9781618851307WitchsBrewShayNC (14 page)

Talon nodded. “You never have.” He shrugged. “All right,
then. Effective immediately, I resign my position as Chief Assassin. My
attitude isn’t something you’ll have to deal with any longer…Your Majesty.”

Darak’s lips tightened. “You can’t resign. You have a
hundred years left on your contract and you
will
fulfill them. However,
I’ll deal with you about this subject at a later time.”

Talon
folded his arms across his chest, his chin jutting stubbornly. He saw his
father flinch at the rebellious stance. “I’m sure the spirit removal of this
witch can wait.”

“No it cannot wait,” Darak bellowed, slamming a clenched
fist on the table. “Any other day, I’d be pleased to discuss this fully with
you, Talon, but not today. Not over this. I-I’m a reasonable man,” he said,
toning down his voice. “I don’t expect you to blindly obey orders all of the
time.”

The sound of hurried footsteps tapped across the squares
of black and white marble on the floor, interrupting the discussion.

“Pardon,
Majesty,” a voice rang out, “but if Prince Talon doesn’t have the stomach to
snuff out the life of one troublesome witch, I’ll gladly do the deed for him.”

Chapter Seven

Frequently denounced were
women whose behavior or economic circumstances were somehow disturbing to the
social order and conventions of the time. Many of the accused had previous
records of criminal activity, including witchcraft. However, there were others
who were faithful churchgoers and people of high standing in the community.

~Salem Witch Trials

March 1, 1692

Page
Entry…

Displeased
with Queen Leyla’s refusal to acknowledge Kran heir to the witches’ throne,
Zoman took Basheena, second only to Leyla in power, for a lover. Together, they
plotted the downfall of their queen.

That
All Hallows’ Eve, Basheena bore Zoman a son who took the name Black Drayke.
Although Zoman and Basheena tried to conceal the boy’s birth from Queen Leyla
and the Witches’ Supreme Coven, Leyla discovered her mate’s infidelity and
ordered Basheena and the babe exiled from Sanctuary. 

To
everyone’s great shock, the following Beltane, Leyla conceived and gave
birth to her third child, another daughter, Elsbeth, on All Hallows’ Eve.

~Pages
of history from the Winslow witches.

In
the Year of Samhain, 1100

Ru-Noc

Droth

City of the wakens

Talon whipped around at the familiar voice and damning
words, his heart sinking. Black Drayke, his nemesis since their days in the
Royal Academy for
Waken
Assassins, swept into the chamber, bringing an
aura of evil with him. Talon stifled a gag. The blackness coating the evil
warlock’s wicked soul curdled his stomach.

“Go
near Saylym and I swear I’ll run a dirk through your black heart.” Talon raked
his eyes over the older warlock. “You will not touch her.”

King Darak’s head jerked up. He raised half-way off the
throne before he caught himself and settled back in place. Still, he leaned
forward, eyeing Talon.

Talon flinched at the look on his father’s face. He knew
Darak found it strange he defended an
Impure
but he hadn’t been able to
curtail his words. He drew a deep breath, his chest heaving. No matter what he
did or said, he disappointed his father. He wondered if this would ever change.

Though he’d always done his best to defend the witches,
there were times when inevitably, he’d failed and the witch was terminated as
ordered. He kept his emotions under rigid control at these times and did his
job.

The risk of falling in love with a witch who could be
scheduled for spirit removal was too great. So he mated at Beltane when he
could no longer resist the urge and he walked away, heart-whole. His emotions
were never seriously involved or his heart given to any particular witch. Until
now.

From the look on his father’s face, he realized Talon was
fully entangled with the
Impure
witch. He immediately reinforced the shield to protect his thoughts from Darak
and the guild.

Hell, he hadn’t had time to dwell on his reaction to the
lovely witch. He wasn’t comfortable with the things she made him feel. Although
he wasn’t certain how much he was willing to sacrifice for her, he didn’t want
anyone stealing her soul or invading his mind and dissecting his feelings.
Confused, he wondered why he was so quick to sacrifice his career as an
assassin for the lovely witch.

Talon rubbed a thumb slowly across his bottom lip. What if
she was his true mate? If so, it could prove tragic if he stole her soul. His
stomach knotted. He was riding a comet to certain disaster and there was no one
to pluck him off the sparkling, dusty tail of catastrophe.

He settled a veiled look on Black Drayke. The warlock
stood tall and thin as a reed. A thick mustache lined his thin upper lip and
helped conceal a weak mouth and weaker jaw line. Black Drayke had been a poor
instructor of the Arts of Magic and Assassination. In the end it cost him his
position at the academy.

When they were at the private school, some of the officers
taunted him, calling him lizard lips. It was an apt description. Along with
being skeletal in build, the warlock looked reptilian. His dark hair touched
his shoulders in stringy, greasy strands. The melding of his black heart with
an even blacker soul gave off a slimy stench. Talon recognized it for what it
was…malice. It rolled off Black Drayke in an invisible, suffocating vapor.

And
Talon knew he had a deadly enemy in the older warlock.

“You
haven’t the guts to fight me, Prince.” Black Drayke’s thin lips curled with
contempt.

“You wouldn’t want to underestimate me,” Talon responded.

“Indeed?
I make few mistakes where you’re concerned, Prince.”

A
muscle jerked in Talon’s jaw. It was all he could do to keep from wrapping his
hands around the warlock’s scrawny neck. “Tread lightly, Black Drayke. That’s
the only warning you get.” Talon glanced around. No one in the council room moved.

Aware
of the deadly menace in Talon’s voice, Black Drayke, too, went stone still. “Ah,
a new side of you, Prince, I don’t believe I’ve ever known you to be so
protective of a witch. Interesting.” For a moment, he seemed to debate the
wisdom of pushing Talon further in their private war, then dipped his head in
mocking acknowledgment. “I’ll make certain I tread lightly, Prince.”

Sage stepped between the two men. “You believe we have
such a quantity of females remaining, that as males, we can afford to continue
snuffing out their lives? You’re a fool, Black Drayke. But then, that’s nothing
new.”

“And
when did you start fighting your cousin’s battles?” The warlock sneered, raking
his gaze over Sage in silent warning.

“Talon
has no need of my help. More fool you if you think for a moment he does. I’m
trying to save your putrid soul from the Underworld.”

Black
Drayke turned his back on Sage, an insult to the higher ranking
waken.

“Arrogant
son of a bitch, isn’t he?” Sage said to no one in particular.

Talon
grinned and silently agreed with his cousin’s description of Black Drayke.

“If
necessary, we can mate with
illumrof
females,” Black Drayke announced to
the guild. He ran a hand over the dingy, food-stained shirt clinging to his
emaciated chest. “Their repugnant smell doesn’t matter so long as they take our
seed into their womb.” He turned a hard glare on Talon and Sage. “It’s been
done, and I might add, successfully.” The warlock rubbed his cock behind his
zipper. “Very successfully.”

Talon swallowed hard, struggling to keep from gagging.
Mating with
illumrof
females? Could the warlock be any more barbaric?
“Mating isn’t the problem. What about
reproduction?
”

“Illumrof
women cannot bear us children,” Sage
said, his voice as hot as Talon’s. “The pregnancy becomes toxic after five
months. Both child and mother die. It’s murder. Even if they could bear our
children, we can’t bond with one of them. They could never tolerate the
pressure of the mental locking that occurs during enhancement. Their minds
would snap like a twig. Mortal females are useless to our race as mates and
child bearers.”

Black Drayke cupped himself between his legs, snickering.
“Not entirely useless. So what if our males are more endowed than the
illumrof
male? It takes a little effort, but the
illumrof
female’s body is quite
capable of accepting our mating rod. I’ve successfully impregnated more than
one of them.” His cruel smile curved his thin lips as he turned his leer on
Talon. “They conceive when I plant my seed in their belly. I can’t help it if
you’re not man enough to accomplish the deed.”

“You’re impregnating females of another species?” Talon
whirled and faced the ancients. “The act he’s committing is barbarous. It’s a
death sentence for the human female.”

“The seed develops at a gradual rate. If the
illumrof
female
should carry it her normal nine months, it would still be nothing more than a
slug when born.” Black Drayke’s mouth twisted with smug satisfaction. “It’s a
blessing that after five months, the babe becomes toxic for the
illumrof
.
When it’s expelled, both mother and child die. I say good riddance, but I
definitely enjoyed the mating sessions.”

“How can you do this thing? It’s cruel,” Talon said both
anger and disgust in his voice. “How can you be so pitiless?”

Curling
his lips, Black Drayke scoffed. “Why do you care what happens to a mortal
female?” he taunted. “They’re
nothing.
Good for a few nights of mating, but certainly not for taking as mates. They
satisfy the desperate urge to mate during Beltane. That’s good enough for me.”

“You
slimy—” Talon leapt for the evil warlock, but was brought up short by Sage.

“He’s goading you, Talon. Can’t you see he’s lying? It’s
so obvious. He wants you banished from this meeting. He wants the pleasure of
the kill. Don’t give it to him. Calm down.”

“He
might be lying, but I wouldn’t count on it. Let go of me, Sage.”

Sage released him.

Talon turned to the guild. “Can none of you comprehend the
foulness of what Black Drayke is doing? How can you allow this to continue?
Women and children are dying. Just because they’re
illumrofs
or
Impures
doesn’t make it any less wrong.”

The older
wakens
glanced at each other, unease
clearly written on their lined faces.

“We care nothing for the
illumrofs
. Why should we?”
Katch replied. “They have long been a nuisance for our race.”

Talon bowed respectfully before Katch, the only member of
the guild to whom he wasn’t related. The ancient
waken
looked pale and
clammy, as if he were sweating off a fever.

Katch inclined his head. “Why are you so concerned about
the
illumrof
females?”

“You don’t believe Black Drayke is placing us at risk?”
Talon countered.

The oldest
waken
to sit on the guild, Katch, had
snowy white hair that hung past his stooped shoulders. His eyes, once the rich
shade of amethysts, were now cloudy and faded, but still held wisdom and magic.

“I didn’t say that, Talon,” he replied. Katch drew his
hand down the thick beard, smoothing it. As beards went, it was impressive.
Long, full, and the exact shade of his hair, it rested against the scarlet
satin robe shrouding his aged body. His clothes were eye-popping, intense
colors, and rippled with a magical life of their own.

A wide-brimmed, royal-blue satin hat stood tall on his
head. Hundreds of tiny silver stars glittered like stardust on it. He was a
dazzling figure and still a powerful sorcerer, though he would retire from the guild
when Stry took the throne. He ranked the highest of all wizards and was the
only sorcerer who ever reached the level of High Priest Wizard.

Katch rubbed a hand down his face and squinted at Talon.
“What did you say this witch’s name is?”

Talon felt terror strike his heart. If Katch ordered
Saylym’s death, there was nothing he could do to prevent it. Katch’s word was
law, even over the king’s.

“Winslow. Saylym Winslow.”

The old one nodded his understanding and leaned back in
his chair as if he’d suddenly lost all his strength. “And there was no history
of her in the archives? Is that correct?”

“That is correct.”

“Good. Good.”

Talon eyed Katch, curious by the wizard’s odd reaction.

“What Black Drayke chooses to have happen to his seed is
his own concern and none of the elder’s,” Darak announced, blithely ignoring
the conversation going on between Talon and Katch.

Talon
swore softly, jerked from his contemplation of Katch’s strange behavior.
Disbelief filled his mind at his father’s words. He heard nothing that
indicated concern for the
illumrof
females.

True, he had no love for humans either, but he wouldn’t
try to murder a mortal female by impregnating her. There had to be justice for
Black Drayke’s brutality. Talon held his hands out, palms up, beseeching.
“We’re a dying race. Our history toward our females is so brutal we’re on the
verge of extinction.” His voice trembled. “And now you allow Black Drayke to
get away with murdering females from a different species? Perhaps it’d be
justice if the
illumrofs
did discover we exist.”