Dragons and Mages: A Limited Edition Anthology

by Pauline Creeden

  She had given me a moment to calm.

  If my mother had been the one to curse Izzy and the others, I needed to think with my head.

  Not my emotions.

  And now, I gave away who I was.

  I lifted Izzy up, balancing her in my arms, and exited the bookstore without even looking back. Ruby wasn’t far behind, and I could sense Luna’s anxiety when her chill joined us on the hike to a private park.

  As soon as we were out of any mortals’ view, Ruby took us home.

  To Mortia.

  Where we all belonged.

  Even Izzy.

  For however long she had.

  Because there was one thing I realized, and it was that I couldn’t face my mother. Two decades of anger bubbled to the surface and brought out the evil inside me that I had tried so hard to suppress.

  The evil that brought disease upon kingdom after kingdom when I had worked beside my father. The evilness I had been training to become…until my father sacrificed me for his own personal gain.

  I spent years trying to make up for what I had done back then, but it just came full circle. I had seen red. Saw myself instilling pain into my mother until she admitted I was her child.

  Happily torturing her with no remorse.

  And why did I hide from that version of myself?

  It was who fit me.

  It was who I was meant to be.

  Greyson the Healer only got hurt.

  At least Greyson the Pain-Bringer had a family.

  Chapter 13

  Back at the castle, I left Ruby to find Ty and ignored Izzy’s pleas to take her with me, leaving her alone in the pre-dungeon room with Luna. I needed answers and the only person I knew who had them were my father. Facing him was another thing I needed to do alone.

  His brown eyes were like I was looking at my own reflection as he narrowed them at me while I paced in front of his cell. He rubbed his bearded chin while I picked my words carefully.

  If my mother owned that bookstore, it meant my mother was the witch who was cursing the people of the non-magical realm. My mother cursed Izzy.

  Izzy.

  Who I pried off me and basically tossed aside, marching into the dungeon for answers. I turned my back on her after she had saved me from doing something foolish.

  At the moment, I had to ignore these feelings tearing me up inside and be strong.

  What was important now was my father and all the secrets he kept.

  That wasn’t even true.

  I no longer cared about all his secrets. I didn’t want to know anything else about my mother, since she didn’t care about me.

  What I cared about was why my father had done this to me.

  “Why did you corrupt me?” I spat at him.

  “Corrupt you? You’re not corrupted,” he said.

  “Like hell I’m not! When Ruby’s in trouble, she resorts to her special magical skill. Using it to escape or transport locations to escape the danger. When I’m feeling threatened? I resort to causing pain.”

  My father shrugged. “Why wouldn’t you use it? You’ve been blessed with that skill.”

  “No, it’s not!” My fists clenched, and I stopped pacing. “I have the ability to heal.”

  My father shrugged. “It’s all the same.”

  “It’s not the same! One is good, and the other is evil. It’s as simple as that. I resort to evil because…” The tendon in my jaw pulsed. “Because for years and years, you forced me to inflict pain on whoever opposed you. Why? What purpose did that serve?”

  He dismissed me with a wave of his hand. “I was owed a kingdom. Onieth was supposed to be mine, promised to me by both Luciana and Liliana, but when Luciana was caught during our plan to undermine her father, the king, we were banned from the kingdom.”

  Luciana spoke up from across the dungeon. “You had just as much a part in that scheme as I did.”

  “Fair enough,” my father said. “Either way, all chances of us having a crown slipped through our fingers in one solitary wrong move.” He paused, his chest rising with a breath. “Maybe you didn’t have a typical childhood, but I loved you. I just loved power more. And don’t complain. Without everything that happened during your life, you wouldn’t be who you are today.”

  Who I was today? Someone who didn’t feel loved? Who saw himself as an evil man, trying his hardest to be good, but knowing there was a whole other part of him, begging to be released? I rubbed my tense jaw. “Did you corrupt my mother as well? Make her not want me?”

  He laughed. “No. She did that all on her own.”

  I didn’t want to believe him, but was he telling the truth? Since I started coming down here, he hadn’t lied to me once. “Why?”

  “You’ll need to ask her.”

  “She denies even having a child!”

  His jaw fell open. “You found her? Then you found her coven. You’ll be able to find out who is causing the curse.”

  My hands clenched. “It’s her. She’s cursing books. Anyone who reads the books is getting sick.”

  My father shook his head. “That doesn’t sound like her. She was always my good half. Luciana’s good sister. There was no fun in that.” He smiled slyly, eyeing his wife across the dungeon for any sign of her amusement, but he still only got the cold shoulder.

  “Well, she’s changed. You changed her like you changed me.”

  “Oh, come on Greyson, I didn’t change you or her. You both are whoever you want to be.”

  I ignored my father’s comments. I wasn’t ready to ponder life. “I need Liliana to reverse the curses, and I’m here for your help. You owe me that much. What is her weakness?”

  My father laughed. “She has no weakness, and if she doesn’t want to lift the curse, she won’t. If you don’t want the curse to spread, there’s only one way you have the power to stop it.”

  I ground my teeth. “I’m not killing her.”

  “It’s the easiest way to end an out-of-control curse.”

  “She’s my mother…and I need the curse reversed, not just stopped.” Izzy’s life depended on it.

  “Exactly. Death reverses a witch’s curse if they die by the hand of their own family.”

  “What?” I tilted my chin. I had thought a witch’s magic was permanent, even in death.

  “You didn’t know? A curse can only be broken when a witch dies in only one circumstance. The witch must be killed by someone connected with blood or one who they loved.”

  “I’m not killing her.” And I didn’t trust him. Perhaps this exception was a trick to cause me more pain.

  “Didn’t you just say she didn’t matter? And didn’t you just tell me you were evil? I don’t know what’s standing in your way. If you’re too chicken, let me out of here, and I’ll take care of her, as I was married to her once and should be able to break the curse.”

  I glared at him too dumbfounded to argue.

  “But I have one condition. I’ll end her existence if you forgive me for what I’ve done.”

  I spun on my heels and headed out of the dungeon. He was no help at all. Ruby, Ty, Izzy, and Luna all waited for me right outside the walls. Izzy might have wanted to come with me, but now, she seemed to shrink away. How much of that did she overhear? With as worked up as I was, I’m certain my voice carried into this room.

  “He’s not completely correct,” Ruby said. “I’ve heard about that way to end a witch's curse from the Queen of Kista way too long after I needed that advice, but she told me of two other ways to end the magic curse.”

  “I doubt asking my mom to lift it will work.”

  “That’s one way, but what about a dragon stone?” she asked.

  “It’s nothing but a children’s story. Purely fantasy.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “But if it was real, there’s probably only two people in this entire realm who could get their hands on a dragon stone.”

  “Yeah. You and me. The two witches with a dragon as a familiar, but even if it did exist, for it to
work, the witch would have to curse herself.”

  “And with magically enchanted books, I think that’s easier than you think. I’m going to get in touch with Luke. He’s a gem dragon. If any dragon has connections, it’s my BFF. Did you want me to take you home?”

  I ran my hand through my short hair, remembering the haircut Izzy gave me. That felt like so long ago, and the way my insides were twisted into a knot right now, I had been a different person back then. I tried to find the smiley, carefree guy Izzy brought out, but he was long gone. All I could see was the darkness that sat right below the surface. “Izzy, what method of transportation would you like?”

  She clapped her hands. “Another dragon ride, please!”

  “There you have it,” I said, feeling Izzy’s magic work its way through me, shining a light on some of my darkness. “Gotta keep the women in my life happy. Let me know as soon as you hear from Luke. In the meantime, I’m going to visit Mirror Lake in the mountains.”

  “Mirror Lake?” Ruby took a step back. “What do you need to know?”

  “For the dragon stone to work, I need my mother to curse herself. My father keeps mentioning that witches in your realm form covens. If I need to trick my mother, we might need help from other witches she trusts. They could be good witches or bad witches, but by sheer probability, many of them have to be good. If I watch my mother for long enough, she’s bound to touch base with her coven.”

  “Do you have the fee to pay?”

  My stomach twisted. “Aye. It’s just that I don’t want to see the witch who watches the lake.”

  “Why?” Izzy asked.

  Ruby also didn’t know this answer as she looked just as confused.

  “The witch who tends to the lake has a history with me.”

  “Back when you worked with your father?”

  I shook my head. “Not quite. You might not believe this, but once upon a time, I had a woman I was betrothed to.”

  Both women stared at me, waiting for more.

  More that they wouldn’t get. “It didn’t work out, and I’d rather not be reminded of the past.” I wrapped my arm around Izzy’s side and gave Luna’s shoulder a pat. “Let’s go. We’ll need supplies for Mirror Lake. We might be there for quite some time before we have our answers.”

  I only hoped Izzy had that kind of time.

  Chapter 14

  Izzy, Luna, and I decided it was best to leave for Mirror Lake as soon as possible. After packing enough dried meat in a pouch to last two days, we geared up for the two-hour flight to Druid Point where Mirror Lake was nestled in a far-away mountain valley.

  It was about a year after Nieva left me that I had found her up in the mountains, married, with a child on the way. I had been still dwelling on what had gone wrong and she had clearly just moved on. When Nieva and I used to make journeys to Mirror Lake from time to time, while I had been staring into the lake, watching for a solution to whatever problem I was experiencing, she had been frolicking with the druid family that monopolized the area—specifically the son. Seeing her pregnant stung, as she had clearly left me for another man—going right from my arms into his.

  Unless there were signs that I had ignored that occurred before she even had abandoned our relationship.

  As Luna set us down near the small house that the entire druid family lived in, the hairs on my arms rose and my chest was filled with a mixture of emotions. On one hand, I wanted to flaunt Izzy. I knew she wasn’t anything to me at this point, but we had kissed. Would her kooky, bubbly, child-like personality show Nieva that I could have fun without her? That I was over her?

  But on the other hand, the druids had another son, who I believed was still unattached. Would Izzy go off on an adventure with him while I gazed into the lake, trying to help her?

  As I slid off the side of Luna and helped Izzy down, I realized that thought was ridiculous. The way Izzy looked at me was not how Nieva ever did—though I wish she had. Izzy was both shy and bold. Almost like I was a present she was restraining herself from unwrapping.

  A gift she couldn’t have.

  Was she as hesitant in whatever connection we had as I was?

  As I set her feet on the rocky soil, her entire body pressed against mine and her cheeks flushed.

  I couldn’t help myself. I don’t even think it was me trying to show off. My previous promise to myself was forgotten as I leaned in and kissed her like old lovers did, only I didn’t linger. “We’re going to lift this curse,” I whispered. We had to.

  Thank goodness Geo greeted us at the gate. I really didn’t want to see Nieva. After I paid my fee of fifty silvers, we were allowed to utilize the enchanted waters.

  I laid out a blanket on the soft grass beside the pebble-lined lake that could swallow Mortia’s castle whole and helped Izzy settle down upon the quilted fabric. Luna was shifting on her feet and slowly spinning in circles, clearly not wanting to see Nieva again, and I didn’t blame her. Nieva twisted up my insides and shredded them every time as well. I waved my hand for her to take off. “I’ll whistle when I need you.”

  Luna didn’t hesitate. She took off between the pine trees, rising into the sky like she was on the hunt for her favorite meal—hairy hogs—but no matter if I could see her perched on the edge of a nearby mountain or not, I knew she’d stay within hearing distance.

  Unlike Luna, this visit I wasn’t shifting on my feet. Bring on Nieva. I was ready for her.

  I pulled at the magic and waved my hand over the surface of the water.

  “How does it work?” Izzy asked.

  “The lake?”

  She shook her head. “No, your magic. Why can you and Ruby do magic while others in this world, like Ruby’s boyfriend…or fiancé…or whoever Ty is to her, can’t?”

  I laughed. “Yeah, I think Ruby and I are similar. What need is there to define a relationship with words or ceremonies? If I had to guess, Ruby is hesitant because of the adult role models in her life. Her father abandoned her mother. And she told me her mother never wanted to get married.”

  “You know her well.”

  “Sometimes, we think the same. More than I ever thought was possible. But…answering your question…Ruby and I can do magic because we’re witches. You know that.”

  “What makes you a witch? I know it’s heredity, but why are you magical? What thing, on an organic level, makes you different?”

  I tilted my chin at her. “You’re speaking in words from your world and not mine, but let me see if I can explain. All around us, floating in the dust, are little particles of magic. Or rather, magic potential.”

  “Like the force?” She laughed, then shook her head. “You wouldn’t get it. Star Wars reference.”

  “I happen to have seen Star Wars. My…father took me to the theater when I was younger. When we stayed in your world for a little bit.”

  “You have had an interesting life. Full of adventure.” She smiled. “I hope…I hope I can have just as many adventures someday.”

  The graveness of her comment turned my stomach, but I let it go. “So, the magic potential floats all around us. For some reason, a witch’s body can attract this magic. We pluck it from the air and focus it inside us. Maybe we absorb through our skin, or maybe some other way. Nonetheless, I feel the tingle and warmth of the magic, and focus it down my arm, expelling it through my hands, but magic always needs a balance. I have to sacrifice something whenever I use it—unless I’m using my healing abilities.” Or disease bringing abilities, but I was not revisiting the darkness I had been in earlier, happy that I had crawled out of whatever hole I had fallen into.

  I looked at the little dark-haired beauty in front of me, certain she had been the one to toss me the rope I needed to climb out of the hole.

  Izzy made me want to be a good person.

  “Let me show you,” I said. I pulled the magic from the air, focused it inside my chest, infusing it with my will, and offering it my woodpile. I then shot it down my arm and where it concentrated in my fi
ngers, I waved my hand over the water’s surface, letting the magic flow from my fingertips like little bolts of lightning. “I can’t do everything with magic. Remember when we looked into the bath water and saw an image of the names in the newspaper?”

  “Yeah. I’m not sure how this will be different.”

  “My magic can show me a static image of a person I’ve never met, as long as I have a name, but nothing more. If I want to find them or track them, I need more power. Like that of this lake. It’s more of a magic mirror of sorts. Like in your world’s fairy tales. ‘Mirror, Mirror, on the wall’? This lake lets us view into a person’s life, like watching a movie.”

  On the completely still surface, a reflection of my mother’s dark-haired person appeared. She was back at her desk in the bookstore loft, paging through a book.

  “Now what?” Izzy asked.

  “We wait. The lake is in real time. Whatever she does, we see.”

  “Even when she goes to the bathroom?”

  “Well…yes…or no.” I pulled at the magic in the air and waved my hand over the surface again. “There. It’ll get fuzzy whenever she does something she’d find embarrassing if watched.”

  “So, until she meets up with this coven of hers, it’s just you…and me…and this blanket?” Izzy batted her eyes.

  My insides tickled at her wicked smile and all the willpower I had found previously, vanished. I knew she was trouble. I was setting myself up for a heartbreak again.

  But at the moment, I didn’t care.

  Not one bit.

  Giving the water one quick glance, noting no change in my mother’s actions, I climbed up onto my knees and crossed the blanket to where Izzy sat.

  She giggled.

  I might have growled.

  And behind us, someone cleared their throat.

  I spun around, seeing two big, innocent child’s eyes in a familiar shade of green being dangled in the arms of none other than my ex.

  “Geo said you were here, and I wanted to say ‘hi’ before you left.” Nieva brushed her fingers on the girl’s chubby cheeks. Her stomach was enlarged, clearly pregnant again.