Awakenings (A Witch's Coven Novel Book 1) (17 page)

He leaned in closer to me and asked, “Well, what do you have to say for yourself?”

I wanted so much to lie and run away. And so I did. “The Southerns must have set the fire with torches, my lord.”

He pulled away from me, and a look of disappointment came over him. “That fire was not started my natural means.”

I wanted to fly from the room and go back to Denise and sit by her side and talk about our songs and when we could practice next. I wanted to be anywhere but where I was. “Please, my lord, I can’t.”

He put his hand on my chin and lifted my head up. “But you must. I am giving you no choice. Either you tell me the truth, or I put you out on the street tonight.” He tightened his hold on my chin. “Have you been outside in the winter at night? If I dismiss you, you will have no reference and nowhere to go. The cold will get you quickly and, if you survive the night, you will be dead within a week. I will have you branded on your cheek, and my mark will show that anyone who helps you would be breaking the law.”

An anger came up within me and it won out over my fear. I clenched my fists behind my back and bided my time.

“Am I making myself clear of what I will do?” He let go of my chin and took a step back to take me all in. “Now, I will ask this once more, and I will not ask again. Tell me the truth of what happened that night, or we are done here and you will be dismissed.” He reached down and rested his hand on a bell on his desk. It was a large bell with a black handle. He needed only to lift it and ring it and his personal guards would arrive in moments. They would drag me away and toss me out onto the street. But I almost forgot, they would brand me first and mark me as a traitor to my house. No one would take me in after that. I would be a pariah.

He watched me and fought hard to hide a slick smirk on his face. He knew he had me trapped, and I would not be able to win either way. He had defeated me. But I would not surrender so easily. I gathered the anger and the hatred within me and rolled it into a ball. If he wanted to know the truth, I would show him. I would bundle up my truth and show him, releasing it at him with every bit of strength I had.

Before I lost my courage, I thrust my arms out from behind my back, closed my eyes, and opened the gates within me. I felt the warmth of the fire first. The flames surged out of hands, my arms, hair, feet, everywhere. I became a living flame and I would burn him down, melt his skin, muscles, and then his bones would crumble and turn to dust until nothing remained. I would wash him clean, and my anger would sear everything new again. The fire rushed out of every aspect of me, and I could hear the flames crackling as it ate the paper before me, licked the cherry wood of the desk and the walls took part as well. Inside a door opened within me, and I did not care to hold anything back.

No one would harm me again or try to defile me. I would not allow it, and with the power that I had, I would do anything to survive. No one could stop me. I opened my eyes to watch the destruction that I had caused, wanting to see and take it all in so that I could accept my fate.

My house lord stood there smiling. All of my fire swirled around his arm and he controlled it, siphoning it off and directing it to a tiny corner of the room. He snapped his fingers, and my powers went out.

And I fell down onto the floor spent.

“I’m impressed.” He took his hand off the bell and folded his hands in his lap. “You have great power, but no control or influence on your magic. It’s all raw and filled with hatred and anger. That’s the easiest type of magic to redirect and repurpose, but you didn’t know that. I suspect there are many things about magic that you do not know, and you probably believe all the rumors of darkness and madness.”

I scrambled to my feet and glanced back behind me. The door seemed miles away.

He pointed at me and with a flick of his hand said, “
Fermez
!”

His spell hit me and I froze. All my magic closed inside and I fell silent. He came to stand beside me, and I remained paralyzed reaching for the door. I tried to speak but could not.

“I have a choice now to make. It’s a simple choice, but one that has grave consequences for you.” He tapped my knee with his velvet slipper. “I can kill you now and wipe you from existence, and no one would ever know.”

I fought hard against his spell and started to unravel the threads. I could see them now. Silvery lines of magic that wrapped around me. I pulled at the magical threads hard with my mind, unable yet to move, and they came away like the broken strings from a lute, curling and bending back on themselves.

He folded his arms and said, “Or, I can keep you alive and make you my pupil and teach you what I know. In return, you would live and do as I asked. Over time, if you proved trustworthy, you would earn your freedom.”

I broke the last string from the spell and kicked him. He did not expect that and stumbled back into the wall. I rushed him with my fists ready. I knew how to fight dirty. I punched him in the throat and kneed him in the groin. My knee hit solid metal like he wore armor under his robe. He let out a satisfying, to me, groan and crumpled to the floor. I doubted I had hurt him much from the armor he wore, but he did fall back from me in pain. I saw him pull away, and I knew I had to press my attack. The first thing that I thought of was a sword and I swung my hand down and my raw magic formed a magical blade in my grasp. I could see the words in the air, and I gathered them around me, like little fireflies, and spoke in a tongue that I did not know. The blade became real, and I swung down to end this with all my strength and fear.

My attack hit a solid barrier of air around my house lord’s torso and slid off, hitting the ground. He held his hand up and yelled, “Enough!”

All natural light went out in the room and my sword vanished along with all my magic. He stood up and pointed at me, and the light returned to the room. “It has been a long time since I have found someone worthy to be my pupil.” He grimaced in pain and leaned heavily against the wall. “But I would not see you waste your powers out on the street. You would survive, but it would be a harsh life and not one where I would benefit.”

I put my fists down and relaxed. “Are you offering to teach me magic?”

“Yes.” He came forward and put out his hand. “Everything will change for you if you agree. But I need some time to plan. I have not had a pupil for years.”

“And the threats you made against me?” I watched how he answered.

“Yes, I could have branded you and sent you on your way. Do you want me to lie and tell you that I would not? I needed to test you, and you have passed. I have not risen to the status of one of the most powerful house lords in the Realms by being nice. I will be fair and am more open-minded than you might know. But the one thing that I will not tolerate is lying. I demand trust from you and the truth. In return, I will tell you the same. So, do you accept my offer?”

“I need to think about it. I will give you my answer tomorrow by sundown.” I held his gaze and showed him that trust needed to be mutual between us.

“Fair enough.” He put his hand down and said, “Do your chores for the rest of today and tomorrow, and then give me your answer after dinner.” He pointed to the corner of the room where the fire had been, and suddenly all the damage disappeared. “Go now.”

I bowed to him and left the room as quickly as I could. The door shut behind me, and I was escorted back down to the first floor. I stood there amazed and took a moment to breathe. Everything would change for me, and that fear rose up within. I needed to talk to someone, but I had no one to share my news. Stephen was not around, and Denise and Charles did not know of my secret. What I needed was some time to think, and what would serve me well was work. My house lord knew me enough. I threw myself into my work and cleaned, fed, and bathed the wounded from the attack and cleaned up after dinner. I thought to see Denise before bed, but a great fatigue came over me. I had never used such a great amount of my magic before, and that night I fell hard onto my bed and slept like the dead.

In the morning, I awoke to a bright and frigid morning and was called to help in the kitchen. I went down to do my work and knew that I had only hours to decide. I knew what my choice would be, but I wanted to hold off making the actual decision for as long as I could. My life would change, and that frightened me, so I threw myself into cleaning the pots, the dishes, and lost myself in my work. I only had hours left before the world that I knew would change forever, but I didn’t know that then. I thought I did, but I actually knew so very little. And that would be my undoing.

***

Alessia opened her eyes and she stood beside my younger self. I pointed at my youth and said, “This is the moment in which everything all changed for me, and I want you to experience it so that you know why I made the choices I did.”

She reached out to touch my younger body, but it was all an illusion. Every last bit of it. Her hand went through the eighteen-year-old me and said, “We don’t look alike.”

“No, we don’t.” I turned away from the illusion and watched Alessia. She had crossed her arms over her chest and leaned on her right leg.

“You are the master of illusions, and you’ve lied to me my entire life, and now, suddenly, out of the blue, I’m supposed to trust that you have my best wishes at heart because you’re showing me your past?” She shot me a glance and asked, “Really?”

Time was running out, and I knew that I had to speed this along. “I don’t expect you to forgive me or to understand my motivations, but I need you to realize that what I’m showing you will help save you. If you believe nothing else, trust me on that.”

Alessia weighed my words, bit her lip, and asked, “And of the Moonstone? What of that? Is that another trick to get me to trust you?”

“The Moonstone is calling you. It is yours as well as all its power.” I came closer to her and turned back around pointing to the illusions. “But you need to know what you’re up against. It’s important that you are ready, and everything you’ve ever learned about magic and its use is at the ready. Are you ready to go back in?”

Alessia nodded. “I don’t have much choice, do I?”

I shook my head. “No, you don’t. If you leave now, I doubt you would survive what’s coming for us.”

She went to respond to me, but a flicker of light called us back, and I reached out to take her hand. She kept quiet, relented, and uncrossed her arms and took mine. Together the illusion wavered, and we slid in, like we were sinking back beneath the waves of a lake. The world changed and we fell forward as two observers taking part in bits of the past.

***

After a quick check in with the kitchen staff to help with breakfast, I headed to Denise’s room. I only had hours left before I needed to give my house lord my response and knew that I did not have much of a struggle over my decision. I wanted to learn how to control and use my magic. Without him, I would not be able to do that. I broke off a piece of bread that I had taken from the kitchen and popped a piece in my mouth. Still warm and soft, the freshly baked bread warmed me as it went down.

At the end of the hall, I saw Mary from the kitchen. She stopped me and asked, “Can you bring this plate to Denise for me? I haven’t had a chance this morning. It’s early yet, and she’ll want some breakfast.”

“Of course.” I carried the tray and headed down the hall. The oatmeal smelled delicious. Mary had put a dash of cinnamon and a dab of maple syrup on top with a small pat of butter. At the far end of the house, I came to Denise’s room and knocked on the door.

Harold walked past me and tipped his hat to me as he headed off to do his chores. I watched him go and realized that today would be the last day that I would be a servant in this house. My role would change, and I would need to talk to the house lord about that. A mixture of fear and excitement went through me. I wondered what my friends would think.

I opened the door to Denise’s room and walked inside. A pungent smell hit me at once, and I wrinkled my nose at the horrible smell. And then I saw her, she had fallen out of bed onto her injured shoulder. I rushed over to her, and in my haste, spilled the oatmeal onto the tray as I placed it on the bed.

“Denise, are you well?” The darkness in the room made it difficult to see. I went to turn her over, and I froze. She felt cold to the touch. When I repositioned her, I saw a pool of black bile around her mouth. Her face was frozen in a mask of grotesque pain. I screamed and let go of her and then screamed louder.

Harold came running into the room, and on not being able to see, he opened the shutters to let the light in. He tried to waft away the stench in the room with his hand. “My God, what is that smell?”

I collapsed onto the floor and let the tears out. He came over to me and turned Denise over and drew himself back in surprise. With more light in the room, I could see that her shoulder bandages were covered in puss and dried blood. He pulled me up and carried me away. “Come with me.”

Harold rested on the bed and called out for help, and I just cried. A rush of people came into the room. Mary came in, saw the scene, and rushed over to me. “Come here.”

I went into her arms, and she pulled me out into the hall. “I wanted to see her last night but didn’t go. I was too tired. Now I didn’t even get a chance to say good-bye. I didn’t know. I just didn’t know …”

Mary shushed me and wrapped me in her arms. A mother thrice over, she rubbed my back and positioned my head on her bosom. “It’s okay. It’s not your fault.”

“She looked so well when I last saw her. I don’t understand.” My tears and a line of mucus fell onto Mary’s apron.

“When the doctor arrives, he will tell us.” She pulled me away from the room and walked me back toward the kitchen, but I hesitated.

“I need to go back and help.” I turned back, but Mary held me strong.

“You will be of no help there. Let the others take care of her. Come with me.” She tilted my face up off her chest. “Trust me, you don’t need to be in there. You saw enough.”

I acquiesced and allowed her to lead me back into the kitchen. I sat on a chair for a bit and then went to my room and fell onto my bed and cried. The attack, my fight with the house lord, and Denise’s death took too much out of me. I collapsed and needed time to rest.