“He is the most obvious traitor now. I had hoped otherwise, especially when he claimed you, but I cannot risk your life on hope.”
“I have to talk to him.”
“You can’t risk it. We need to leave now.”
“How do you know he’s guilty? There must be an explanation. Those dragons attacked us.”
“I know, Jill told me. The dragons are a statement. I have no doubt he killed them because of the attack on you, but he put their heads on pikes after overthrowing his father as a warning and a demonstration of power.”
“He doesn’t need to prove his power. Everyone already fears he is a monster.”
“They fear him with good reason. Don’t underestimate how dangerous he could be to you because he has tried to make you fall for him. It was likely all part of the plan. Didn’t you tell me that he suddenly appeared in the ball that night, when you stabbed him? Didn’t he corner you and insist on you submitting to a claim on that first night? Didn’t he try to make that claim public, at breakfast the next day, and then, when that failed, he set you up in a situation that forced you to accept a Lasier and announce your claim anyway?”
“He made Victoria my Lasier because George threatened her.”
“How do you know it wasn’t all part of the plan?” her mother asked.
“That’s crazy. George burned her throat. You saw it. For what reason would anyone inflict—?”
“Do you really believe when Daemon tasted you, he didn’t recognize the lightning in your blood? Males have been tasting witches for eons to tell their magic and it never fails, as long as the male has compatible magic. He is a perfect match. You are the perfect match.”
She felt sick to her stomach.
Why hadn’t she questioned it further when Daemon failed to detect her magic that first night, after he tasted her?
Even George had lied to her that first night.
Was Phillip deceiving her as well?
Had she been so desperate for affection that she ignored such obvious deceptions?
Her mother was right and her whole family had nearly paid for her foolish heart with their heads.
“I’m so sorry. I never thought . . .”
She couldn’t stop the tears. Her mother wrapped her strong arms around her and let Elizabeth sob.
“You are not the only one deceived. The whole court has been misled. Prince Daemon planned to betray his father and he wants you. All your things were moved into the rooms for the first prince’s consort, while you were in the tunnels. Once he has you locked away in those secured rooms, it will be very difficult to get you out. There would be guards watching your every move.”
Locked down and guarded, kept away from her family for a despot to use her mental ability to spy on his enemies and threaten with mind control.
Her absolute worst nightmare come true.
Too many people knew or suspected her lightning. It had all been her fault, every little sip and taste she didn’t stop. Her secrets were no more.
“I was only able to delay your move into his rooms by insisting I have you close by for treatment, due to your sudden illness. We need to leave Maeren now and regroup.”
“How? He won’t let us escape.”
“Your sister is poisoning the royal family right now.”
Elizabeth flinched at her mother’s revelation.“What? Why?”
“Nothing too serious. Most of them will have their magic temporarily blocked, complain of stomach ailments and fever in a few hours, like the potions we practiced. We need the time to get away. It’s Victoria that will be hit with the faster poison, a sleeping potion I concocted, while you were asleep, modified to keep the princess in a coma that will leave her muscles flaccid but functioning. When Jill uses her magic to guide the poison, it will keep Victoria’s breathing and her heartbeat intact, so Victoria will live, even if we don’t make it. Phillip and George with earth will be more difficult, but Jill will disguise the poison in her blood to feed them. I will have to heal your sister of the poison myself, before we leave.”
Victoria was her first Maerenian friend and now likely her last.
Their family had truly become assassins, infiltrating the royal family, only to poison them with their trust.
Jill was a healer. Assassination was more Elizabeth’s role. Everything was so messed up.
“Why give something different to Victoria?”
“Your Lasier is under a blood-oath to you, which forms a very special bond. It would be more dangerous to leave her behind. She’s coming, and your sister is drugging her to make it easier. You will need to use lightning to control her paralyzed muscles to make it look as if she is awake and taking us outside the castle, on orders. We do not have permission to leave, but no one will deny the princess.”
Elizabeth took a big breath and then another.
She forced herself to look at the dragon heads.
Her mother was doing this to protect them. It could have been their heads on pikes, and it still could be if Daemon caught them betraying him.
They had to run now.
Thankfully, her family had never revealed that they were living in the human realm and no one knew where exactly they had stayed in Maeren, except that it was on the edge.
Daemon wouldn’t be able to track them easily if they got out of Maeren, cutting off his ability to use the claim.
It would weaken without his blood to reinforce it, eventually fading from her skin.
The other vampires that tasted her only had temporary bonds that wouldn’t last more than a week.
Memories would never fade.
This would not be the end. Maeren had suffered long enough, under demons.
A reckoning was due in which every death and soulless witch made to suffer for the sake of giving power to greedy males would be paid to the treacherous princes that had fooled her heart.
The slayer had a name that Maeren’s new king would learn to fear.
The End.
Bright and Dark
Extra
Memories Too Bright
Elizabeth’s earliest memory was the sun.
Warmth shone down on her pale, skinny legs as grass tickled her feet and her mother hummed a nursery rhyme to soothe Jill into an afternoon nap.
Normally, they would all be asleep at this hour, and safely tucked into their beds to avoid the dangerous rays.
Her mother had said there were going to be a lot of new things to learn in the human realm. One of them was that the sun could be warm and gentle.
Magic tingled at Elizabeth’s fingertips as she held her hand up and blocked the blinding orb with a mere palm, feeling more powerful than ever, but without fear.
She didn’t remember if she or her mother had talked, only the sun and being unafraid.
She also lied to herself, for this wasn’t her earliest memory. It was the first of a new beginning.
The time after a period of darkness, when the sun had been eclipsed by something stronger than her hand.
She closed her fist around the sun as if she could grab it and never let go.
Blacked-Out Memories
One gift of Elizabeth’s power was the ability to remember anything, if she tried hard enough.
She had learned about memory in science class at her human school. Ironic, given her memory was magic blessed.
Thoughts were merely electrical signals stored in cells, with chemical transmitters causing the growth of certain neurons. The capacity of the brain to retain was amazing.
Her curse was that she couldn’t forget as easily.
Connections, once made, were forever entangled.
No Witch Way Out
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Elemental Magic
Classifications
FIRE - Hottest to coldest fire for classification. Total destructive potential also used. Highly divisive class due
to competition for nobility and military placement.
Lightning
White Hot
Blue
Green
Red
Orange
Black (defensive only/can withstand lightning)
WATER - Energy to form/Distance dispersed of water determines strength of power. Some forms only possible with paired fire.
AIR - Speed of air/destructive potential used for classification. Consideration also given to stability when flying/levitation. Speciality sub-forms include storms.
EARTH - Mainly split into healing arts and physical strength by amount of rock that can be shifted for classification. Can possess both types of earth, but usually one prevails as stronger. Blood witches are a rare subtype that may be able to heal lost chi.
Glossary of Terms
Maeren - Alternate dimension that is home to magic wielding elementals such as witches, vampires, and dragon shifters.
Elemental - a species that is born with the ability to absorb magic to bind in their blood and can wield the power.
Magic - Power divided into four elemental types: fire, water, air, & earth—with multiple subtypes and divisions.
Chi - Magic storage in an elemental’s body that works like the lymph system in humans. Chi pools with the blood vessels to allow magic and magic-binding proteins to interact. The chi centers around the heart.
Chi Incineration - The power stored in the chi can be released by physical penetration, such as by staking. This will release all the magic from the individual immediately, even pulling it from the protein bound magic, and transform the body shell into pure energy for transport between realms.
Soul - Elementals have two souls. The first is similar to the soul of humans. The second is their magical soul, which also refers to the chi.
Drinking ‘to the quick’ - Draining the chi of an elemental completely through blood drinking—taking a feed too far. Drinking ‘to the quick’ will destroy the drained elemental’s power forever, although it does not always result in death. Demons are known to drink a witch ‘to the quick’ to steal a new power.
Witches - Female elementals. Can be dragon shifters as well. Possess one to two elemental affinities; generally weaker in power than male elementals. Produce more magic-binding protein than male elementals. Often feed male elementals their blood to provide them with the excess magic-binding protein.
Vampires - Male elementals. Can be dragon shifters as well. Possess one to two elemental affinities; generally stronger in power than female elementals. All male elementals do not produce enough magic-binding protein on their own to access their full power, and therefore, feed upon females to make up the deficit.
Demons - Male elementals who have stolen extra power from the act of feeding on a witch until her chi is drained completely, transferring all her magic, along with her chi. Demons either increase their primary elemental affinity or develop a new one from the stolen chi. Can have all four affinities, technically, but often have two to three. The extra chi makes them chronically low on magic-binding protein as they have such high power demands to meet.
Magic-binding proteins - A protein that binds free magic in the blood so that it can be activated and used. Free magic cannot be wielded. The proteins are specific to an elemental affinity.
Tasting - The act of ingesting blood to detect its magic affinity. Typically done by male elementals to females they wish to feed upon to check compatibility.
Feeding - The act of ingesting blood to absorb the magic-binding proteins; most often male elementals upon females. The male will prime the witch first with his own magic to cause the binding protein to saturate her blood near the pulse points, where he will penetrate with his fangs.
Prime - The act of an elemental using magic on a potential feeder; most often male elementals upon females. The witch will react with sexual arousal when properly primed, an instinctual response to a potential mate - thought to be a vestigial biological drive to procreate. Priming can occur even without attraction, although this isn’t common.
Blood memory - As unique as a fingerprint, a blood memory is formed from the magic in the blood an elemental ingests when tasting or feeding. This memory allows the elemental to temporarily track whoever he/she has bitten. The distance this works over is a well guarded secret by male elementals, but it is believed to work through pheromones produced by the witch, of which the scent may dissipate over time.
Blood bond - Connection created by blood sampling that ties the chi of two individuals with magic, such as when a vampire feeds upon a witch. It is a blood memory in its simplest form, without reinforcement. The bond results from the sampled blood proteins and magic first entering the vampire’s chi, and then, it is usually reinforced by providing the witch with a taste of the vampire’s own blood. A blood bond will transmit distress to the vampire’s connected chi if the witch is threatened and is more reliable than a simple blood memory from a one way tasting.
Claim - A blood bond reinforced by directly injecting male elemental saliva-laced ink into the skin over a chi point to create a stronger connection that will last as long as the tattoo created by the ink.
Also by Mercedes Jade
Maeren Series
Every Witch Demon but Mine
No Witch Way Out
Witch Darkness Follows
In Witch Hell Reigns
Victory Lap Series - Complete
Impetuous
Duplicity
Faerie Series - Complete
No Faerie Tale Love
Falling Into Faerie After
Faerie Cursed, Nevermore
Faerie short - Wild Ride
Standalones
Hidden Dragon Omegaverse
Entrapment
Phantom Orchid
Novellas
The Bully Switch novella
Acknowledgement and Notes
This book wouldn’t have existed without the encouragement of my sister and my addiction to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series.
Thanks also goes to Jutta, Jenn, Paula, Melissa, Reyna, Ashley, and Amanda for the helpful edits.
There have been more people over many rewrites that have helped, so many that I’ve lost track. Each version is better.
Thank you.
C.A. Farelli created the new covers.
About the Author
I heal people and soothe souls for those that can’t be cured. I’m a fangirl. I believe in fairness and rescuing kitties from trees. You can depend on me. Book recommendations are the best gift next to a smile. Humour is a must. You live a lot to learn. Be kind.
Every Witch Demon but Mine (Maeren Series Book 1) Page 41
