Dragons and Mages: A Limited Edition Anthology

by Pauline Creeden

  I rocked off my knees and took a seat as close to Izzy as possible. I fanned my hand to the surface of the water. “We’ll be here a bit, I’m afraid.”

  Nieva smiled her uncomfortable smile at Izzy and nodded. “We haven’t met. I’m Nieva.”

  “Izzy,” she inclined her head in a polite greeting.

  “You’re a friend of Greyson’s?” Nieva asked, clearly prodding.

  I didn’t let Izzy answer. “I don’t see why this matters.”

  “I’m just being friendly.”

  “You’re being nosey.” All niceties of my voice were gone. “If you were friendly, you wouldn’t have left me without even a note.”

  “I thought we were over that. It was just too hard to tell you I was leaving. I didn’t want to break your heart.”

  “Well, you did.” I snapped, matter-of-factly.

  “That is in the past.” She nodded to Izzy. “You seem to be healing now.”

  Was I? And for how long before I lost Izzy?

  And if I was going to lose Izzy, I wouldn’t waste the time we had together on Nieva.

  The pain I felt in my heart when Nieva left me was nothing compared to the ache I had now, just thinking about losing Izzy. When I looked up at my ex, all I saw was her coldness. The way she took care of herself first. Of how she had never apologized for anything that had happened.

  She wasn’t worth my time. I didn’t care if I was rude, but she needed to go. “Please leave us alone. We have work to do and I don’t need a distraction.” I glanced to the water’s surface where my mother still hadn’t left her desk.

  Nieva laughed. “You don’t need a distraction? It sure seemed like you two were about to get distracted as we were coming down here.” She didn’t wait. Always wanted the last word. That was so Nieva.

  What had I even seen in her?

  But back then, we had both been selfish. Both of us took care of ourselves first.

  But now?

  Was I a different man?

  I nearly lost myself with my mother in her bookstore. I blamed my father for corrupting my innocent heart. Those traits might be in me, but there was more to me than that.

  Back when I was with Nieva, we had both been hermits.

  Now, I craved a bit of company.

  I liked going to the villages and helping people. Sure, I wasn’t social and talkative, but surrounding myself with others made me feel…good. Like I belonged.

  Even if they were fearful of me at times.

  Maybe I was a different person now.

  By now, Nieva was far enough away, but the tension didn’t leave my shoulders. Izzy knew, as her hands worked my muscles, and soon, my eyes closed, relaxing into her touch. The world melted away as well as my problems. It was just Izzy and me underneath the warmth of the sun. For a moment, I hoped we had days to do nothing but gaze at the lake.

  But then, memories of her coughing fits filled my head. We had to be on borrowed time. She was due for a massive fit—one I couldn’t help—any moment now.

  “Grey—your mom has visitors.”

  I opened my eyes to two men talking with my mom. I pulled the magic and waved my hand over the surface again, revealing a slight shimmer of their skin.

  Both men were witches.

  Part of her coven.

  My heart raced when my mother handed them each a book. I squinted to read the cover, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

  What was she doing?

  Would she infect them next?

  I had to intervene.

  As I began to formulate a plan, my thoughts were interrupted when Izzy trembled at my side.

  “What’s wrong?” I whispered.

  She pointed to the water where you could now see another woman standing behind one of the men. The woman had the same tea-like skin as Izzy along with a tiny frame.

  Izzy’s voice was weak at first, like she had trouble finding the words. “That’s…that woman…she’s…my aunt!”

  Chapter 15

  I helped Izzy off the blanket and to the water’s surface, where she gazed at the woman she recognized.

  “She’s dead!” Izzy’s eyes were wide. “That can’t be Danielle.”

  Waving my hand over the surface, I saw the shimmer to her skin. “She’s a witch.”

  Izzy shook her head. “Elle isn’t a witch. She can’t be.”

  “She is. No lying to the magic. Are you sure it’s her?”

  Izzy cranked her head while gazing into the water. “Unless she has a twin…actually, I’m sure it’s her. See that scar across her upper lip? It’s from a car accident when she was a teenager.”

  I turned to Izzy, waving a hand through the air in front of her.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “Confirming you’re not a witch.”

  “I’d know if I was.”

  “Would you?” I arched an eyebrow. “We met because you dreamt of Luna. I don’t know why I didn’t see this before. You’re connected to this world somehow. Who are your aunt’s parents?”

  “My grandma and grandpa? Gran was a grumpy old woman. I never met Grandpa. He was in the military and died during Vietnam.” Her eyes seemed to roll back as a realization hit her face. “Gran was always into little totems. Mom called it her ‘voodoo,’ but she never did anything magical.”

  “Where’d she grow up? Her parents?”

  Izzy shrugged. “I don’t know. Gran never talked of her past. We spent more time with Grandpa’s parents. They seemed to have adopted Gran…”

  I ran my hand through my hair, enjoying the short feel as it brought back good memories of how nice Izzy’s touch felt on my head while she cut it. “If I had to guess, I bet your Gran was a witch. Your aunt, a half-witch. That’d make you a quarter-witch like Ruby.”

  “Ruby’s only a quarter witch?”

  I nodded. “Dad’s a half witch and Ruby’s mom was mortal. Just like I suspect your grandfather was. I doubt a witch would let himself get killed in war.”

  “So, Elle is a half witch…that would make my mother a half-witch, too. I’ve never seen her do magic.”

  “With the witch gene, either you have it or you don’t. Your mother probably didn’t get it. Which is why you don’t have it, either.”

  “So, why did I dream about Luna and this world? Mortia’s castle was even familiar to me.”

  “You might not have the witch gene, but you are still connected to this world.” I rubbed the stubble growing back on my cheek and it all dawned on me. I shook my head and chuckled. “You’ve had the dreams your whole life?”

  Izzy nodded.

  “It’s said that one of the things a dragon can do is communicate in dreams. I bet Luna has been connected to you even before she met you.” Luna had to have used her magic to find the one person in this world that would make me happy and ensured we found each other. She had waited for the right opportunity. What a sneaky lizard…and I might love her more for it. “Luna must have known you’d need my help.” But that was only part of the reason, I was certain.

  “So, what about you?” Izzy asked with a smile, bringing me out of my thoughts. “Are you a half-witch like your dad, or a quarter witch, like Ruby?”

  “I was never sure of who my mom was, so I had no idea. Now, if that woman from the bookstore—Liliana—is my mother, who is also a half-witch, it makes me a half-witch, too, but it really doesn’t matter. Either you’re a witch or you’re not.” It was like good or evil. Either you were a good witch or a bad witch. Nothing in between.

  Izzy turned back to the water. “So, why did mom tell me Elle died? I still remember the day. I was in the hospital after a long run of coughing fits that turned into a pain crisis. Mom broke the news that Elle was shot during a convenience store robbery gone bad. I watched the news, and it reported eight casualties, but I never saw the victim’s names. In fact, I didn’t want to see her name, that would really bring her life to an end.” Izzy glanced up from the water, where her eyes were as wet as the lake.
/>   My entire body tensed, angry that Izzy’s mom would lie to her. What purpose did that serve? I took Izzy into my chest, holding her quivering body against mine and brushing my hand down her silky hair. While holding her tight, I glanced back at the water, waving my hand to create multiple reflection pools that followed each of the bookstore’s guests as they left. I edged Izzy down to the blanket and cradled her in my lap as I watched the water.

  Hours passed, where my fingers mindlessly traced each soft curve of Izzy’s face and tangled themselves in her full locks while she slept. I had gotten all the information I needed from the lake, knowing where each of the witches lived—other than my mother, but it appeared like she never left the bookstore. The hours of solitary gave me time to think…and time to wonder why it was taking so long for Ruby to hear from Luke about the dragon stone. With Ruby’s transportation ability, she should have been able to touch base with her pet dragon in minutes…not nearly the whole day that had passed. This was unlike Ruby. Had something gone wrong?

  I hated to do this, but I woke Izzy from my lap. At the very least, dusk had already settled and we should get home before night fell. Tomorrow, if Ruby didn’t come to us first, we’d hit her up in the castle and journey back to the mortal realm.

  As Izzy stirred, I filled the sky with a high-pitched whistle.

  “I fell asleep?” Izzy asked. “How long was I out?”

  “Quite a while.”

  As she sat up, her eyes flashed with pain, and a cough rolled off her lips.

  My chest constricted, and I couldn’t breathe. I had gone too long without my magical treatment of her symptoms…but another cough didn’t come. This only served as a reminder that Izzy’s life depended on us breaking the curse.

  My father said that I could break the curse by killing my mother if she was the one to have implemented the curse. I had recoiled at that thought.

  But now, knowing where the witches of the coven stayed and seeing them caress the magic books like they were more precious than life itself, I questioned my conviction to my ethics. Would I trade one evil witch’s life for the life of an innocent girl? For others’ lives who were about to be cursed?

  Without even a second thought.

  Throughout my life, I had brought way more pain than that. I’d make the witches’ deaths humane…more humane than the sickness Izzy fought every damn day of her life.

  And would anyone blame me for taking a life?

  To save Izzy and all the others who were sick?

  I doubted it.

  But would I blame myself?

  Would it be a slippery slope back to the person my father created?

  I’d deal with that worry later.

  If I couldn’t get that dragon stone from Luke and trick Liliana into hexing herself, I would happily take a life.

  By now, Luna’s silhouette appeared in the newly risen moonlight. I cupped my hand to Izzy’s cheek. “I’m just going to make sure your sickness stays away.”

  She nodded, nuzzling into my palm as I closed my eyes, sifting through her magical sand. This time, I couldn’t get some of the magnetic pieces to separate. My time of being able to help her was drawing to an end. We had to do something fast, but as quickly as the other sick people were dying, Izzy couldn’t have much more time.

  Was the curse taking longer with her because she had this realm’s blood?

  Did it give her some resistance to the spell?

  Even if this was the case, I knew as well as any other magical practitioner, that a witch’s resistance to magic only went so far. The disease was killing her like all the others.

  When I opened my eyes, Izzy’s lips were within inches of mine.

  Every ounce of me wanted to kiss her.

  And I could see in the softness of her eyes, she wanted me to kiss her too, but all I could think about was her last coughing fit. Of the pain in my chest when Nieva left me and how losing Izzy would be so much worse. Back then, I couldn’t eat for days, and I felt like I lost myself. I couldn’t have that happen again.

  I leaned away from Izzy, finding my willpower from somewhere I didn’t know I had. I helped her to her feet and let go of her briefly, after she assured me that she could stand on her own, and folded our blanket, offering her a chunk of the jerky.

  I didn’t miss the look of sheer disappointment on her face from my subtle rejection, and it broke my heart.

  I kept my eyes cast down and busied myself with packing our things until Luna was ready to take us back to my cabin in the mountains.

  Chapter 16

  “You didn’t sleep with me last night.” Izzy emerged from the bedroom with a glare that pierced my chest like I had been stung by an elephant bee. I should have given her praise for walking herself, but instead, I draped my cloak around her shoulders.

  “We’re going to the castle.” My words were cold. Much colder than I wanted, but I wasn’t answering the questions I’m sure she had. Aye, I didn’t sleep in her bed last night. I laid down until she fell asleep, then retreated to my room. I knew I should have stayed close in case she got sick, but who was I fooling? My cabin walls weren’t that thick.

  All sleeping beside her did was make my heart open more than it should—more than it already had. I needed to focus and all she was was a distraction.

  I handed her a pouch of nuts for breakfast and guided her out of my cabin. “Luna’s already waiting for us.”

  Her stare demanded answers, but I tightened my lips. It was easier this way.

  But Izzy wouldn’t have it. “Don’t you like me anymore? What did I do?”

  I did like her. Way too much. “You didn’t do anything.” I zipped my mouth shut, unsure why I even spilled those words.

  “Is it because I have witch’s blood in me? Is it because my aunt might be evil?”

  My laugh cut the tension as we maneuvered out from underneath the pine trees surrounding my cabin, meeting Luna in a clearing. “I’m not one to care about how ‘tainted’ your blood is. Look at my parents.”

  “Then what?” She folded her arms over her chest and fought me with a strength I didn’t expect as I tried to lift her onto Luna’s back. “Did seeing your ex-girlfriend change your mind about me?”

  I stepped back, leaving Izzy balancing herself against Luna. She wasn’t going to give up, was she? “Yes.” It was mostly truth. Nieva reminded me of how empty I felt when she left and I knew I’d be a hundred times emptier without Izzy. In fact, I was confused about who I was at the moment. “I’m still sorting out my feelings.” Truth, even though my feelings had nothing to do with Nieva…at least not like Izzy thought.

  She cast her eyes down as a hand rose to wipe away a tear.

  I was being an ass.

  Why?

  To protect my own fragile heart?

  What about hers?

  I shook my head, ashamed of myself. I had crossed a line. “I’m sorry,” I said, taking that step back towards her.

  She held out a hand, stopping me. Her lips quivered and her voice was filled with a sadness I always knew was hiding inside her but she had never let out. Until now. “You know what, Greyson. You’re not worth it. I appreciate your help, but I’m not going to spend my last days with a heartbreak.”

  The venom from the elephant bee filled my chest and shot down my veins. I had to look away, because if I stared at the newly formed resolve on her face, I might lose touch with my emotions.

  Even though I wanted to take her into my arms.

  To console her.

  I knew she was right.

  I wasn’t ready.

  She sucked in her cheeks, making her bones show the severity of her proclamation.

  “Let’s go,” was all I said, ignoring her protests and throwing her up on Luna’s back. I sat behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist and liking it more than I should, but her body was stiff in my arms. I squeezed my legs and gave Luna the command, wondering if Izzy was still having, ‘the best experience of her life.’

  Proba
bly not.

  At this point, it was probably her worst. What had happened between yesterday morning and today?

  Yeah. I was a jerk.

  But it fit me.

  It was who I was deep down.

  At the castle door, I checked the guard’s burn—which was completely gone. After hearing his thanks and brushing it off, he finally answered the question I had asked initially. “I haven’t seen Queen Ruby today. I’m not sure where she is.”

  That was so unlike my sister. She wasn’t a late sleeper and usually ran circles around everyone else. Also, unlike Ruby, she hadn’t popped in to my cabin to give me news of Luke and the dragon stone.

  A maid pointed us upstairs to Ruby and Ty’s chamber. “Greyson, I’m so glad you came,” she said. “The queen is in her room.”

  “In her room?” It was well after breakfast already.

  Her eyebrows knitted together. “She’s sick. I thought they sent for you.”

  Even with Izzy in my arms, I ran up the three flights of steps to Ruby’s chamber. Luna’s heavy feet clomped on the steps behind me. My heart pounded in rhythm to my knocking on the door.

  Ty let me in. Dark bags showed beneath his green eyes.

  “What’s going on here?” I pushed around him to see my sister lying in her bed.

  Sweat glistened on her skin like I had seen on Izzy and Frederick when we visited him in the hospital. Ruby’s normally peach skin was washed out and gray, and her eyes were closed.

  “How did she get sick?” Izzy whispered.

  I slid Izzy out of my arms, onto her feet, and my hands fisted and my stomach twisted. “From the bookstore.”

  “But she didn’t read the book…and you held one, too.”

  “I didn’t read the book, but Ruby had opened it—and even read from it. How careless I’ve been! I didn’t even worry about any of us contracting the sickness.”

  “What are you talking about?” Ty asked.

  I couldn’t answer, as I was one hundred percent focused on Ruby. Ty helped Izzy to a chair while she told him the details of our bookstore visit while I took a spot beside the bed. Taking Ruby’s hand, I reached for my magic and sorted through the sand in her body.