The Cursed Witch

by Chandelle LaVaun

  I fell in love with Saraphina on December 5th 1691. Three-hundred-twenty-seven years and nineteen days ago. Every day it killed me. Every day it got harder. Every day I loved her a little bit more.

  As I looked at the golden lines on her beautiful face staring up at me…now I knew why.

  She was my soulmate.

  The world rocked under my feet. I had never dared to wish for this.

  I bit down on my cheek and pain flared through my mouth. This is actually real. My wildest dreams, my deepest desires had just come true…and it scared me like nothing had ever done before.

  What did this mean now?

  What did this mean for us?

  What did this mean for Prince Thorne’s plan?

  I gasped.

  Prince Thorne.

  My heart sank. My stomach tightened into knots. An icy chill slid down my spine then settled into my bones. I felt like someone had dropped a bucket of ice water over my head. Prince Thorne was going to kill me. This was not part of the plan. What’s he going to say? What’s he going to do? What do I do?

  I had no idea. But I needed to. I needed a good backup plan. Except by now he would’ve known we were in the tunnels and the Knights would be coming to escort us back to his throne. I needed time to think before…before he saw us. Before he saw these lines. Before he discovered Saraphina was my soulmate.

  Because then he would know that I’d kissed her.

  Because that was the only way soulmate lines appeared for Fae. Seelie or Unseelie, a kiss was required to seal the deal.

  Prince Thorne would know I kissed her.

  Fear rolled up my spine. I balled my hands into fists. Breathe, Riah. Think. You need time – time. That was it. I needed time to think of what to say to him. Which meant I needed to conceal these marks on our faces. There was no Fae magic that would fool Seelie Prince Thorne, he was far too powerful…but there were types of Arcana earthling magic he could not see through. And I knew just the spell.

  I looked down in Saraphina’s lavender eyes and my heart fluttered. My silver magic flowed out of my palms, filling the air around us.

  “Riah?” Her voice rose. She glanced around at my magic. “Riah, what’s happening? What is this?”

  “This won’t hurt you,” I said as softly and calmly as I possibly could.

  Then I lifted my hands between our faces. The spell I said in my mind I’d learned from one of the wisest witches I’d ever known – Myrtle Proctor. Saraphina’s mother. She used to use it back in 1691, and she’d taught it to Althea Putnam – one of the original twins. It held old angelic magic inside it, just enough to give it power but not enough to harm those without angel blood.

  I took a deep breath then pushed my magic out.

  The silver glittery cloud exploded over both of our faces.

  Saraphina shrieked and leapt away from me. She bent over and coughed and wiped at her face. I sucked in a deep breath then held it. Look at me. Look at me. The tunnel pulsed with energy that radiated into my feet and up my legs. It was Prince Thorne checking for us. Footsteps thundered in the distance and I knew it was the Knights. Time was running out.

  Look at me, Saraphina.

  Her head snapped up like she’d heard me and our eyes met. The golden lines on her face were gone. I exhaled in relief, then did a quick check in the mirror. Mine were gone too. We’d be safe. For now.

  She looked up at me, gasping with burning eyes. “What did you do?”

  Chapter Fifty-Nine

  Saffie

  “What did you do?” I growled up at him through the cloud of his magic clinging to the air around my face. “Riah, what is this—”

  The ground rumbled under my feet. My balance failed me and I stumbled back until my hands slammed into the cold, thick vines. Footsteps thundered in the distance. Lots of footsteps. My stomach tightened into knots. I glanced left and right, right to left, yet I saw nothing. It sounded like a small army stomping towards us. The air around me grew tight and thick, it screamed danger. Every instinct inside of me told me to run, and run fast. A cold chill slid down my spine.

  Something was coming.

  But I wasn’t just going to stand there.

  I didn’t even know what I could actually do with my magic, but I knew it sang strong in my veins. I pushed my magic into my hand and felt it wrap around the citrine bracelet Riah gave me. It tingled against my skin and then I felt the familiar slide of cool metal move up my arm and across my body. Light flashed as the sword shot out from the golden armor on my wrist. I gripped the hilt tight and rolled to the balls of my feet.

  Heat wrapped around my wrist. I jumped and looked down – but it was only Riah. My heart fluttered under his touch. I started to switch my sword to my other hand so I could hold his when his silver magic coiled around my hand. Energy zapped my skin and my sword vanished in a pool of gold and silver glitter. The metal body armor slid back across my body in the blink of an eye until I was left with only the citrine bracelet once more.

  I gasped and swatted his hand away from me. “Riah—”

  My hiss dried on my tongue as the black end of the tunnel in front of us filled with pale white light. At least a dozen men marched toward us in perfect unison, each step aligned exactly with the others. They wore golden body armor from the neck all the way down to their intense metal boots. Large swords were strapped to their backs by leather straps that crossed over their chests. They were dripping in weapons and malice. They were soldiers.

  And I’d seen them before. At Hidden Kingdom when I’d broken in.

  But these were not spirits.

  Those were real swords.

  Their faces wore masks of cold indifference. They had various shades of hair color but each wore it styled the same – pulled back on the sides and tied behind their heads, the long straight strands hung loose down their backs. Their ears narrowed to sharp points at the top. Pale gray wings hung from their backs, not fluttering or swaying, like they too were trained.

  They glided toward us like a rushing river. I glanced behind me but there was nowhere to go. Nowhere to hide. The tunnel stretched into a black hole behind us. I balled my hands into fists and summoned my magic into my palms. My pulse pounded harder than the footsteps heading for me.

  Their eyes aimed lasers at my face. I swallowed through the nerves clawing their way up my throat and tried to brace myself.

  But then their wings flapped at the same time and they leapt in the air.

  My heart dropped.

  I blinked and then two of them landed right in front of me. I staggered back but they followed. Behind them, the others drew their swords and pointed them right at me. My pulse quickened. Sweat dripped down my spine and my stomach flipped and turned.

  “Who are you? What do you want?” I jumped back and raised my hands in the air. “What’s happening?”

  They dove for me and gripped my elbows. My feet lifted off the ground.

  I gasped and kicked my legs. I thrashed and tried to break their hold but their grip was iron tight. I cursed and craned my neck to look around the one on my right. “Riah, what’s going —”

  My breath left me in a rush, scorching a path through my chest and up my throat.

  Riah stood there dressed entirely in golden metal body armor…that perfectly matched the soldiers. I felt like I’d been kicked in the gut. I couldn’t get a breath back in.

  “Riah,” I half- whispered, half-whimpered.

  His gaze met mine and that heat, that tension I’d grown to expect in his eyes was gone. Whatever was in its place was stone cold. He held my stare, then in a deep voice I’d never heard from him, he said, “lower your weapons.”

  The winged-soldiers swung their swords over their heads and slid them back onto the holster on their backs in quick, fluid motions.

  What the—

  “Hold her tight, gentlemen. She’s a fighter,” Riah said in that cool, icy sharp voice. “Bring her to The Court, they’re expecting her.”

  Oh God. Oh,
God. He’s one of them. He’s telling them what to do.

  What? What. WHAT?

  “Riah,” I choked on his name as the soldiers holding me spun us around.

  I kicked my legs out harder but it was no use. My throat tightened with the need to cry. The tunnel disappeared. The vines and leaves vanished into thin air. In the blink of an eye, everything changed. We were in a forest, though unlike any I’d ever seen. The ground was covered in a lush, vibrant green grass. Massive tree branches sprawled over our heads.

  My blood turned to ice. My heart pounded so loud I couldn’t hear myself think.

  Riah pushed past the soldiers carrying me and led the way across a grassy field to where two dozen people watched us in stoic silence. I couldn’t take my eyes off of the back of his head, or the firm set of his shoulders. All I saw were vague outlines of bodies watching our every step. I was trying to make sense of what was happening. He wouldn’t have betrayed me like that. He had to be playing some kind of game here, but I couldn’t tell which.

  He marched up to the middle of the crowd then stopped in front of two massive thrones where two very different looking people sat in silence. Riah held his hands behind his back and bowed his head. “Prince Thorne. Princess Sage.”

  Prince? Princess? Where the hell are we? What the hell kind of names are Thorne and Sage? My stomach turned.

  We stood in the center of a ring of trees. Neon-green light shimmered through the branches. There was so much energy pumping through the ground that my legs buzzed. In front of us there had to be two dozen pairs of eyes and pointed ears staring at us like we were roadkill. But it was the two wearing ornate crowns that made my blood turn to ice.

  And then it hit me…what they were.

  The Fae.

  My pulse quickened and heat rushed to my cheeks. I had to get out of here. The Fae were dangerous. My instincts were going off like a volcano, begging me to get far away as fast as possible. But the two Fae holding me had an iron grip.

  I felt a cold rush of energy brush over me and I shivered. Then I peeked up and found Prince Thorne watching me. Staring. His eyes were the color of hot embers in a fireplace and held a raging fire like nothing I’d ever seen. He had deep red hair that fell in wild waves down to his elbows. His skin was porcelain pale and his features were too pretty to be a human male. Pointed ears stuck out under an elaborate crown made of twigs and flowers.

  But it was the female sitting silently beside him that made me want to crawl under a rock and tuck my tail between my legs. She sat tall and terrible against her throne of thorns. She was painfully beautiful. Everything about her was mesmerizing. She had wild hair that varied in shades of blue, purple, and turquoise. Her skin was lusciously tan. Her gaze met mine and I shivered. Her eyes held a galaxy of colors that glittered just like the stars. She wore a diadem on her head with a black flower in the middle.

  Prince Thorne arched one eyebrow at me and it sent my pulse into hyperdrive. “I’ve been looking for you, Saraphina.”

  WHAT?

  He turned his gaze to Riah in front of me and his lips curved up on one side. “Nicely done, Zachariah.”

  Riah bowed his head again. “I take my missions very seriously, my Prince.”

  Your MISSION?

  Prince Thorne grinned and I just wanted to scream. “Knights, take her away until I’m ready for her.” Then he looked to me and the glint in his eyes made my heart stop. “Your special room has been awaiting your arrival.”

  Princess Sage narrowed her eyes at me. “Welcome to the Seelie Court, Saraphina. You’re in our world now.”

  The Seelie Knight’s grip on my arms tightened. I hissed and clenched my teeth. They carried me across the grass as the rest of the crowd watched like I was their best entertainment ever.

  I twisted and looked behind me. “RIAH. Riah, please. What’s happening?”

  But Riah didn’t look at me, didn’t even acknowledge that I’d spoken. He kept his eyes on the Prince, his face a mask of cold detachment.

  The Seelie Knights carrying me made a sharp turn. Just before a marble wall cut off my view entirely, I saw Prince Thorne cross one leg over the other. “Zachariah, let us discuss your next assignment.”

  Chapter Sixty

  Saffie

  I kicked and screamed and fought against their every step but it was no use. I was no match for their strength. My feet weren’t even touching the ground, these Fae Knights carried me at least a foot up in the air. I tried to take in my surroundings…but all I saw was gold armor and gray wings. They had me surrounded.

  Above me were thick green vines covered in neon colored flowers. There was a strange green glow to the air that I couldn’t pinpoint. My own golden glitter magic billowed out of me in waves, yet it did nothing against anything here. Welcome to the Seelie Court, Princess Sage had taunted me with. I didn’t know quite what that meant but I knew it was dangerous and a threat. I tried to glance over my shoulder. All I saw was the sparkle of my own wings.

  MY wings.

  My stomach turned. What is happening?

  The Knights moved with alarming speed, everything passed by in a bit of a blur. The next thing I knew we stopped outside of a grand ornate golden door without a handle or knob of any kind. The Knight in the front with long black hair pressed his palm flat to the door. Light flashed under his hand and the door swung open.

  My heart sank.

  The door was locked with magic. I hadn’t realized until that very moment that I’d been planning my escape but apparently it’d came on the wings of hopelessness. I knew for a fact my magic would not open this door, just as my magic did nothing against these knights and their armor. Tears stung my eyes but I refused to cry, even if they were angry tears.

  The Knight in front walked inside the room then stepped aside and gestured inside.

  That damn door was so wide the two knights carrying me didn’t even have to put me down. They hurried inside to the center of the room then dropped me. Cold air rushed by me as I fell farther down than I’d realized I was being held at, but right before my feet touched the ground I shot straight up in the air.

  I screamed and swung my arms but that only made me float higher. “What did you —" I gasped as I flipped upside down then right back up.

  The Knights turned and marched off in perfect unison and I was still floating.

  “Commander Riah will return shortly,” that black-haired Knight said in a cold, stoic voice. He spun and slammed the door shut behind him.

  COMMANDER RIAH?

  “WHAT?” I screamed as loud as I could.

  My feet flipped over my head, leaving me hanging upside down. I shrieked and thrashed my legs around. Gravity took control and sucked my hair and long black wool coat back down to the floor. Both fell over my face, suffocating me. I cursed and tugged my coat off, then let it drop the fifteen feet to the floor. But with nothing holding it down, my sweater slid down my body and over my face. I growled and fought with the cotton as it tangled in my hair.

  I pulled as hard as I could — and rolled.

  “What is happening?” I squealed like a frightened little piggy as I barrel rolled across the room.

  Something was holding me up, if I could just reach it I could free myself. I stretched and reached up to my toes — and rolled like a runaway tire down a hill. I screamed and the world spun around me. My stomach twisted and my Christmas Eve lasagna climbed my throat.

  I threw myself backward, arching my back and locking my legs straight – I froze mid-air like a flying starfish. My heart pounded in my chest as I gasped for air. “What the hell. Okay…okay…what the hell is going on?” I screamed to no one.

  There didn’t seem to be anything holding me up. It made no sense. I slowly glanced over my shoulder, looking for something other than sparkling air to grab ahold of — I gasped.

  MY WINGS.

  Realization hit me hard. I had wings. That was why I was freaking flying. I turned to my right and rolled halfway across the room. I heard t
he sound of my own shrill screaming but I didn’t give a rat’s ass.

  “How…the hell…do you work these…STUPID…things?”

  “You have to calm down.”

  I jumped at the sound of Riah’s voice and it sent me soaring backward across the room.

  Riah raised his hand and I froze in place, hovering ten feet off the ground.

  “PUT ME DOWN,” I screamed and tried to kick my legs but couldn’t move at all.

  Riah just stared back at me with an ice-cold golden gaze that I did not recognize. The golden armor covering his body sent chills down my spine. I felt a piece of my heart break off just looking at him. I wanted him to speak but I was too angry to hear his voice. I wanted an explanation but I just wanted to run far away as fast as possible. It didn’t even matter why. It mattered that he lied and betrayed me. He swept in like prince charming and lured my heart to a false sense of safety just to deliver me to a monster.

  He glanced to his side to where another knight stood silently in the shadows holding a white bag almost as tall as he was. Riah gestured to a wooden hook to his right. “There.”

  The knight hurried over and hung the bag where instructed then turned to Riah. “Anything else, Commander?”

  Commander.

  There that word was again.

  “’Tis all,” Riah growled and waved his hand. His amethyst ring sparkled and it was another stab in the heart.

  As the knight left, I pushed and tried to make my body move, but I was stuck. “What did you do to me?”

  He sighed and raised his hand again. This time he curled his finger and I floated toward him. “I have done no harm. You are in my realm now. I am stronger here…and you were going to hurt yourself.”

  “Oh what, and that would rob you of the chance to do it yourself?” I glared at him. “Put. Me. Down.”

  He frowned and my feet slowly lowered to the ground. “Saraphina, I—”

  My feet hit the floor and I dove for the closest thing to me. I blindly grabbed the object and threw it right at him. A wooden chair soared right at his face but he calmly stepped aside before it hit him. It smashed into the wall and crumbled to pieces behind him.