Royal Covens 1-3 Read online

  I glanced back at the males who continued to act as if nothing was going on. Either they weren’t really here, or…

  The spires. I counted four of them and there also were four guys. That wasn’t a coincidence. Their spirits were safe and sound in those spires which didn’t show the slightest crack as the rest of the world tumbled to pieces. If I couldn’t ground myself in my magic… I could ground myself in theirs.

  Taking a chance, I bolted towards one of the pillars and smeared the blood from my cut hand over the stone. I winced as the rough surface snagged against my wound.

  Turning back to the warlocks, I held my breath and waited.

  Switchblade guy froze with his knife poised midair as his gaze snapped to me, pinning me to the spot. I sucked in a breath. Fuck yes. It was working.

  Not wasting any time, I ran to the next pillar and sliced another cut on my palm, biting my lip down on a cry as I smeared fresh blood across the stone.

  There was a distinct sensation of another set of eyes on me, as well as a refreshing solid feeling under my feet, so I hurried onto the next one. I was performing an unorthodox grounding spell, one that probably had some nasty side effects, but at least I wouldn’t be dead.

  By the time I bloodied the last pillar, the air around me cracked like a spiderweb and I knew I would have been dead by now had I not acted fast. Sweat gathered at my hairline and I held my bleeding, mangled hand to my chest, glad that even if I was no good at spells, I could at least be scrappy about using other people’s magic. I was like the hoodlum of Wicca. That had a ring to it.

  All of the warlocks were staring at me now in deadly silence. I glared right back at them. “What?” I snapped. “You think I’m just going to let whoever wants me dead win? Don’t be a bunch of dumbasses.”

  The refined one raised a brow. Okay, so, they could hear me now.

  Mr. Switchblade flashed his knife in an expert move, flicking the two handles so that they snapped into place and tucked the blade safely away. He marched up to me and my mouth went dry. My head came up to his chest and I had to arch my neck back to match his angry gaze. “Who are you?” he snapped as if I’d intruded on a private cocktail party.

  I was about to retort something snarky like, “Your worst nightmare,” with my best monster-voice, but dizziness swept through me as the vision finally crumbled. I grabbed my head and collapsed to the ground as blackness devoured me.

  Maybe I was going to die after all.

  Race You Home!

  I woke up to Sparkles standing on my chest. He meowed bloody murder and nipped at my wounded hand. “Ow!” I cried and shot up, sending the cat launching into the air.

  He landed deftly on his feet and glowered at me with green eyes that sparked with magic. So, I guess he’d managed to pull what was left of me out of the vision. I gave him a lopsided grin. “Thanks, Sparks. I’m okay now.”

  He growled with warning. I wasn’t safe yet.

  Then I saw why he was freaking out. Orange and pink hues bled over the horizon and my heart leapt into my throat. It was almost sundown. Shit!

  Scrambling to my feet, I tried not to feel nauseated when I spotted fresh blood plastered on all four spires in sickly desperate streaks. I looked down at my hand to find it still mangled, which meant that even if I had been in a vision, my wounds and actions had carried over to the real world. That meant I’d been under an extremely powerful spell—Royal Covens kind of powerful.

  Shit, what kind of enemy had I made now? I was trying to keep a low profile before my initiation, but one of the royals had it out for me bad and wanted me dead before the family magic made me too hard to kill.

  A dusty wind tumbled through the graveyard and brought the scent of dirt and nature. It was oddly refreshing after my nightmarish vision, but it wasn’t enough to calm my racing heart. I gave the sea of tombstones a once over, but the guys from the vision were nowhere to be found. I was on my own. I wasn’t sure if I was disappointed or glad about that. Those guys had looked like trouble, and they hadn’t been very happy when they’d noticed me.

  “Get a grip, Evie,” I chided myself. Surely those guys had just been magical conjurations of the vision and were long dead, right? There was no way that the founders of the lost vampiric tribes could still be alive. The Royal Covens had wiped them out eons ago. Witches and vampires might sometimes get along, but witches who turned themselves into vampires broke some kind of moral code and were outcasts.

  Swallowing my opinion that I rather preferred outcasts to royals, I took in a deep breath before launching into a run to get home. Sparkles meowed and bolted ahead of me, leading the way down the twisted overgrown paths of the graveyard.

  The castle wasn’t far from here, but I was cutting it close. Anyone with supernatural blood, especially weak, young blood like mine, couldn’t remain outdoors after nightfall; not since the breach.

  The eerie howls carried on the wind and goosebumps sprang up across my arms. Tossing open the squeaky gate to the graveyard, I banked a hard right and scampered down the cobbled street towards the castle.

  A large field surrounded the estate and I could already spot the jasmine blooms starting to unfold. I had to make it inside before they activated. The jasmine fields were part of a spell. The best spells were grounded in nature and a jasmine field would make a barrier that no supernatural could cross—at least not without some seriously heavy magic. It was better to wait for the change of day. The spell was linked to the moon, just like the wolves that had been prowling the streets for the past few weeks.

  Another warning howl sounded, this time much closer. I checked my hand and it was still bleeding. Shit, they could smell it!

  I didn’t have anything to wrap my wound to stem the flow of blood. I had to make sure I got home and then I’d deal with the ramifications later, even if Aunt Sandra would behead me thrice over. It was almost preferable to face demon-touched wolves than Aunt Sandra when she was angry… almost.

  I reached the unguarded opening and the hum of the jasmine ward tingled along my skin. The sun hadn’t fully set yet, but I was cutting it too close.

  It was times like these when I was grateful for my pathetically weak mortal blood. The spell didn’t hit me as hard as it would a full supernatural at dusk.

  Sparkles mewled when he hit the wall. He was a little ball of magic and I plucked him up with my good hand. “Not leaving you behind,” I assured him as I tucked him under my arm. He growled his disapproval for the undignified method of transport, but at least he didn’t scratch me.

  I ran as fast as my feet could take me across the long stretch of cobbled stones that led to the castle. Jasmine blooms scented the air and their amethyst magic sent delicate sparkles filtering across the field. I panted when the magic pulsed against me, warning me that I wasn’t supposed to be there.

  As I reached the end of the road and safely made it inside of the field, the spell snapped shut with a dull thud and I sucked in a breath. I’d almost been too late.

  I set Sparkles down and offered him a nervous laugh, hoping he couldn’t pick up how close we’d just been to certain death. He glowered up at me, his green eyes bright with magic. I winced. He’d been holding off the Jasmine spell.

  “Thanks once again, Sparks,” I whispered and turned to look back the way we’d come. Purple motes flung into the air, relentlessly spreading the field with the protective poison. Nothing supernatural could get in or out, not even a mortal-born witch like me.

  I’m not sure what compelled me to stay there and keep looking. Maybe I expected to find a demon-touched wolf that had been hot on my heels. I squinted when I thought I spotted glowing red eyes in the sudden fog that had settled onto the streets, but then there was only the fog.

  “I’m not your dinner tonight,” I muttered. My heart thumped hard against my chest because I didn’t want to admit how close I’d been to being a wolf’s snack.

  Sparkles wound around my ankles, reminding me that I had one more monster to face.

&n
bsp; I laughed. “Right,” I told him as I took my time going up the steps to the estate. I pressed my palm flat against the door, the magic in my blood sending the bindings to unlock with a soft click. “Let’s go face Aunt Sandra.”

  To my surprise, no one was waiting for me when I got inside. The low-hanging chandelier burned with its rich purple eternal flames and the two winding staircases that led up to the bedrooms were inviting as always with their pristine polished sheen. Everything was as it should be in the Amethyst Coven.

  Irritation bubbled up inside of me. Had really no one realized I hadn’t come home yet? How insulting.

  Voices filtered in through the hall and I scampered away from them, recognizing Aunt Sandra’s silky tones paired with her cousin’s: the flippant Lady Isabel. I had no desire to run into either of them in my current state—or in any state, for that matter—so I ran.

  I attempted not to bleed out over the expensive Italian carpets as I looked for Cassidy. She worked as my handmaiden, but she was actually my best friend and partner in crime. It wouldn’t have been the first time she’d stitched me up and got me to my bed without anyone noticing. Sleep sounded amazing. Narrowly escaping death was exhausting.

  She should be downstairs in the servant’s hall eating dinner at this hour. Nightfall was when servants finally got time for themselves. I used the familiar door that would take me to the underground network of the Amethyst Coven. It was a mansion on its own down here and I slipped into the cool air, shutting the door behind me just as the two witches entered the room. I paused, waiting to find out if they’d seen me, but someone using the servant’s door would go unnoticed to them. Servants were like ghosts to well-bred witches, better ignored until they became a nuisance.

  I startled when Sparkles gave me a helpful meow. Shushing him, I assured him Cassidy would have cat food for him, but first I needed to make sure I didn’t die of blood loss. Clearly he thought I was being overdramatic, but that’s the downside of feline familiars. They thought far too fondly of food.

  Encouraged by the thought of food, he tottered down the steep, short steps, tail high and whiskers flared as we searched for Cassidy together.

  Purple flames glowed to life in the indentations of the walls as we descended. The Covens had as little electricity as possible and ran the household on magic. It kept the mortal servants in check, because if anyone broke the rules, magic would cease to function, and they’d be left in the dark. Frightening things came out in the dark… I knew that better than anyone.

  I ran into a handful of servants on my way down, but Sparkles luckily had enough magic for me to work some camouflage. Outright invisibility would have been too powerful a spell, but he cloaked me in a mist of fine magic that worked as compulsion.

  Two of the males carrying bundles of wine up from the cellar gave me curious glances, but I’d learned not to make too much of that. A petite servant girl wouldn’t be out of place, but they were still men.

  Offering them a shy smile as I clutched my hand to my chest, I nodded, and slipped past them. The spell wouldn’t change my voice, so it was best to avoid conversation.

  Once into the servant’s hall I finally spotted Cassidy. She glanced at me, brows furrowing, as she fumbled with a broken shoe.

  I was so glad to see her that I dumbly stormed my way past the tables and stopped by her side. “Oh, Cassidy, am I glad to see—”

  Her eyes went wide when she recognized my voice and she slipped a hand to my thigh and pinched hard. I winced, but bit off my words. Right. No talking.

  “Well, I’m glad to see you’ve finished your chores,” she said, pitching her voice higher for the other servants who’d already started giving us more attention than Sparkle’s spell could handle. The magic slipped over me in an extra layer as the black cat meowed at us pathetically. I could almost hear him. Food, dammit!

  Cassidy grinned and stooped to give the cat a scratch behind his ear. “Heya Sparks. I saved some of the leftover fish for you.”

  That got his attention. He swarmed around her legs as Cassidy took me by the arm and guided me out of the servant’s hall and towards her quarters. “First, let’s fix up your mistress, shall we?”

  He meowed his reluctant agreement, but only if there was plenty of fish for him when it was all said and done.

  When we were out of earshot of the others, Cassidy hissed at me under her breath. “What the hell is going on? I just left you in your room.”

  I halted outside her door as she held it open for me. No one was inside, so now was the time to sneak in before anyone saw us. Except, I couldn’t shake the way Cassidy was looking at me. “What is it?”

  She narrowed her eyes as if I’d irritated her, but then her gaze dipped to my hand. I looked down, only to feel dizzy as deep crimson blood overflowed onto the floor. I needed to close these wounds, and fast.

  “Come inside,” she said in a hushed voice. She glanced through the hall before closing it and flipping the lock.

  I sat on her roommate’s bed and tried to cup the blood into my good hand while Cassidy tossed open her lower dresser drawer and pulled out the emergency medical supplies. It wasn’t common for a servant to have a drawer full of gauze, sticking thread, and alcohol but… like I said, Cassidy and I were besties and she patched me up a lot.

  The small room came equipped with a miniature bathroom that would only be able to fit one tiny female body at a time. A microscopic shower nestled into the corner with a toilet unhygienically close to it. A small basin was wedged between the two, as if that was enough barrier to keep them apart, and Cassidy filled a bowl with water. She plucked a vial from the cabinet and put two drops.

  Sparkles meowed his disapproval and Cassidy gave him a weak smile. “I have to stop the bleeding. I’ll get another bonus in a few months time.”

  I was starting to see black spots now, so I found it hard to feel guilty that I was using Cassidy’s annual magic bonus. The liquid, eight drops to a bottle with a prescribed dose of two drops into water, could allow mortals to perform small works of magic. The servants typically used their vial in the first week, either for vomiting money, or for sexual prowess. The latter always made me laugh, because you could tell when the spell had worn off. There’s a particular look in a man’s face when his dick lost two sizes that weren’t his to begin with.

  Cassidy saved her bottle. This wouldn’t have been the first time that she used a few drops on me.

  I hissed when she pressed the cloth to my hand, but the magic took hold right away. My shoulders slumped when the pain lessened to a more manageable throb.

  “What kind of spell were you doing in the past ten minutes?” she chided, not looking at me as she continued to dab at my mangled hand.

  It made me dizzy to watch, but I needed to understand how magic worked. Cassidy and I weren’t so different, except I was supposed to be trained in the magic arts and she was supposed to be trained in laundry. However, she worked the magic with such grace that I found myself mesmerized as the glimmering amethyst strands wove through my skin and closed the worst of the wounds.

  “I just got home,” I insisted. My voice had dropped to a husky growl of pain, and I hated to sound pathetic, but it’d been a rough day. “I ditched sword fighting and went into town instead.” I grinned at her shocked face. “Got myself a new dagger.”

  She looked down at my hand again and turned it over. Blood clumped between my fingers and had already hardened under my fingernails. “I can see that. Was it sharper than you’d intended?” Before I could answer, she gripped my knees. “If you weren’t who I put in your room, then who was it?”

  All at once I seemed to register what she was telling me. Another witch or warlock had pretended to be me?

  It actually wasn’t that uncommon for witches my age to pull such a prank—just not on someone like me. I couldn’t imagine anyone who would want to spend a day in my shoes. The kind of spell it took to take on someone else’s appearance was a big one, especially to make it convincing. r />
  I sighed and turned my hand over again, admiring Cassidy’s work. My skin sparkled with tiny dust particles of Coven magic making my skin gleam with amethyst sprinkles. “It really could be anyone. I have no idea.”

  Cassidy nodded and straightened. She went to the dresser and gathered the thread and alcohol. “Well, let’s get you stitched up and then we’ll go tell Sandra.”

  My eyes went wide when she brought the glinting needle. “Aw, come on. I already cut my hand to all hell. I really don’t want to get stabbed, too.”

  She pointed the tiny weapon at me. “My magic isn’t like yours. It’ll fade. That means I need to stitch you up with some good old fashioned needle and thread so those wounds don’t open up again.” She glared at me until I sighed and offered my hand.

  Sparkles reminded us of his presence with a soft trill. “Yes, Sparks,” Cassidy said without looking up from her work. She carefully threaded the needle and I winced, but she was always surprisingly gentle. “I patch Evie up first, then you get dinner. If you want to try Jessie, go to the kitchens. She might give you some fish before I’ll be ready.”

  Satisfied with that option, Sparks trotted to the small feline trap door that sat astride the locked opening. It glowed purple at his passing. No one would be able to get through it even if they were small enough. It was for feline familiars only.

  For a moment I was jealous of my familiar. He was always welcome here and no one had to put a cloaking spell on him just so he could see his friend. Actually, it was even worse than that. He had friends—plural—and I only had Cassidy.

  “What’s on your mind?” she asked, always able to sense when I was about to have a pity party.

  I gave her a reassuring smile, which probably wasn’t very convincing. “I just, I had a long day.” My heart twisted when she gave me a knowing look before going back to my hand again.

  I couldn’t tell her about what I’d seen. I couldn’t tell her about anything that had to do with the witch world.