All her life, she’d put up walls around herself, not realizing she wasn’t just protecting herself, she was depriving herself. Though she’d had friends, she’d never had a best friend. She’d never even known what she was missing until now, when she had one.
And her future mother-in-law, someone she could learn so much from. A witch she had looked up to, one they could possibly heal, the way they’d healed Eli. A woman she credited for making Quill the man he was, despite his father. For that, she was eternally grateful.
And…then there was River.
“Must be my lucky week,” he said, only a bit out of breath from fighting the waves all the way to the ship. “This is the second time I’ll get to tie up a hot redhead.”
Quill sat up straight, but just as she was about to intervene, Sagely was yanked so violently she almost fell from the boat. Quill’s arms shot out and clutched at her, pulling her back as the boat rocked wildly.
Gale scrambled across the boat for balance. “What happened?” she asked, her eyes wide with shock.
“He’s here,” Sagely choked out, her body flailing towards the black rocks that jutted from the water fifty feet away. Her ring began to pulse with the strange black glow.
One part of the rocks seemed to break away and glide towards them across the water. For a moment, she couldn’t make sense of what she was seeing. But the familiar cold clutched at her insides. The figure came towards them, not reflecting the moonlight like wet, slippery stone, but sucking in all light, giving off nothing. A scorched smell rose inside Sagely’s nostrils, and her stomach lurched, the memory of his scent so intense it made her sick.
“He’s walking on water,” Gale whispered, clutching the edge of the boat in terror.
“I came for something I was promised, not for you, silly faeling,” Viziri said, his voice slithering across the water like a snake.
“We don’t have the stone,” Quill growled, holding Sagely tight to his chest. She could feel the void magic she’d collected streaming from her like smoke from a fire.
“I know that,” Viziri hissed. “I have the stone. When your time has come, I’ll have you, too, and anyone else I want. That is power. Not all your silly training exercises. You don’t know true power. But one day, when I come for you, you will.”
“He’s going to put out my internal flame,” Sagely gasped, clutching at her chest as if she could stop the flow of her magic.
“You can’t stop me,” Viziri said. “You think because you have a tiny ember of void magic that you can match me? I have limitless power, and now, I have a way to find anyone else in the world whose power I wish to acquire. You have nothing left worth taking. My son, however…”
“No,” Sagely screamed, throwing her arms around Quill.
Viziri chuckled. “Let this be a warning.”
In the bottom of the boat, Quill’s mother screamed and writhed.
“What’s happening?” Gale wailed as River yanked on a rope ladder hanging from the sky.
“Get on the ship,” he commanded, grabbing Sagely’s hands and wrapping them around the ropes. “It’s under the mages’ protection. He can’t reach you there.”
“Hurry,” Quill said, lifting her hand to the next rung on the ladder. “I’m right behind you. I won’t let you fall.”
“I have no need for you or your silly coven,” Viziri said behind them as Quill climbed the ladder with Sagely, closing his hands around hers on each rung. “I got what I came for last time. I got your magic.”
And he’d taken the little bit she’d absorbed from the witches since then. All that pain for nothing. He’d drained her magic down to that ember that burned inside all witches.
“You may think you’ve succeeded in luring your coven back, but the truth is, it is I who determines where they go,” Viziri said behind them. “I sent you two warnings, and when they were not heeded, I decided to bring back your coven. Now you know what I’m capable of.”
“We’re well aware,” Quill growled.
“Take them back,” Viziri said. “I don’t care. I simply grew bored of controlling them. I took their magic, and like you, they are of no use to me. Go home and live your silly little lives in your silly burrow, safe from the big bad warlock. Until I decide otherwise. You can’t hide from me now. I can always find you.”
“Keep climbing,” Quill growled in Sagely’s ear. “Don’t listen.”
Suddenly, her hand was yanked from under Quill’s. She reached back, yanking the gun from the waistband of her jeans.
“Sagely, no,” Quill growled, grabbing for her hand.
She tried to gain control of her hand, but it was as if she were a puppet, watching herself from outside. Without looking, without aiming, her finger convulsed on the trigger.
A bullet ricocheted off the wooden hull of the boat. River swore somewhere below.
“Drop the gun,” a deep voice commanded from above, on deck.
Instead of obeying, her arm swung upwards, clumsily. Now she knew how all the witches felt, why they moved in that halting manner. Viziri was controlling them from outside, not with the finesse of the human brain sending signals, but with crude commands. She could almost hear him.
Raise your hand. Squeeze the trigger.
Another bullet left the chamber just as Quill caught her hand. She didn’t see where it went, because suddenly, it wasn’t just her body being controlled. Somewhere inside the ship, a voice as sweet as nectar was calling her home. She had to get to it. It was the voice of love, of safety and belonging and peace.
She would never hurt that the owner of that voice. As if in a dream, her fingers unclenched from the gun and wrapped around the rope. The gun plummeted from her hand, but she didn’t hear the splash. She heard only the song, calling her home.
Each rung of the ladder seemed a mile away, as if she were moving through water. Even with Quill’s hands around hers, Sagely knew she couldn’t make it. And she knew she’d die of sadness if she didn’t. She hung limply against the ladder until Quill grabbed her around the waist and, with a grunt of frustration, threw her over his shoulder. Below them, she could see Gale, and then River, carrying Quill’s mother over his own shoulder.
The singing stopped, and Sagely registered Viziri’s hissing curses. Raina had outwitted him, winning the battle for control over all of them. Apparently, he was not happy.
Quill scaled the ladder in seconds and lay her on the wooden planks of the deck. One of the mages hauled Gale up while the others ran across the deck, shouting orders to a few other crew members. The ship seemed deserted and dizzyingly busy at once. People were running around, throwing ropes and dragging others in, hand over hand.
A huge flapping sound drew her attention above, to where a giant white sail was unfurling.
“The coven,” she whispered, reaching for Quill.
“Don’t worry,” he murmured. “We got the coven back. We’re just not with them.”
Before she could answer, the white sail swung dizzyingly in and out of her vision, then swam sickeningly out of focus, and the world blinked out.
forty-two
Sagely
Sagely woke to the lulling sensation of being rocked. It was so dark she thought she’d gone blind. Had Viziri taken her sight, filled it with his impenetrable blackness?
“Quill?” she whispered, struggling to sit. Heavy arms slipped from her, and she heard people breathing, moving.
A tiny spark appeared in Quill’s palm. She could make out his strong profile, his blonde hair loose from its usual low ponytail at the back of his neck. He smiled sleepily, his stubble glinting like gold on his cheeks. She breathed a sigh of relief so deep she nearly fainted.
“I’m here,” he said.
“I’m here, too,” Fox said from her other side. She turned to see him lying in the darkness on her other side.
“You’re okay?” she asked.
“I’m alive,” he said. “I don’t know about okay.”
Quill’s hand fell on her knee
, and his forehead creased with concern. “Are you okay? I gave you back some magic after he stripped yours, and you were able to hold onto it.”
“So my internal flame is still alive?” she asked, pulling her hand from under the blanket to check her ring. It still buzzed faintly with the usual hum of magic.
“You’d know if it wasn’t,” Quill said.
“And the coven?”
“We had to leave them,” Quill said. “The mages freaked out about Viziri being so close to their beloved ship, and they took off with whoever was on board. We don’t know what happened to anyone on shore.”
Sagely could feel absence when she stretched for them. “Shaneesha?” she asked, already knowing the answer even before Quill shook his head miserably. Shaneesha’s quick, hot energy was nowhere near them.
Sinking back against the pillows, she closed her eyes. Fox’s hand slipped into hers and squeezed. “Let me give you some venom,” he said. “It will strengthen you, and you’ll recover faster.”
“Are you sure it won’t weaken you?”
“It’s like snake venom,” Quill said, frowning at the shape Sagely’s knees made under the blanket. “He can’t use it to heal himself. It only hurts other people.”
“Or fortifies other fae,” Fox said, his grin broadening as he watched Quill’s discomfort.
“I don’t have to,” Sagely said, putting a hand on Quill’s arm. “I’m a little weak, but I’ll absorb more magic, right? I can recover naturally.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Fox asked.
A little thrill ran through Sagely and lodged below her belly at the memory of his previous injections.
“You should take it,” Quill said. “We don’t know where Viziri went, or if we can trust everyone on this ship. Most are strangers to us. It would be best if we’re all strong in case anything were to happen. You, me, and Fox. The three of us are the collective. We look out for each other.”
“And Gale,” she said. “I mean, she’s not part of the collective, but we can trust her.”
“The four of us,” Quill said, nodding. “We need to regroup and figure out what to do next. We didn’t have a solid plan last time. That needs to change. No matter what he said, this isn’t over. We’ll see him again. And when we do, we’ll be ready.”
forty-three
Sagely
An hour later, Sagely was lying on the little bed basking in a glow of contentment. Fox lay beside her, tracing a circle on her neck. She could feel the scar there from where he’d bitten her each time, in the same spot. It felt slightly hardened, like an ear piercing, but in a spot the size of his mouth.
“Did it heal up already?” she asked, almost wishing it hadn’t, so he could bite her again before it closed up.
“It did,” he said, smiling at her. “I like this scar. It’s like I’ve marked you.”
“I’ve been branded,” she joked.
“You have,” he said. “It shows the world you belong to me. And that I belong to you.”
“Does that mean I get to bite you?”
“Any time,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows at her.
“Seriously, though,” she said, running her fingers down his arm, admiring the sheen of his golden skin in the light of the candle beside the bed. “Could I give you strength by biting you?”
“As far as I know, only full-blooded fae have venom,” he said. “So you’ll have to be satisfied with receiving, not giving.”
She squirmed around to face him, her head resting on her arm, mirroring his position. “Giving is fun, too,” she said. “You don’t seem to mind it.”
“It’s a mixed bag,” he said. “When you’re writhing around under me, whimpering for relief, it’s all I can do to control myself. But I know it’s what you want, and giving you what you want is what matters right now. I told you when you added me to your collective that I’d wait. I’m a patient man. I know one day it will be my turn.”
“How did I get so lucky?” she asked, pushing up on one elbow and smiling down at him, her red hair spilling over her shoulder and onto his chest.
“You hooked up with a faery, what do you expect?”
She laughed and leaned down to kiss him. “I guess I shouldn’t expect any less.”
“You look like you’re feeling better.”
“I am,” she said, smiling down at him. “Thank you.”
“Happy to be of service to my lady,” he said, reaching up to run his fingers through her hair. “In any way, at any time.”
Just then, a tap sounded on the door, and Quill stepped through. Sagely’s face warmed at the thought that he could feel her emotions, that he’d known how much she was enjoying her time with Fox. He’d never been there when she’d been bitten—the first time, he’d been injured so badly he’d been passed out, and the second time, he’d been back in Arkansas. But now he knew.
Somehow, she felt guilty, as if she shouldn’t enjoy her time with Fox as much as him. She rolled over onto her back and patted the bed. Instead of looking upset, he strode over and picked up the blanket, slipping in beside her. “I got some air on deck,” he said. “The mages seem trustworthy, but time will tell. I can’t read their magic the way I can with witches, so I can’t tell if they’re good yet. But I’m hopeful.”
“Did you see Gale?”
“She’s up there, too,” he said. “She’s fine. But they say there’s limited cabin space, so we’re stuck here like this. The three of us.”
He and Fox took measure of each other over her head. “Well, I guess this is one way to get comfortable being a collective,” she said. “Anyone have objections?”
Both men glowered for a second, but the tension eased a bit when Quill looked down at her and stroked her hair back. “No objections,” he said. “We’re here to protect you.”
“Good,” she said. “I’m glad we got that settled, because I think I’d like to add another member to my collective.”
“I expected as much,” Quill said.
“But only if you both agree,” Sagely said quickly.
“You don’t have to get our agreement.”
“Maybe not,” she said with a shrug. “But I want to. We’re all in the collective together. I made the mistake of adding two men who didn’t like each other before, but I won’t make it again. From now on, no one joins unless we all agree.”
“I will always agree to what makes you happy,” Quill said, stroking her cheek.
“I make no such promises,” Fox said with a sly smile. “I think I’ll enjoy having this veto power.”
“Then don’t make me regret giving it to you,” Sagely said.
“This decision requires further study on my part,” he said, sliding closer to her. “Give me some time to approve him. You can use that time to convince me you’ll still have plenty left for me.”
She smiled at him, and then at Quill. “I accept your terms.”
In her heart, in her magic, she knew it was the right thing to do. They may not know where they were going, or when they’d be back, or if they were safe. But at least she had her collective there and complete. That was something. Whatever she had to face, she could do it if they were by her side. And this time, she knew better than to leave them just to prove something to anyone, even herself.
She knew that she couldn’t do it alone. She needed them as much as they needed her. She would never leave them again. And if anyone tried to make her, they’d have to take her kicking and screaming.
Thank you for reading Sister of the Sea. In the future, I will be focusing my energies on the series that my readers want most. So if you are one of the wondrous unicorn readers who loved this series, please let me know by leaving a review here.
AUTHOR’s Note
Dear Reader,
A writer’s most important job is to write a story that readers love. If we fail, readers don’t read our books, we can’t feed our families, and we have to find others jobs that allow us less time to write. As a writer, I love all of the char
acters that come to me and the worlds they populate. However, I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s ever had the experience of loving a book that everyone else…well, didn’t. That’s the case with this series.
While I love the Winslow Witch Chronicles, many readers do not. Instead of putting out more books, right now I’ll be reworking the first book and writing other things that better meet your expectations. If you are the rare bird who enjoyed this series so far, please leave a review letting me know so I can gauge interest in continuing Sagely’s story beyond this book. Thank you!
For updates on the series and other books I’m writing, please subscribe to my VIP Readers Club where I give monthly progress updates on all my books, offer ARC copies, giveaways, and calls for beta readers. Click here to join the club!
Also by Lena Mae Hill
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A completed trilogy of YA dark fantasy with werewolves and a fairytale twist.
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Ghostly Snow
The Superiors Series:
A dark and gritty urban/rural fantasy about a world where vampires rule supreme and own humans as livestock.
Blood Moon
Blood Night (short story coming 2018)
Blood Thirst
Blood Oath
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Blood Lust (coming 2018)
Sister of the Sea: A Reverse Harem Witch Series (Winslow Witch Chronicles Book 2) Page 20