by Apryl Baker
“Drink the potion and you’ll see.”
Really? He wasn’t going to tell her anything else? She gave him her best aggravated frown before turning the vial up and drinking it down. Foul, foul, foul. She grimaced. Worst thing to ever go in her mouth. She turned to tell Horace just that, but gaped. She stood outside the town. On the highest peak of the tallest mountain in their sector. From here you could see in every direction for miles. What was she doing up here?
Well, she wasn’t going to bloody stand here all day, that was sure as certain. She turned and saw a woman sitting on a log behind her. Deep red hair and twinkling hazel eyes framed a face made for smiling. She waved to Katyia and motioned her over.
“Who are you?” Katyia took a seat beside her on the log.
“I’m Cassa. And you are?”
“Katyia.”
“Isn’t it beautiful here?” she asked, waving toward the view of the mountaintops. “There isn’t a more peaceful place on the earth than sitting here and looking at this view.”
She was right about that. It was peaceful. Cold, crisp mountain air cleared the senses, opened the mind. Katyia closed her eyes and took several deep, cleansing breaths.
“It’s not safe anymore.”
Katyia’s eyes blinked open. Cassa had the most forlorn expression on her face. “We worked so hard to make this sector safe, and now it’s all failing.”
“The magic is failing.”
“You’ve felt it?” Cassa asked, curious.
“Yes, I felt the magic in the barrier dying.”
“You don’t seem upset.” Cassa gave her a once-over. “If the barrier fails, then everything and everyone in our sector will be overrun.”
“No, they won’t. I found another way.”
“What way? Tell me of this new solution you found.”
Katyia explained to Cassa about her turning and everything she’d learned over the last few days. “The only thing that matters is the safety of the people we protect. It’s our only duty.”
Cassa regarded her for a long time before she held out her hand. “You truly mean to put the safety of our people first, don’t you?”
“Yes.” Katyia took her hand. Shockwaves reverberated up her arm.
“Katyia Dragonvich, look into the void and find that which is missing.”
Gone was the mountain and Cassa. She stood alone in an empty expanse of space. Darkness surrounded her. Find what was missing. Light. There was no light in this place. A simple enough spell that required no grounding item or potion. She opened her palm and thought of the little ball of light that always came when she asked.
Only this time it didn’t.
She frowned, concentrating harder. It only took her seconds to understand what was truly missing. The magic. This place was void of magic. How was she supposed to find magic gone missing?
Katyia sighed. No wonder they kept this test a secret. It was impossible. No, not impossible. Her father passed it. How? She sat and thought. How to create magic where there was none?
Magic was always inside of us, her father told her once. Even when there didn’t appear to be any, all she had to do was to find her own brand of magic. Instead of using the magic around her, she needed to find the magic born inside of her and utilize that. Maybe.
She closed her eyes and went searching for that place where her magic slept. She sat for the longest time, her mind clear and searching. There, just on the edge of her vision, she spotted the tiniest flicker of light. It bounced around. She reached out and caught it. In the palm of her hand, the little ball of light sat, no bigger than a pearl.
It had to be like any other spell. Take your grounding item, focus on it, and then expand your magic outward. Much like she’d done while she’d looked for the wards surrounding the castle. In this case, her grounding item was this teeny tiny pearl. No, not a pearl. A seed. She’d use this small seed to grow magic where there had been none.
Easier said than done.
Katyia stood, the small ball of light clutched tight in her hands. Another idea occurred to her. What if her object was the barrier? What if she used it to ground herself, and then filled it with the magic? The barrier would represent this room. Decision made, Katyia thought about her own magic. It always ran hot, but it centered itself with the depth of the earth. Her fire would always burn, always light the way, and the earth would be there to catch her if she fell, to nourish her, to provide everything she needed to work her craft. She shed her doubts, her inhibitions, everything she thought she knew, and let her magic course through her.
She imagined the wall surrounding her sector, imagined the edges closing in on her, caging her in. Katyia opened her hands, the tiny seed of light growing and ballooning. She sent the flow of power into the wall, felt it leave her and begin to fill up like a river after a wild storm. It grew and grew, overflowing. The earth shook beneath her and more magic began to pour through the cracks, lighting up the room in a wild display of shimmering lights.
Then she was falling. Strong arms caught her and she collapsed against Roman. The lights shimmered all around her, but no cheer went up. Not a sound was uttered. Alarmed, she tried to push herself up. Roman held her tight, and that was when she realized she was as naked as the day she’d been born.
“How…where are my clothes?”
“They just vanished.” His voice was grim. “Your back, Katyia.”
Realization dawned. Without her clothes, they would all have seen the scars. She peeked over at her family. Stunned. Outraged. Angry. All those emotions and more played over their faces. All except for Olivia. She’d gone pale.
It was Horace who found his voice first.
“Katyia Dragonovich, you have passed the test set forth by the First Regent Cassia. As of this day, you are now the Regent of Sector Three.”
Gavin waited long enough for Horace to bless her reign, then he was in her face. “Mother did this to you?”
Her eyes flickered to her mother. Gavin’s nostrils flared and he stalked to where their mother stood. He slapped her. Olivia’s hand flew up to her cheek. “How dare you!”
“No, Mother, how dare you? She is your daughter, and you beat her!”
“She’s not my daughter!” Olivia raged. “She’s a mongrel your father forced upon us.”
Gavin looked like he was the one who’d been hit. “You…I can’t…” He walked away from her, his hands shaking like he wanted to slap her again. She was his mother, though. He wouldn’t lay another hand on her.
Nicolette couldn’t bring herself to even look at Olivia. Instead she placed her cloak around Katyia and then hugged her. “I am so sorry, Kat. Why didn’t you ever tell me? I could have stopped it.”
“No, you couldn’t have.” She took her sister’s hand. “She hates me. Nothing would have stopped her.”
“She deserves to be banished.” Nicolette’s eyes flickered over to her mother, the disgust in them as clear as the blue sky above.
“Yes, she does.” Roman finally spoke. “Anyone who would harm a child in their care should be banished.”
True fear flashed across Olivia’s face. Banishment was as good as an execution. No one survived the ravagers. She let her mother sit on that thought for a few minutes.
“Horace?” She called the Elder’s attention to her.
“The role of Regent is mainly to sustain the wards with their magic, yes?”
“Aye.” He nodded. “Why do you ask, Katyia?”
“As long as my magic sustains the walls, that is all that is required of me?”
“Well, I suppose.” He stroked his beard. “What are you getting at?”
“Can I appoint someone to handle the day to day running of the sector, someone I trust to care for our people?”
“There’s nothing that says you can’t, but why are you asking this, child?”
“Because I don’t want to be Regent, sir.” She turned to Gavin. She’d been thinking about this plan since she’d decided that second night to take th
e test. “I want you to be Regent.”
His mouth dropped open. “But…but I have no magic, Katyia…”
“But I do. As long as I sustain the magic and you run the sector, the role is fulfilled. Isn’t that right, Horace?”
The old man laughed. “Yes, I guess that’s right. And I’m assuming your magic will hold this ward for at least a century or two, being a vampire and all. You may appoint anyone you please to rule the lands as long as you hold the wall.”
“Congratulations, Gavin.” She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. “You will be much better at this than I would have been.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Say thank you, Katyia.”
“Thank you, Katyia.”
“What should we do with Mother?” Nicolette asked.
The one thing that gave Katyia purpose in the first few days of her awakening was thoughts of revenge. She wanted Oliva to pay for everything she’d ever done to her, but in a way Katyia owed her a debt. If she hadn’t done what she’d done, she wouldn’t have found Roman. Her mate’s warmth seeped into her skin where it was pressed against his chest. Olivia didn’t matter to her anymore. The only person who mattered was Roman.
“Gavin, you can decide what to do with her. I don’t care.”
“It should be your decision, Kat,” Gavin said. “You were the one who suffered at her hands. You should decide what to do with her.”
“To decide her fate would mean I care what happens to her, Gav. She means nothing to me. It matters not what you do with her.”
“She’s power hungry,” Roman murmured. “Perhaps the best punishment would be to put her somewhere she has no power.”
“Saint Andrews,” Gavin, Nicolette, and Katyia all said in unison.
“Saint Andrews?” Roman asked.
“A convent,” Gavin explained. “The nuns there dedicate their lives to the service of God. Sister Holla would be glad to show mother the true ways of piety, forgiveness, atonement, and service. She delights in it.”
Katyia grimaced. They’d all spent some time there to learn just those things. The head of the convent was a cruel taskmaster, and perhaps one of the few people her mother wouldn’t be able to manipulate.
“It’s settled, then,” she said. “She’ll live out the remainder of her days at Saint Andrews.”
Gavin gestured for a few guards to come and collect her, but Katyia stopped him. “Not them. They are the ones who attacked me that night. They will have her whisked away before you blink.”
“They attacked you?” Anger warred with pain in his eyes. He’d always protected her, but this time, he couldn’t.
“Yes, they bound me and then delivered me to the vampire camp.”
“I am so sorry…if I had known…”
“Shh.” She placed a finger over his lips. “None of that. It all turned out for the best. The right person is Regent, the barrier is intact, and I found my own happiness, Gavin. I’m happy. Don’t dwell on things we can’t change, only on the future. Just be happy for me and I’ll be happy for you. Besides, our new home is only a few days’ ride from here. We’ll be seeing lots of each other.”
“Katyia?”
She stiffened at her father’s voice. She made herself turn to look at him. He’d been holding Oliva until new guards had come to take her away. Now, he stood staring at her, ashen and ashamed. Olivia was one thing, but her father…that was a cat of a different color. He’d hurt her worse than Olivia ever had.
“I never knew about the beatings. I swear it. If I had known, if you’d just told me...”
“I know.” She didn’t hold Olivia’s actions against him. She had never told him and that was as much on her as it was Olivia.
I’m sorry, Katyia.” He took her hand. “I am truly sorry for all you’ve suffered, for what we did to you.”
“You didn’t even come to see me.” A tear leaked out despite her best efforts to hold them back. “How could you do that to me, Papa? You let her throw me away and then you told everyone…” Katyia broke off, unable to say anything else. Tears choked her. Roman pulled her close, giving his support the only way he could.
“I was afraid you’d hate me. I brought them here. I made it possible for Olivia to do what she did. I couldn’t bear the look of hatred in your eyes. Do you remember when you were very small and I told you to hide your magic? To never let anyone see what you could do?”
She nodded. She’d often wondered why.
“I did that to protect you from Olivia. She was consumed with the need for Nicolette to be the next Regent. It was the best way I knew to protect you from her ambitions. I had no doubt she’d harm you. I thought it would be emotional harm, though. Never physical.” He ran a hand through his graying hair. “I am sorry, Katyia. I know I have no right to ask this, but I hope someday you find it in your heart to forgive me.”
Her heart cried. She knew he meant it, but it didn’t erase his actions. He’d taken the coward’s way out. He’d left her there, alone and scared. A part of her would always love him, but she couldn’t forget what he’d done. Not yet.
“Be well, Papa.” She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek, her vision blurry.
She turned around to face Roman. “Ready to go?”
Roman waited patiently while she said her goodbyes to her family and then whisked them out of the village, Goliath trotting along as they ambled down the road that led back to camp.
“You gave it up.” Roman spoke after a while. “I can’t believe you gave up the role of Regent.”
“Yes.” Katyia twisted so she could look at him. “Gavin will do a good job.”
“But why, Katyia?” he asked. “Why would you do that?”
“Being Regent means nothing to me. My home isn’t there anymore. It’s with the man I love.”
A slow smile spread across his face. “You love me, do you?”
“Mmmhmmm.”
“Well, then, I suppose I am obligated to love my mate in return, wouldn’t you say?”
“I would say so, yes.” She gave him a sly smile.
“I do love you, Katyia.” He leaned down and kissed her, a slow kiss that curled her toes. “More than you will ever know.”
“Take me home, brute.”
The End
I am always amazed every time I manage to write THE END on any of my books. I usually stare at those words for the longest time. I love to write as much as I love to read, and it humbles me to think I managed another book and that people enjoy reading my nonsense.
There is so much that goes into creating a book. The hundreds of hours spent writing it, which means hundreds of hours you give up with your family and ignoring a million other things that need to get done. Then there is the cover, the editing, the proofreading, the formatting—more hours lost. Because of this I have to say thank you to my family for always supporting me and making sure everything gets done even when I get lost in my own world while I write.
This book is part of a collection of books, The Othala Witch Collection. I want to say thank you to Rebecca Hamilton for inviting me to join the collection. I had a ton of fun creating the story of Roman and Katyia. They wormed their way into my heart and I hope they do the same for you.
As always a big shout out to my girls for all their help in bouncing ideas and working through problems. Angela Fristoe, Delsheree Gladden, and Susan Stec. I don’t know how I’d get through a book without you guys!
My editor deserves an award for putting up with me. Lori Whitwam, you are amazing and patient and work with all of my issues and timelines. Thank you so much for just being the best editor in the world!
My PA, Nathalie Raven, you’ve been a godsend to me. I don’t know how I would have gotten through the last few months without you. Thank you!
And finally to my readers. You guys are great and everything I write, I write for you and just hope you don’t want to string me up at the end of the book! I love each and every one of you.
Apryl Baker i
s a USA Today bestselling author who lives in a small town in southern WV. She loves spending time with her family when she isn’t busy working on some crazy storyline for a new book!
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