Queen Witch

by Elle Middaugh

  “Are you okay?” Gage and Laken asked at the same time, both stepping in to grab an elbow and steady me.

  I nodded and carefully stood up tall. “Yeah, I’m fine. I was just practicing some of that light magic, and it kicked my ass.”

  “I can see that,” Laken said with a grin. “Did it hurt?”

  I rubbed the muscles at the base of my neck. “Like hell. And for magic that’s supposedly so good and pure, I definitely wasn’t expecting a side effect like that.”

  “It’s probably a counterbalance,” Gage said, inadvertently drawing all our eyes. “Like, how bad things feel good?”

  Heat flooded my system, rushing to my cheeks and pooling in my core. God, how I wanted to do those bad things with him. It was maddening, and slightly embarrassing. I wasn’t used to my seduction failing.

  “He’s got a point,” Laken conceded, finally releasing my elbow. If she noticed my blush, she never pointed it out.

  Maren nodded and crossed her arms. “Maybe it hurts less over time?”

  “She did say it was a skill to be honed,” I agreed, thinking it over.

  “She also called it self-sacrifice,” Gage added. “So I wouldn’t expect it to be overly pleasant.”

  I nodded. “True.”

  I just wished it didn’t have to suck like that, because I planned on using it from here on out.

  “Listen, guys,” Maren said, ruffling her light brown hair. “I gotta go. Catch up with you later, though?”

  Laken scoffed. “At the Fourth Trial, you mean, which could literally be any second from now?”

  Maren grinned. “Yep. That sounds about right. See ya then.”

  Laken waved at her, then hugged me. “Actually, I’m gonna go too. I left Nathan in a rush last night and he’s probably wondering what the hell is going on.”

  “Or why the hell he didn’t get laid,” I said, sniggering.

  She pushed my shoulder and rolled her eyes. “Ha ha, Eliza. You’re so hilarious. Why don’t you worry about laying your own prince sometime?”

  She winked at me, then sauntered off, making a dramatic show of swaying her hips.

  Another round of heat flushed my cheeks.

  Damn it! I wasn’t usually so easily embarrassed. If Gage and I could just hook up and get it over with, I was sure I could revert back to normal. But... that didn’t appear to be happening anytime soon. Much to the dismay of my hormones.

  I took a deep breath and exhaled it quickly. “So! What’s on the agenda before I’m thrown into another life-or-death trial, or we’re sucked into another terrifying zombie-raising adventure?”

  He sniffed out a laugh, and his dimples popped charmingly. “You could show me some more of the kingdom? I might be ruling it one day, you know.”

  It was a joke, and a lighthearted one at that, but it still made my heart fall flat. Fate and the Trials had all but forced him into being my prince, but I wanted him to choose that destiny for himself.

  “Right,” I said, unable to keep the same charismatic smile in place. “Well, let’s start here.” I pointed up the coast to where a sandy path wove upward toward a crumbling castle on the cliff side. “The Old Quarter.”

  “Sure,” he agreed. “And speaking of older things, what happened that turned your older sister evil in the first place?”

  I blew out a heavy breath and tried to pinpoint it, but one memory in particular shone brighter than the rest. It made me nervous just thinking about it, because I played a part in it.

  “For as long as I can remember,” I said, leading us away from the cove, “Nerissa has always been fantastic at magic. It comes naturally to her, more so than swimming or riding a bike or even socializing—things most people would consider to be pretty easy. So, like so many other understimulated students in school, she got bored. And she started getting into trouble for fun.

  “One day, when we were fourteen and sixteen, she breached the palace walls and she met a boy from a nearby village. His name was Trae Devons. He was the most handsome and charismatic boy any of us had ever seen. Dark hair, dark eyes, and an alluring and mysterious aura. She was completely infatuated with him, and she quickly fell head over heels in love.

  “I thought it was a good thing. He seemed to be quelling her rebellious nature. Keeping her out of trouble by keeping her occupied. But when I saw him with another girl....” I shook my head and looked at Gage. “She’s my sister, you know? She deserves a guy who’s faithful and loyal. So I... I approached him. I pushed him right in the chest, knocking him flat on his ass; he hadn’t expected it. And I told him to disappear. To go back to his village and leave my sister alone. I was only looking out for her. I had no idea he would die the next day....”

  I stole a glance at Gage, whose eyes were wide.

  “Jesus,” he muttered. “That’s awful.”

  Guilt welled up inside me in the form of tears. I looked to the ground before he could see, but he did anyway.

  “Hey... you’re not thinking that this had anything to do with you, are you?”

  “Of course I am!” I cried, as the tears poured down my cheeks like boiling water. “I threatened him! I should have been kinder, more tactful. Maybe if I had, he wouldn’t have left? Maybe he wouldn’t have died, and Nerissa could have ended up good?”

  “You couldn’t have possibly known that that boy would die,” Gage said.

  “No, but I could have stayed out of their relationship. Kept my mouth shut and my hands to myself. If I hadn’t said anything, maybe none of this shit would’ve happened?”

  Gage shook his head, still unconvinced.

  “Or hell,” I pressed, “maybe I somehow put a curse on him that day? I was young and I didn’t really have a solid grasp on magic at that point. Not that I’m super spectacular even now or anything—”

  “No, no.”

  Gage grabbed my hand and stopped our trek up to the Old Quarter.

  “Listen to me, Eliza, you had no part in what happened to that Trae boy, okay? And I don’t want to see you let that guilt eat you up like this anymore. He made his own choices. Nerissa made hers, too. She didn’t have to go bad after the death of her boyfriend, but if she did, that’s her mistake. Not yours.”

  I shook my head. “I just can’t believe that.”

  “Because you’ve been harboring this guilt for, what? Like, eight years now? It’s done. It’s over. It’s in the past. You have to let it go.”

  “I know,” I said, voice barely a whisper. “But I don’t know if I can. It’d be impossible to forgive myself if I’m the reason my sister practices dark magic.”

  “You already said she got into trouble simply because she was so smart.”

  “Well, yes, but—”

  “No buts. She was on that path a long time ago.”

  His words washed over me like a cleansing wave. I might not have wanted to believe them, but they made me feel better nonetheless. Like the weight of the world had suddenly lifted from my shoulders.

  “Thank you, Gage,” I said. And I did the bravest thing I’d done since these trials began: I leaned in and kissed him.

  Not a kiss like his quick little peck on the neck after the dance, but a soft, wet, lip to lip brush of skin that sent electric sparks firing down my spine. I pulled away smiling, proud of myself for taking that risk, but he pulled me back in and parted my lips with his tongue.

  It was the best kiss of my life.

  Not necessarily because he had incredible skills with his tongue—which he did—but because of the emotions fueling our movements. I’d never felt so passionately about someone before, never wanted a kiss so much that my soul ached. I genuinely cared about this dragon I saved on that liffside worlds away. I wanted him so badly, and it made my heart absolutely sing to know he wanted me too.

  When we finally pulled apart, I had no idea what to say. It was so new and exciting—and kinda terrifying, if I was being honest. I felt like a teenager again, floating with the clouds, drunk on desire.

  He brushed
my cheeks with his thumbs. “I hope that helps explain how I’m feeling about all this.”

  An accidental giggle bubbled from my lips. “That didn’t really explain anything.”

  He grinned. “Okay, well....” He sighed, but the mile-wide smile remained.

  Apparently he felt as elated as I did.

  “Here’s the thing,” he said, taking both my hands in his. “I have no idea why fate decided to bring you to my world that day, and maybe at first I was a little defensive because I had no fucking clue what was going on, but now... I think I get it. I like your world, and most of all, I like you. I know I’m bound to you as your prince by some magical bullshit or whatever, but all that aside, I think I’d like a chance at truly being with you.”

  My heart pounded ravenously in my chest. My breathing had to have been audible. It was like he was saying the exact words I’d always wished he would.

  Panic hit me like a brick.

  What if I’d somehow love spelled him?

  “Can we just pretend that the First Trial never happened?” he asked, carrying on as if I wasn’t internally freaking out. “That we met at the Salt Sea, or somewhere in town, or down at the cove... like normal people without some fateful bond to fulfill?”

  I licked my lips, still panic-stricken. “I don’t know. That very much depends on if I accidentally spelled you or not.”

  His eyebrows rose. “Come again?”

  I nodded quickly, allowing my fear and anxiety to flow freely. “You’re saying exactly what I dreamed you would... I’m afraid I made it happen somehow.”

  He laughed, flashing me the most gorgeous smile I’d ever seen.

  “I’m positive I haven’t been spelled. This is legitimately how I feel.”

  But I shook my head, set in disbelief.

  “We need to test it to be sure,” I said.

  With that, I grabbed his hand and dragged him the rest of the way up the path.

  Chapter 14

  When we got to the Old Quarter castle, just a tall stack of crumbling sandstone bricks, I led us around the outside and over to the edge of the cliff.

  Jagged rocks lined the precipice the whole way to the bottom, where navy blue waters crashed greedily at the shore. A few tufts of tall grass lay bent over flat from the power of the wind, and amongst them, wild daisies dotted the ground.

  Gage’s eyes lit up. “You can’t be serious....”

  “It’s only my first method of testing,” I countered with a hand on my hip. “But yes, I’m totally serious.”

  I licked my lips and took a deep breath, edging closer to the overhang. The wind picked up, lashing my hair across my face and ruffling my gown ungracefully.

  This cliff in particular always scared me a little. There were countless people who’d died there over the years, whether by an accidental fall, a recreational jump gone wrong, or an actual suicide. People literally called them the Suicide Cliffs. I had magic to protect me, but still, it totally freaked me out.

  I quickly pulled a flower and backed away from the ledge.

  “Okay,” I said, taking a calming breath. I plucked a petal. “He loves me.” Then I plucked another. “He loves me not.”

  Gage tugged the entire flower right out of my hand.

  “I’ll make this easy on you. I don’t love you. Not yet. But I could. You’re the kind of girl I could see myself falling hard for. And for the last time, I’m not under a love spell.”

  Heat rushed through my body as his words brought me to life.

  “Fine. I’ll whip up a quick counterspell, just in case, and if it doesn’t work, I guess we’ll know the answer.”

  He raised a brow. “It won’t change how I feel about you, will it? Like, make me not like you when I actually do?”

  “Only if the ‘like’ was fabricated.”

  He nodded. “Okay then. Spell me. Or antispell me, or whatever.”

  I wanted to smile, I really did. He was being so damn cute. But I was scared to death that his feelings for me would vanish at the end of my next few sentences.

  I took the daisy back and thought about crushing it into magic dust, but I decided against it. I closed my eyes and, instead, channeled the magic from inside me, hoping I wasn’t making a terrible mistake.

  “Magic inside me rise and swell, help me with an antilove spell.”

  As the magic floated away from me and swirled around Gage, I squinted and stole a peek.

  He was staring right at me with a stupid grin on his face.

  “Is it over?” he asked. “Are you satisfied?”

  I ran a nervous hand through my hair. “I don’t know. How do you feel?”

  He ran his own fingers through the path mine had just taken.

  “The same as I did ten minutes ago.”

  Then he kissed me. A quick caress that was merely meant to reassure me, not seduce me. But I wasn’t so sure it worked.

  “Now, show me this Old Quarter. Why are we starting the tour here?”

  I licked my lips, tasting the salty ocean breeze and the smoky richness of his tongue.

  “We’re starting here because it was the closest thing to the cove. But it works out, because this is where our kingdom originated. This,” I said, gesturing to the crumbling building beside us, “is the original castle that was built hundreds of years ago.”

  “So who’d your family have to overthrow to gain control of the kingdom?”

  I shrugged. “No one. As far as I know, we’ve always ruled this side of the sea.”

  He looked out across the ocean. “And who rules the other side?”

  “The Erikssons.”

  “Is that the girl with the white hair who finished after you and Nerissa in the last trial? The one with the stalky prince?”

  I nodded. “Annika. She’s one of the Erikssons, yes.”

  “So are they serious rivals of yours? Battling you for power in real life, but also in the Trials?”

  “I mean, at one point they probably were. I don’t think anyone’s really battling over territory anymore. But as far as being a Trials rival, I guess everyone is. Nerissa is my biggest competitor, though. As long as I keep her from coming into ultimate power, I win—even if neither of us wins in the end. Does that make sense?”

  He nodded. “It does.”

  Then a voice resounded from out of nowhere.

  “That’s not the attitude I want to hear,” Maren said, coming out of the shadows behind us.

  I jumped, clutching at my heart. “Dear God, Maren! I thought you left!”

  She rolled her eyes. “I thought so too. These Trials are seriously cramping my style.”

  I cocked my head. “Does that mean...?”

  She sighed and nodded. “Yep. The Fourth Trial could begin any minute. Helia was flying overhead and overheard the Blood Witch talking to Mom and Dad.”

  “Great,” I said with a super-wide, super-fake smile. “Just fucking great.”

  “I know, right?” Maren leaned against a stone wall and crossed her arms.

  “Where were you headed anyway?” Gage asked, cocking his head. I knew he’d be curious about almost everything since he wasn’t from here, but even I had no idea where she went off to most of the time.

  Maren stared at us, right in our eyes, moving carefully from one set to the other.

  Was she debating whether or not to lie? It kinda hurt to think my baby sister would keep things from me. I was such an open book, such a crusader for goodness and honesty, that I just assumed the rest of my friends and family were too.

  “I go to the Outlands,” she said finally. “But you can’t tell anyone.”

  “Because it’s illegal?” I snapped, bewilderment momentarily overtaking tact.

  “No, because it’s dangerous.”

  Elijah reached the top of the hill, winded and rosy-cheeked.

  “There you are, Maren!” he said, panting. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”

  She took a deep breath and smiled. It was a strange expression, li
ke she was embarrassed for leaving him, annoyed with him for showing up, and also kind of endeared by him—all at once.

  “Hey, Eli,” she said, awkwardly walking over to greet him. “What’s up?”

  He shook his head, still fighting to breathe normally. “Nothing. I’m just kinda lost around here without you.”

  “I know what that’s like,” Gage agreed.

  “You do not!” I protested. “I only ever leave you to sleep and attend the Trials.”

  He looked around as if what I’d said was obvious. “Yeah, which is pretty much all you’re allowed to do. I’m surprised the old lady even gives you time for resting. Maybe Nerissa’s sleeping curse was a blessing in disguise. You finally got a break.”

  Maren chuckled. “He’s got a point, Eliza. I know I’m dead tired.”

  Helia and Catfish suddenly appeared on the horizon, flying and running as fast as they could. On a different day, they might’ve been playfully racing, but I had a feeling they were driven more by fear than fun today.

  Maren closed her eyes and joined forces with her hawk. For some reason, she’d always had a stronger connection to her familiar than the rest of us did—even Nerissa, who was extremely powerful and who also had a bird as a sidekick. I couldn’t reach Catfish’s thoughts from that far away.

  “Ezra’s already called the gathering,” Maren said. “We’re meeting down at the reef.”

  “You mean the Blood Witch?” I asked. “That’s her name?”

  Maren nodded.

  I growled in frustration. “We were literally just inches from her when she performed the counterspell on me! She couldn’t have given us some kind of warning? She couldn’t have told us about the next trial right then and there?”

  Maren shrugged. “I don’t think it works like that. She has her own wants, desires, and ideas, but ultimately what she does is what the energy of the world around her demands.”

  “And what makes you think that?” I asked.

  Maren let out a frustrated sigh. “I don’t know, Eliza, I just kinda get things.”

  “Well I sure as hell don’t,” I said, and began to pace.