Witch's Reign

by Shannon Mayer

  “I took this from you, Zamira, so you could see that the curse laid on you could be used for good.” He sighed. “You’re stronger than any of the Jinn want to believe.”

  I grabbed the chain that held my father’s ring on it, the etched lion’s face that sometimes seemed to wink up at me. The ring Ish had given me to help me no longer be the curse I was on everyone else. He’d taken it from me when he’d stripped me at the river. That was the only time it could have happened.

  “And what, were you sent to kill me then?”

  “No, I was sent to kill Steve and Bryce,” he said. “I took the job but—”

  “Enough!” I roared the word at him, unable to stand any more of his lies. “Enough,” I said softer.

  I tugged on Batman to follow me and Balder, but he jerked his head and snatched the reins from me. He walked over to the Jinn and put his head down, asking for a touch from him.

  I couldn’t stop Maks from taking the horse, and I didn’t want to kill him. I mean, I did. But I didn’t.

  So, I did the best I could. I turned my back on him and urged Balder into a gallop. I had to find Darcy, Steve, and Kiara. And why hadn’t they waited at the horses for me? Once we found them . . . what then? Would I tell Steve who Maks really was?

  Part of me wanted to, the other part was torn and wanted so badly to believe that Maks wasn’t the absolute asshole that every other Jinn was. Which was stupid, and childish. Stupid. I looked back only once to see that Maks was not behind me. Which was good, and hurt me more than I cared to admit. I rode hard, the sounds of the dragons taking their place in the north echoing through the air around us, announcing their arrival.

  I found the three lion shifters two miles south of the castle. They were all in lion form, but Darcy was slower than the other two and they were not waiting for her to keep up. I slid from the saddle as I drew beside her dulled tawny form. She stumbled in the snow, her reserves so low, I could count every rib and vertebrae. For her to shift back she would use the last of her energy, but it had to be done. Balder was strong, but he couldn’t carry a full-grown lion.

  “Darcy, shift.” I gave the command and she did without question as if I were truly her alpha. She stood in the cold snow shivering, buck naked, and I stripped down, giving her my warm clothes one piece at a time. I had no others left, and quite frankly this was better for multiple reasons. Steve and Kiara hadn’t done more than glance back at us, which meant they hadn’t noticed I had the sapphire. And in my smaller form, I could hide both myself and the jewel. Lick my wounds as it were.

  As soon as all my clothes were off, naked but for my weapons and the necklace back in place, the ring dangling between my breasts, I helped Darcy into the saddle and then shifted.

  What would she say when she found out that Maks was a Jinn? That she’d been kind to him and he’d used us?

  A tiny part of my brain said he had come back to help me, so that said something, didn’t it? Except that his coming back had only been to get permission to leave, to escape the wall.

  Darcy settled onto Balder and I leapt up, crawling into the back of the hood and clinging to her.

  She reached up and touched my head. “Thank you, Zam. You saved us. You saved us all.”

  Only she was wrong, I hadn’t saved us all. Lila was still out there, and I essentially let the enemy go, sent him on his way with one of our best horses and more information about us than the Jinn had ever had before.

  So they could come for us, unaware in the dead of the night, and finish what they’d started so many years ago.

  I closed my eyes and shuddered. There would be time to decide if that was going to happen or not. Until then, it was just one foot—or paw—in front of the other until we were home again.

  The journey back to the Caspian Sea took two weeks. We had to keep it that long to avoid running into the Jinn if they turned and headed south. Kiara and Steve did the hunting, and for the first time in my life, I stayed in my cat form for more than a few hours. Steve and Kiara poked fun at me, but I ignored them. I’d done more in this form than they’d managed in their big-ass lion forms and I wasn’t about to forget it, or let them forget it. Each day the hours of light stretched longer and the temperature rose. Mind you, it didn’t turn into the heat of the desert, but it warmed above freezing which was a bonus.

  We went wide around the Dragon’s Ground now that we had the extra time, avoiding the virtual death trap waiting for us there. And without my curse actively working, the trip was straightforward.

  I found myself staring at the tall trees just dusted with fresh snow as we turned east, away from Dragon’s Ground. My heart ached as I thought of Lila, of where she’d gone, and if she was even still alive. I tucked my nose against Darcy’s neck. I knew what it was to want your family to love you. I didn’t blame her for what she’d done, not in the least. I just didn’t want her to suffer for it.

  “What is it?” she whispered, her voice and throat still raw from the chains that had held her for weeks on end.

  “Lila. She . . . she left to protect us and I’m worried about her.”

  Darcy pulled Balder to a stop. “Do you want to go find her?”

  I blinked up at my friend. “I do, but I don’t know where to start. And . . . she is worried that the dragons will seek her out, that they will kill us if we try to help her.” I’d told her about Lila’s part in my journey already so she knew the bond that was there.

  Darcy frowned. “She seems to be awfully important for someone so disliked. Is it possible there was more to her than she let on?”

  She had a very good point. If Lila had just been a nobody, why would any of the dragons care if she was alive still? What was really going on? I thought back to what Merlin had said about us both, about being daughters of important males, of the alphas. Was that why she was so hated?

  “We’ll get you home first,” I said. “Then I’ll figure out how to help Lila.”

  That awful twisting in my gut, that had started when Lila left us, eased. I would find her, even if it took me years. I was good at finding jewels, and Lila was, if nothing else, one of the best treasures I’d ever stumbled on.

  When the first glimmer of the Caspian Sea came into view, Steve let out a roar that echoed through the air, Kiara joining him.

  There were a few answering bellows, and he glanced over his golden shoulder. “What, no welcoming home roar, Zam?”

  “You’re a dirty bastard,” Darcy growled. “You’re lucky she let you out of that cage at all.”

  “That’s not how I remember it, is it? Kiara, how do you remember it? Weren’t you and I the ones to rescue Darcy and Zam?” He glanced at his mate and she bobbed her head, and wouldn’t meet my gaze. But I didn’t care. I had the sapphire, which meant everything Steve said would be negated the second I handed it to Ish.

  “Let them go ahead, I want to talk to you anyway,” I said quietly so only Darcy heard me.

  She held Balder back as the two lions raced toward the Stockyards that was our home. But it didn’t feel like a homecoming, not to me. For the first time, I didn’t want to walk through those doors.

  I hopped off Darcy’s shoulder and landed on the front pommel of the saddle. There had been something I’d been thinking about for the last two weeks, and no matter how I looked at it, there was only one real answer. I drew a breath before I spoke. “Let him spin his story. I don’t care about that. But . . . the Ice Witch said she thought her sister would come for us. Does that mean Ish is her sister? Because who else would she mean?”

  Darcy sucked in a sharp breath. “I have no idea.” She glanced at me. “What do you think? I never actually met the Ice Witch. You did.”

  I didn’t move because I’d seen the eyes of the Ice Witch up close. Madness ruled her, power and madness. But the lines of her face. The leanness of her body, they were similar enough to Ish that it was possible. I just didn’t know who to trust. Because every damn time I did, I was betrayed.

  I swallowed hard but it
was Darcy who broke the silence. “Ish is our friend, our mentor, and in some cases, the only mother we’ve known. I can’t believe she would be anything but a good steward of whatever power were to come her way.”

  I agreed with her.

  And I didn’t.

  Because there had been a moment before I’d left, when I’d seen the fury in Ish when she thought the sapphire would not come back to her, that somehow it was lost. I made myself say the words that were so often dreaded by those around me when they came from my mouth.

  “I have an idea.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  In the end, Darcy and I decided to not tell Ish we had the sapphire, to keep it to ourselves. I would gauge Ish’s reaction. That was the only way to know what was important to her. Our lives, or the jewels we sought for her.

  We rode the rest of the way to the Stockyards and around to the stable. I hopped off Balder’s back and ran through his stall and up to the window that led into my room so I could get some clothes. I shifted and stumbled, nausea rolling over me in a wave so intense, I had to go to my knees on the stone-cold floor.

  Something was wrong, not with me, but this place. I lifted my head and scented the air . . . lions and blood. That was not a good sign. I scrambled for my clothes, yanking on shirt, pants and boots as fast as I could. I slid my weapons on in their sheaths and put the sapphire under my shirt and tucked it into the back of my belt. Hidden for the moment. I hoped we were wrong about Ish.

  I’d never felt the need to walk around covered in my weapons here in the Stockyards before but . . . this homecoming was different . . . dangerous. I touched the necklace for reassurance.

  With a deep breath, I reached for the door and let myself into the hall. There was a shout that drew me toward Ish’s receiving room, a shout that sounded like Steve crying out in pain.

  I didn’t run, but I did pick up my pace. Darcy stepped out of the hallway across from me, and we fell into step together.

  “Ready?” I glanced at her and she nodded. Her golden eyes were no longer dulled from her confinement, and while she was hardly at her fighting weight, she was no longer completely emaciated.

  The main doors to the receiving room rattled suddenly, drawing our eyes to it.

  There was a second thud and then the door blasted open. Behind it was not a scene I expected, not at all. Steve and Kiara were laid out on the floor. Ish stood above them, her lean body ramrod straight. “You failed me, lion,” she said. Her voice echoed through the room and reverberated into my bones. Steve tried to get up and Ish pointed a finger at him, one that glittered with the stone from the giants.

  A wave of power rocked from her hand and slammed into him, pinning him to the floor. He groaned. “Do what you will to me, but let Kiara live.”

  I stepped into the room and Ish’s eyes swept to me and Darcy. “I see . . . you went against what I wanted and you brought your friend back. Did you at least attempt to gather the stone I need?”

  I’d never heard her like this, mean and desperate. I glanced at Darcy and knew we were in trouble. “We tried to get the stone, but the Witch flew away with it.” I wasn’t sure I wanted to ask her if the Ice Witch was her sister right then in the middle of her rage.

  I swallowed hard. “I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry does nothing for me,” she said. Her words whispered over me like the sands of the desert. Darcy stepped up beside me.

  “Ish, we have others we can collect.”

  “You think you can fight the dragons for their gemstone?” Ish’s eyebrows went up.

  Darcy bobbed her head. “Send all of us. Steve, Kiara, myself, Zam and one other.”

  “Bryce,” I said. “He can help with the strategy. He’s better at that than anyone else.”

  I knew we were gambling, but what else did we have? Something was wrong with Ish, and we needed distance between her and us. The staff and the sapphire seemed to heat against the skin of my back, reminding me that I could hand it over. That I should hand it over. For the first time, I’d be able to prove that Steve was not the hero, that I was strong enough. Even though I was small, I was fierce. A smile tugged at my lips. “We have a friend there, a small dragon.”

  Ish’s eyebrows drew into two sharp slashes. “We do not become friends with the enemy, Zamira. Surely your father taught you that much? Have I not drilled into your skull that we are not like the others?”

  Ice seemed to grow like a lump in my belly. “She’s an insider we can use. And they have no love for her.”

  Ish stood over Steve’s body and stared down at him. “Kiara will stay with me here. As assurance. And for her delicate state, she shouldn’t be running around.”

  Delicate state, what the hell did she mean? It took me a moment to catch on. If I thought I had a pit of ice in my belly before, it was nothing to the valley that opened inside me. Not that I thought Steve and I would ever be together again, it wasn’t like that at all.

  More like I realized yet again, I was somehow failing the grade, that a veritable child was able to produce a cub when I couldn’t even . . . no, not the time to go there. I clenched my jaw. “Fine. That’s fine.”

  The words were like glass shards to speak, but speak them I did. “But I want to lead the group,” I added. “And I need you to say it so Steve will listen to me.”

  Ish tipped her head to the side. “Kiara, you went with Steve to watch them all for me. Will she be a good leader?”

  Oh, hell no.

  I made myself turn to look at Kiara, but she kept her eyes locked on Ish’s face, her expression giving nothing away. “Steve led us. He freed us from the dungeon no matter what she might say. He is the alpha. He should be the one to lead.”

  Even though I’d known it was coming, I was still surprised. Still shocked that she could lie straight to Ish’s face.

  “You’re fucking kidding me,” Darcy gasped.

  I said nothing. I knew how this would go and it really didn’t matter.

  “Steve will lead you all then. As he has done so well in the past.” Ish folded her arms and drummed her fingers along them. “Go then, take what you need. Get me the emerald stone from the dragons to make up for this folly.” She turned and then looked back over my shoulder. “But you cannot take Bryce.”

  “Why?” The single-word question burst out of me. I had to get my brother away from her, I felt it in my bones.

  “Because he’s not here,” she said. “The rumors of the dragon’s healing abilities were too strong and when you were gone for weeks, he didn’t believe you would be coming back. He left, heading for Dragon’s Ground.”

  I slowly sank to my knees, unable to believe what I was hearing. Ish had to be wrong, she had to be, because Bryce on his own would never survive.

  I reached up to touch the necklace, thinking that perhaps it had fallen off. But the silver lion’s head was there, holding my curse at bay. Which meant what was happening had nothing to do with the Jinn.

  For just a moment, I wished Maks was there, that I could count on him to be the rock I needed, forgetting what he was. That he’d lied to me. That he was my sworn enemy.

  I also took note that Ish didn’t even ask about him. She had to believe that he was human and had died on the trip, and . . . she didn’t care. That curled a stroke of unease down my spine. Ish was changing.

  I didn’t like it.

  Darcy was speaking to me, Steve barking orders to get out, pack up, and be ready to leave by nightfall. And I knew, I just knew that something bad was going to happen. We never rushed from one job to another, but Ish was pushing us like something was pushing her.

  Merlin’s words came back to me. The emperor . . . was that what was driving Ish? I stared at her face, trying to read her. Trying to see if there was any fear in the quiver of a muscle, or the twitch of her eyes. But she was motionless, watching us with the predatory gaze of a hunting hawk.

  Darcy helped me walk to my room. “We’ll find him, Zam. We will.”

  I wanted to be
lieve her, and a part of me did. I was just certain we would find him in bits and pieces scattered across Dragon’s Ground.

  “Steve doesn’t know about the Jinn coming for us at the castle,” I said, feeling the weight of the world crushing on my shoulders. “He doesn’t know we’ll be riding straight into their path. Bryce could be riding right into their path.”

  “Then we must convince him,” Darcy said. “We have to.”

  Her unspoken words were between us. We had to, or the last of the Bright Lions of the desert would finally be wiped out by the Jinn.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Merlin stared into the crystal ball, tension running through his body as he watched Zamira face down Ish. “She kept the sapphire from her.”

  “That’s good,” Flora said softly. “I wasn’t sure she would.”

  The thing was, Merlin wanted Ish to have that stone. But he didn’t want Flora to know that, not yet. “She’s smart and strong. She just must find her way through the layers that have been laid on her. She barely dodged the Jinn. Barely dodged the Ice Witch’s trap to hold her there for them, but she did it. Hell, she even bested the White Raven.” He touched the crystal ball, watching as the group scattered, prepping to go back to the Dragon’s Ground.

  Flora shuddered. “The emperor will know very soon what is happening. Maggi has gone to try and wake him. I’m sure of it.”

  Merlin nodded, holding back a shudder of fear. “I agree. She always was a tattletale.”

  An unexpected roll of premonition washed through him and he spoke before he could catch the words and soften them. “Someone is going to die in the Dragon’s Ground, Flora. Someone we need to stay alive.”

  Her eyes snapped to him. “Are you sure?”

  He closed his eyes, seeing the death clearly, seeing the body torn apart by dragons as Zamira sunk to the snow, sorrow breaking her as nothing else could have.