was something I needed to master.