Hidden Magic Trilogy Box Set

by Jayne Hawke

  “The life force was just stripped out of them,” Ethan said.

  “You can feel that?”

  He shrugged.

  “Cu sith are tied into death, remember. We might not wield death magic to the degree cait sidhe do, but we can still feel death.”

  “So, what did this?” I asked, gesturing to it all.

  “Most likely a witch. I can’t feel any fae ties to this, and the way they died seems all wrong. When a fae death worker kills someone, it’s clean. We strip the life essence right out of the physical shell, leaving no marks. It’s quick and precise. This was messy. I can feel fragments of life essence clinging to the edges of the body.”

  I had the most delightful morning conversations. Normal people crowded around a coffee machine discussing the latest TV show and who was screwing whom. Me? I was all about how people died and the fact that bits of their soul was left clinging to the cold bodies before me.

  “Ok, so why would a witch do this? It’s a bit ballsy, right?” I asked.

  Ethan stood up and frowned at the scene.

  “Yes, it is. There are rules about performing magic such as this. Doing something as big and dangerous risked the wrath of the knights,” Ethan said.

  “The knights are real?”

  I’d heard mention of them as a kid, but non-witches weren’t privy to the goings on of witches.

  “Yes. Although I think the name is quite dramatic and overdone, myself. The knights come from two different impartial covens. Their role is to keep the rest of the witches in line. This was too much. Killing innocents and an entire area like this is sure to bring the knights down on their heads,” Ethan said.

  “So why are we looking into it?” I asked.

  “Because it’s more interesting than being stuck in yet another business meeting,” Ethan said with a grin.

  I laughed.

  “Surely as the boss you don’t have to attend those.”

  He walked out of the circle, and I followed him.

  “Unfortunately, I need to attend some to make sure my businesses are running as they should be. And someone did ask us to look into this. An anonymous client contacted us and offered a very good payout if we found and caught the perpetrator before the knights did.”

  “I do like a challenge,” I said with a grin.

  FIVE

  We got back into Ethan’s car and I ran everything we knew through my mind.

  “So, what would cause a witch to get desperate enough to risk the wrath of the knights?” I asked.

  “They took a lot of life essence there; they could have been dying,” Ethan said.

  “Why not use a healing potion?”

  He stopped at a red light and looked over to me with a warm smile.

  “Maybe they didn’t have any on hand. Maybe it was for some form of curse that a healing potion couldn’t impact. Speaking of which, how are your injuries from the blood witches?”

  I wrinkled my nose and sighed.

  “Itchy. Really itchy. The awful silvery-red bits are still there, I’m beginning to regret combining the magic like that,” I said.

  He reached out and squeezed my hand.

  “A little discomfort is worth it. I’d rather you itched than were drained of blood.”

  “I guess when you put it like that, a bit of itchiness isn’t the end of the world.”

  We began moving again. The traffic was heavy that morning. I felt as though everyone was supposed to be in work already, most people worked in offices, shops and the like. It was too late for the school run. Turning the heaters up a bit, I rubbed my hands in front of them.

  “What about the perfect circle? Isn’t that weird?” I asked.

  “It is. Normally magic like that is ragged, especially if the witch is in a rush, which you would expect if they were dying themselves,” Ethan said.

  “So, they had time and planned it?”

  “Perhaps. It could have been done via ritual from somewhere else,” he said.

  “But wouldn’t that mean they planned it? So, they might have chosen those people specifically?”

  “Yes, they could have. I don’t know much about ritual magic. We’ll have to look at the library. Your mother has a good bit on ritual magic, doesn’t she?”

  “Yea, I think so. She has those ritual circles upstairs.”

  A shiver ran through me. What if she did things like the patch of death? I didn’t know much about ritual magic other than it was complicated and intense. I assumed it would have to be more powerful than other forms, otherwise there’d be no reason to do it. That raised the question of what major magic my mother wanted to bring into the world. I struggled against my inborn bias against blood magic and reminded myself that it was my mother and that if I’d been doing good with my own magic, she could have too.

  “If it was done via ritual, it means the witch is weaker than we initially thought, right? Rituals are used to focus magic when you need to do something complicated and big?” I asked.

  “I believe so, yes. I’m not sure if it being a weaker witch is a good thing, though. It could make them more desperate. A desperate witch is a very dangerous thing.”

  We’d headed to Ethan’s office and given the vials we’d collected to Matt’s mentor. I was surprised to see his mentor was a sidhe. I’d thought of alchemy as a human thing. The fae had their own inherent magic. The sidhe in particular were notorious for being very magic beings. It was said that a sidhe’s magic reflected and was affected by their personality.

  I made myself comfortable in a large armchair in Ethan’s office and flipped through the first of a heap of books he’d given me on ritual magic. They apparently had a well-stocked library at the office. As Ethan had some paperwork to handle, it seemed sensible to make use of that while he did the paperwork.

  The pages of the book were very thin and delicate. I felt as though I might break them as I turned each one. The writing was small and neat. Thankfully, it was very legible despite its size. The first few chapters were a basic introduction to the concept of ritual magic, and while interesting it wasn’t really relevant to what I needed to know. We had no idea if the patch of death was a desperate one off or the beginning of something more.

  My mind drifted to the mysterious anonymous client. Ethan’s people had run a background check on the dead people and found nothing remarkable. The woman in running clothes was the marketing manager for an internet company; the middle-aged man was a broker in one of Ryn’s banks in the city. The others had worked in fashion stores dotted around the city. They were looking for connections between them, but thus far there hadn’t been anything. They were just ordinary humans.

  Chewing on my bottom lip, I wondered if the fact they were all human was relevant. We lived in a diverse city with many fae, shifters, witches, part-breeds, and humans. Human blood certainly felt different to other forms of blood, so it made sense that their life essence would be different too.

  I began looking through the book for a section about the uses of different species’ life force. There wasn’t anything in the first couple of books, but I found something in the fourth. The slender book was bound in a beautiful cerulean leather that felt soft against my hands. It was a small section, but it gave me something to dig into.

  Every species’ life essence contains a different form of magic and must be handled accordingly. Fae life essence is a sharp crystalline thing that will slip back to the fae realm if given half a chance. Shifter essence is a collection of knotted ribbons which are difficult to untangle and best left to the very experienced. Witch essence is slippery and smoke-like, but human essence is the most useful. The human life essence is a distinct malleable essence that can be distilled should it be caught quickly. There is a very small period in which to capture the essence before it goes to the relevant underworld.

  It looked as though the humans had been chosen for their ease of use. That sounded great in theory, but it hadn’t really helped me figure out what was going on or why. It was lookin
g like I’d be spending the rest of the day with my nose in various books. At least they had amazing coffee in Ethan’s office so the day wouldn’t be entirely lost.

  SIX

  All I’d learnt was that human life essence was the preferred essence to use by witches and alchemists due to its malleability. That provided me with a dead end, as we already suspected the witch responsible was desperate, so they were just trying to make their life easier. Sighing, I carefully placed the books in a neat pile, ready to be returned to wherever they’d come from.

  Ethan crossed the room and pulled me into his arms. It had been a long day full of frustration, I needed a moment to escape from the world. His strong arms held me tight as I closed my eyes and allowed his scent to surround me.

  “You’d be bored if you figured it out immediately,” Ethan whispered.

  I looked up into his liquid gold eyes and tried not to laugh at the smirk playing across his mouth. He wasn’t wrong.

  A body fell down in front of the window behind Ethan. Shaking my head, I assumed it was just another attempted assassination. I stretched up and caressed Ethan’s lips with my own. It would have been easy to make good use of his strong desk, but the risks of someone walking in were too high. I liked fun in the bedroom, but I didn’t like the idea of someone watching.

  Ethan dug his fingers into my hair and kissed me with a ferocity that stole my breath away. Hunger lit his eyes in a way that made my chest constrict.

  “That’s the second assassin today. I threw him off the roof, so I’m not sure if the head’s intact. Are we still sending them if they’re mushed?” Cade asked casually.

  “I think so. It’ll further add to our point,” Ethan said.

  “We’re personally responsible for lowering the population count in York,” I said with a bitter laugh.

  How many assassins could Ryn and the other powerful fae have at their disposal? They clearly didn’t care how many of them died. I hoped that Sin had survived his meeting with his lady. I was getting used to his being around.

  The house smelled of vanilla, cinnamon, and something I couldn’t place when I walked in. At first I thought Kerry had been baking. When I walked into the kitchen expecting to see some fresh muffins or cookies, I stopped dead just inside the doorway. Sin was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the kitchen table with a pair of enfields sitting patiently waiting for him to throw some mince pie to them.

  “Why are there enfields in my house?” Ethan growled from behind me.

  Sin looked up at him with a frown.

  “Why wouldn’t there be?”

  Ethan sighed as murderous intent crossed his features.

  “Because they are not pack,” Ethan said through gritted teeth.

  Sin tossed each of the enfields an entire mince pie. The small pies made of light sweet pastry with a rich fruit mince filling flew through the air and were caught by the huge fox creatures. I’d heard that enfields were fearsome guard animals, but I’d never seen one in person before. They were tall and lean with the head and body of a fox and the front legs and wings of a large dark eagle. When they stood, their shoulder came almost up to the bottom of my ribs. I didn’t like the way they looked at me with sharp intelligent eyes. There was no obvious malice there, but there was more than enough intelligence for them to cause trouble.

  The closest enfield, with a white-tipped tail, took a step towards me, its long talons clicking on the floor as it did so. Those talons would rip through my flesh with ease if it wanted. The creature tilted its fox head and grinned at me.

  “No,” Ethan said flatly.

  Sin unfolded his legs and stood up with the grace of a prima ballerina.

  “Do you not think we could use guard dogs?”

  “No, I do not,” Ethan said through gritted teeth.

  “They’re very easy to keep, and with the number of attempts on your girlfriend’s life I thought you’d appreciate their presence,” he said as he stepped down off the table.

  “Stop bullshitting,” Ethan said.

  “Fine. They’re for Matt. The boy is the best of you and I’d rather not see him come to harm,” Sin said with a huff.

  The enfields moved to sit on either side of him. Sin idly rubbed behind their ears, causing them both to half close their eyes and smile.

  “What’s for me?” Matt asked as he leaned around Ethan to get a look. “Enfields! That is so freaking cool! Can I pet one?”

  We were doomed.

  “I think they would like that,” Sin said.

  Matt walked around us and petted the enfields with great enthusiasm.

  “We’re keeping them, right?” Matt said to Ethan.

  “Yes.”

  “No.”

  Sin and Ethan spoke simultaneously.

  “The young alchemist would be safer with them nearby,” Sin said.

  “He’s plenty safe enough with his mentors,” Ethan said.

  “I would feel better if the enfields watched over him,” Kerry said.

  I turned to see her wiping blood from her cheek.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “A bean finn tried to take Matt as we walked home,” Kerry said flatly.

  “I thought they only went after human children,” I said.

  “If you make them a good enough deal, they’ll go after anyone and anything,” Kerry said.

  Ethan growled.

  “Fine. Make sure they’re well fed and keep them out of the way. They are not allowed on the furniture,” Ethan said to Sin grudgingly.

  Matt looked like all of his birthdays and Solstices had come at once. I had to admit, I did feel a bit better knowing he had the fox creatures watching over him.

  SEVEN

  Sin had been put on cooking duty for dinner. The enfields were patrolling outside. I hoped that the strangled scream was from an assassin not some innocent out for an evening walk. Matt was talking to Cade very enthusiastically about some alchemical thing that he’d learnt that day. His face was alight with happiness and joy, as I’d dreamed of for years.

  “This is where you belong, both of you,” Ethan said with a warm smile as he put his arm around my waist.

  I leaned into him and watched Matt gesture with his hands as his grin grew wider. I didn’t understand a word of what he was saying, but his happiness radiated off him. It really did feel as though we were where we were meant to be. The pack was a natural fit. Things weren’t as smooth and easy as I’d have liked, but they were outside concerns. Life within the pack was better than I ever dared hoped my life could have been.

  Sin called everyone into the kitchen, where I found a very autumnal feast. Then it hit me, the winter Solstice wasn’t that far off. I hadn’t even thought about what I was going to get everyone. The winter Solstice was the biggest holiday of the year, followed by Samhain. I’d worked Samhain, which was no surprise. The veils between the planes thinned during the night of Samhain, which led to all sorts of misbehaviour, from witches trying to steal fae magic through to shifters going wild from the shift in the veils.

  The Solstice was focused on families and friends. Everyone came together and told stories around the Yule log, which burnt for 24 hours. In the modern era, the stories were often more sitting in front of the TV and watching movies together, but I enjoyed the warmth and cosiness of it all.

  Sin had made us stuffed mushrooms with venison steaks and roasted vegetables. The elf’s food was beyond incredible. He should have been a chef, not an assassin.

  “Someone has made a challenge for my bond. A fallen,” Sin said casually.

  “What does that mean? A fallen, really?” I asked.

  “Yes, a fallen. And it means that if you wish to make the challenge yourself, you need to move quickly,” Sin said.

  “Why would a fallen god want the bond of an elf assassin?” Matt asked.

  “For nothing good,” Ethan said.

  “I didn’t think fallen engaged in anything like that? They’re supposed to stay hidden. Too many people wan
t to steal their magic or kill them,” I said.

  My father had instilled the importance of hiding my magic and my heritage within me from a young age. Fallen were not to reveal what they were unless they had no choice. There were far too many beings in the world who would drain one dry or try and kill them. I was pretty sure fallen couldn’t be killed any more than the gods on the god plane could be killed, but that wasn’t something I wanted to be tested on my father.

  A pang of sadness hit me. Father was out there somewhere. I had no idea why or to where he had disappeared. There was a reasonable chance that the hounds had taken him and he was hooked up to those awful machines having his magic constantly drained and routed to the gods above and below.

  “There will always be those who enjoy taking risks,” Dean said.

  “I’ll make the challenge tomorrow morning,” Ethan said.

  Sin relaxed a little, his shoulders straightened, and a flicker of a smile formed.

  “Did you seriously give those enfields all of the mince pies? There isn’t a single one left?” Kerry asked as she looked through the cupboards.

  “They were hungry,” Sin said with a shrug.

  “They’re foxes, you could have given them some rabbits or something,” Kerry said with a huff.

  “They’re fond of mince pies. If you sit up and beg then I might consider making you a few next time,” Sin said with a wicked grin.

  Kerry glared daggers at him, which only made the elf laugh.

  “Be grateful it wasn’t dobhar chu he brought home,” Dean said gruffly.

  Sin’s expression turned thoughtful.

  “No,” everyone said in unison.

  “They would be very good guard animals...” Sin said.

  “Guard animals aren’t supposed to try and eat those they’re guarding,” I said.

  “They’d keep you fit and on your toes,” Sin said with a shrug.