by Nadia Heaton
Immortal Vengeance
Flames of the Sea - Book 3
Nadia Heaton
Copyright © 2019 by Nadia Heaton and Southern Heat Publishing
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
Nadia Heaton
Immortal Vengeance
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
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Immortal Vengeance
Book 3 - Flames of the Sea Series
Nadia Heaton
1
Lisette clutched the flowers, pasting a smile onto her face. Why wasn’t she on cloud nine? It was her wedding day! Why wasn’t she glowing like every bride did? She grew even more uncomfortable as she questioned herself. This was supposed to be the happiest day of her life.
“Lis? You ok?” Fleur was draping her veil properly, so that it cascaded down Lisette’s back like the foam on the top of a waterfall.
“I’m fine.”
“If you’re not sure about this…”
“I’m sure, Bethany, how many times do I have to tell you?” Lisette hadn’t meant to snap, but she was stressed and confused, and the last thing she needed was her sisters echoing her own doubts—the very same doubts she was trying so hard to suppress.
Lisette specialized in magic having to do with love and lust. This was what she was good at… only, she wasn’t sure she was good at it. Yes, she could give great advice to others, but when it came to herself, nothing seemed to stick. She’d fallen in love more times than she could count, and fallen hard. She’d also always fallen back out of love.
She didn’t know when her feelings for Teo had started to… nope, she wasn’t going down that road. It was too late to back out now. Everyone they knew was waiting in the church for them. This was just nerves. Everyone got nervous before their wedding, right? It was normal.
Perhaps reliving their happiest memories would help. Lisette turned to Tristan, her youngest sister. “Did I tell you about how Teo and I met?”
“It was at a carnival, right?” Tristan knew this story, having heard it many times, but she was gracious enough to pretend not to remember the details, allowing Lisette to immerse herself in memories as she spoke.
“It was the one in Italy. I’d been invited by another coven to perform – a mixture of magic and singing. It was truly magical. Witches don’t often get to practice their craft in public like that, but in a carnival setting, people assume that any magic they see is just smoke and mirrors.”
“It sounds wonderful.” Tristan was a good audience, giving Bethany a quelling look when it looked like their stepsister might interrupt.
“Teo first saw me on stage. He told me later that he felt like he’d been enchanted by my beauty and my voice. I never admitted to him that there was actual magic involved, though, of course, I never cast a love spell on him. That happened by itself.”
Lisette smiled vaguely as she remembered those early days. She’d quickly fallen madly in love with Teo. Within months, they were engaged. She couldn’t have been happier. When her happiness had started to fade, Lisette chalked it up to the end of the honeymoon period. She still loved Teo. She had to.
As much as her sisters thought she enjoyed constantly falling in and out of love, Lisette was getting tired of it. She did it like it was her job, but she hardly needed any more research into her specialty. She was ready to settle down with the right person. There was no reason to distance herself as she usually did, and she’d fought against the urge to do that with Teo.
It had happened anyway, but surely, this would fix it. After the wedding, their feelings for each other would be renewed and heightened. Lisette had watched it happen for many couples.
“Is his whole family here?” Fleur asked, her mouth twisting in distaste.
“Yes, and before you ask, the answer is no, Fleur. I know his mother is a pain, but you’re not hexing her, even just for fun.”
“She burned Teo’s copies of Harry Potter because she said they were the work of the devil! How do you think she’s going to react when she realizes he has married an actual witch?”
“She’s not going to realize that, because even Teo doesn’t know. I’ve told him I’m into Wicca, but he’s Catholic, like the rest of his family. He doesn’t believe in magic, despite the exposure he’s had. He chooses not to believe, and I let him do it. His mother isn’t going to cause any trouble. We should be more worried about Mirabelle.”
That succeeded in diverting her sisters’ attention. Both Bethany and Fleur scowled.
“If she makes one more snide remark about Savion, I’m going to put permanent itching powder on every item of clothing she owns,” Fleur growled.
“Deal.” Bethany looked just as put out. “I’ll distract her while you do it. Jermaine has tried so hard to be polite to her, but she just can’t look past the fact that he and Savion are vampires.”
Lisette let them rant, nodding here and there. She knew Mirabelle was rather extreme, but it wasn’t like Lisette was a fan of vampires. She’d gotten somewhat used to them, considering that two of her sisters were in love with vampires, but that didn’t mean she liked them.
She knew they weren’t bad, and would fight to protect Jermaine and Savion, but Lisette would honestly be perfectly happy never to see a vampire again. Too bad it wasn’t possible, given that Fleur and Bethany weren’t going to leave their boyfriends anytime soon.
It didn’t take long for her sisters to figure out her game and stop complaining about Mirabelle. They turned their attention back to Lisette, fussing over her hair and makeup.
“How much longer?” she asked, mostly to fill the sudden silence.
“Ten minutes.” Bethany’s voice was slightly hushed. “What do you need, Lis?”
Lisette hesitated. It wasn’t an idle offer. If she told Bethany she needed an escape route, she knew her sisters would provide.
She’d been engaged before. When she asked for an escape route from her wedding with Mark several years back, Bethany had allowed Fleur and Tristan to use magic to rupture her appendix. The wedding was put on hold while Bethany was rushed to hospital, giving Lisette time to figure out how to let Mark down gently.
“I’m going through with this. I need your support.” Perhaps she was insane, but Lisette was tired of moving from relationship to relationship. Teo was a good guy, and he adored her. They could make things work between them. Surely, they would be able to recapture those wonderful early days.
“Then you have it.” Fleur kissed her cheek lightly, careful not to mess her makeup. “Hold my flowers for me, we need to get dressed.”
Lisette positioned bunches of flowers in her arms as
Fleur, Tristan and Bethany got into their bridesmaid dresses, pulling them carefully over their hair. After a few minutes spent adjusting, everyone took their flowers back. There was nothing to do but wait.
Tristan slipped out to check in with their mom, who was coordinating from the other side – making sure the crowd was seated, that the pastor was ready, and Teo and his family were in place. Lisette wondered if Teo was having second thoughts. They’d barely spent any time together in the last week. She’d claimed it was because of wedding planning, but really, she’d been avoiding him.
After this, there would be no avoiding him. Lisette brought her mind back to when she’d first met him, to that whirlwind of love she was so accustomed to. It was almost addictive, though the fall afterward was certainly not pleasant.
Tristan popped her head back in. “It’s time. Come on, Lis.”
The music started just as the four of them exited the dressing room. Tristan went first, followed by Fleur and then Bethany. They’d practiced this, and Lisette knew what to do. She waited a for a few beats of the traditional wedding march to come, then stepped into the aisle.
Everyone was looking at her – everyone except Mirabelle. Mirabelle was too busy glaring at Jermaine and Savion to focus on anything else. Lisette should have been annoyed, but her own nerves were rising in a crescendo inside her, leaving her unable to feel anything else.
Teo was waiting at the altar. Even from here, she could see him beaming at her. Lisette saw love and devotion in his eyes. She reached into herself, trying to feel the same thing… and came up empty.
Her step faltered. The music went on, but Lisette had come to a shaky halt. What was she doing? She didn’t love Teo, not anymore. Despite her best attempts to pretend otherwise, her relationship with him had gone just like these things always went for her. She’ fallen for him, and then her feelings faded.
The music went on, but some of the guests were murmuring to each other, staring hard at Lisette. She tried to force her feet forward, but they wouldn’t go. She couldn’t go step forward, but she couldn’t stay frozen in place. There was only one thing to do – the thing she’d been wanting to do all day, if she was being honest with herself.
Lisette turned on her heel and ran.
One of the guests – some family member of Teo’s whose name she didn’t remember – stood up to intercept her, but he was pushed back by a strong gust of wind that came out of nowhere. Lisette didn’t know if it had been Fleur or Tristan who conjured the wind up in the still church, but she was grateful.
Pulling her skirts up in her hands so that she didn’t fall, Lisette ran. No one followed, no doubt thanks to her sisters. She sped into the parking lot and kept running. Lisette was panicking now. She had to get away. What was she going to say to everyone? They were all waiting for her, and she’d just turned around and disappeared on them.
She had to get out of there, but she didn’t have the keys to the car that she arrived in. Bethany had those, and Bethany couldn’t magic them into Lisette’s pocket. Besides, Lisette probably wasn’t capable of driving in a wedding dress or heels anyway.
Her dress and veil streamed out behind her, and Lisette was supremely grateful that they’d booked a church with a large surrounding estate for the wedding. There were no strangers going about their day to witness the scene.
Unsure of what else to do, Lisette ran.
2
Even when her mind was spinning, some part of her knew what to do. Lisette’s magic took hold without her speaking a word of incantation. It sometimes happened in times of great stress, and right now, it couldn’t have been more welcome.
She squeaked as she was propelled into the air by an invisible force, without the support of a broomstick to help her aim. Lisette wasn’t entirely in control; she could only hope that she wasn’t dropped while in midair.
Instead of trying to stop it, she embraced the magic, urging it to carry her away. Lisette did her best to control it, mainly focusing on not falling rather than going in any particular direction. As long as she was headed away from her wedding, she was happy.
Lisette only became truly alarmed when she started to see the ocean below her. Salt water was deadly to witches. She needed to stop this flight right now; she couldn’t afford to be out over salt water when her adrenaline fueled magical flight ran out of juice.
There. Tall cliffs stretched out over the sea below. Lisette directed herself there, grabbing the errant magic and wrangling it into submission. She wasn’t a child. She could control this. The grass came up at her too quickly, but at least it was grass and not water. Healing a broken bone was easy enough. If she landed in the water, there would be no healing herself.
Lisette practically fainted in relief when she smashed down onto the grass right near the edge of the cliff. She quickly rolled away from the edge, making sure she wasn’t in any danger of falling off. Her ankle throbbed, but it seemed sprained rather than broken, at least. She murmured a quick healing spell, which had the swollen joint returning to normal in seconds.
After spending a few minutes catching her breath, Lisette looked around. There was a modern looking glass paned house not far from her, with a helicopter sitting next to it. The cliff edge she was on was covered in grass and wildflowers. Closer to the house, the grass became a more organized lawn with flowerbeds and trimmed bushes.
She could only hope that whoever lived there didn’t see her. There were a few trees between her and the house, which were probably good enough to obstruct a clear line of vision. Lisette didn’t know whose property she was trespassing on, or how she was going to explain to them how she’d gotten here.
She’d have to worry about that later, though. Now, all Lisette could think of was her wedding, and her cowardly flight away from it. What was wrong with her? She’d known for a while she didn’t want to marry Teo. It was no excuse that she’d buried the realization so deep in her mind she could barely see it herself.
Tears sprang from her eyes, and Lisette didn’t try to stop them. How was she ever going to face her family again? How could she explain this? Worse, what would she say to Teo’s family?
Lisette slumped down on the grass, sobbing into her arms. What a mess she’d made of everything. Her sisters would forgive her after they were done saying ‘I told you so’, but everyone else… she had no idea what their reactions would be, and she didn’t want to find out.
Maybe she could just stay here, she thought to herself Make a little shack on the edge of this cliff and hope the owner of the glass house didn’t notice her. In that moment, it was an inviting prospect. Lisette gave a humorless chuckle.
She knew she couldn’t stay, but that didn’t mean she had to go home. No doubt, she would have to, eventually. She’d miss her family and coven in the end. For now, though, there was nothing saying she couldn’t go into hiding until she felt ready to face the world again. It really wouldn’t be fair to Teo, but nothing about the situation seemed fair to anyone, even herself.
Very reluctantly, Lisette brought her thoughts back to Teo. He must be so embarrassed – not to mention livid. If it had been the other way around, and he’d run out on her, her sisters would have been lucky to find enough pieces of him to enact their vengeance on.
She should call him, try to explain… but how could she? There was no excuse. She should have called off the engagement months ago. This whole situation was entirely her fault. Her sisters had tried to warn her, but Lisette had brushed them off, and now she was paying the price.
Her tears picked up again as she remembered some of the good times with Teo. There had been good times before things had paled from her side, there was no denying that. He’d been good to her, and he deserved her love. He’d been secretive at times, but she was hardly one to talk in that respect. Whatever his secret was, it couldn’t be bigger than her own. She was a witch, not just someone into new age nonsense that had no real power, like Teo thought she was.
Why couldn’t she have just stayed in love f
or once, like a normal person? Hell, even Fleur had found love, and Fleur had sworn she had no interest in men or relationships. She and Savion hadn’t been together for long, but Lisette could tell that the two of them would be. She sighed, wishing she had similar insight about herself and her own relationships.
Lisette went through the scene in her head, wondering if there was anything she could have done differently. Her sisters had tried to warn her, but she’d stubbornly denied it until it slapped her in the face. Standing there in that church, she’d suddenly realized that this wasn’t the life she was meant to live.
Teo had been accepting of her ‘wiccan interests’, but his family most certainly wasn’t. As sad as it was to admit, Lisette knew that part of his attraction to her was about rebelling against his family and his own Catholic faith. Not all of it, but definitely part.
In the end, though, she suspected he would come back around to his family’s way of thinking. Once they were married, he would probably have tried to change her, especially if they had children. He would have wanted them brought up in his faith and kept far away from any hints of magic.
They might still have had some good times, but she would always have had to watch her step around him and his family, and that wasn’t what Lisette wanted. She wasn’t sure why she’d never trusted Teo enough to tell him the full truth about her, even at the height of their passion for each other. Maybe some part of her had always known he wasn’t the one. If there even was a ‘one’ for her.
