Soul Stone Mage Complete Collection Boxed Set

by Sarah Noffke

  Azure strode for the railing, feeling a strange draw to the view. Vertigo hit her when she peered over the edge at the city below. She gripped onto the handrail, thinking she might fall forward and tumble to her death if she didn’t hold onto something. Around her, she was aware of couples strolling by or taking pictures together. One of them had to share true love, but she couldn’t force herself to pull her gaze away from the city.

  “It’s mesmerizing, isn’t it?” a voice asked at her side in a thick French accent.

  Azure found an old man with a thick mustache and bright blue eyes staring out at the city. He was a bit taller than her, but his hunched shoulders put him even with her height.

  “Yes, it’s beautiful,” Azure said, her voice mechanical.

  “I proposed to my wife right over there, fifty years ago.” The man pointed to a spot where a couple stood, taking a selfie with the city in the background.

  They looked happy, but Azure didn’t know if they were in love. How would she truly know? True love wasn’t just happiness; it was something bigger. Something rare.

  “Really?” Azure asked. “I wished I could have been here to see it.”

  What Azure meant was that she wished they had truly been in love and she could have captured the essence, fulfilling her current goal.

  A wide smile spread on the man’s face, and he chuckled. “You would have been mortified, as was everyone in the crowd. She said no.”

  “What?” Azure asked, surprised. “But you said she was your wife.”

  “She later became my wife, but at the time, she wasn’t ready,” the man explained. “She was furious at me for taking her up to the Eiffel Tower and proposing. Accused me of manipulating her into saying yes by choosing this location.”

  “It is supposed to be the most romantic place on Earth or any other planet…if such a place existed,” Azure said, covering her blunder.

  “Yes, but we’d only been dating a week,” the old man confessed.

  “Oh, wow. So you rushed things a bit.” Azure’s eyes watered from the cold wind. She blinked, feeling tears about to spill over the edge.

  “Well, the thing is that I loved Amelia since the beginning,” the old man said, a deep, meaningful expression in his placid blue eyes. “I knew from the first moment I saw her that she was the one I wanted to spend my life with. As cliché as it sounds, it was love at first sight for me. However, Amelia was working three jobs to support her aging mother at the time. She was overwhelmed by responsibility, and not permitted to get swept away.”

  “She sounds practical,” Azure stated.

  “She was, and whereas I allowed myself to fall head over feet in love with her, Amelia guarded her heart.”

  Azure strangely related to this Amelia. “So when you proposed, she said no.”

  The old man nodded. “She slapped me across the face and said, ‘Pierre, I never want to see you again’!”

  “Oh my! That’s crazy. But you got married?”

  The old man, who didn’t at all feel like a stranger to Azure, straightened the cap on his head. “She was angry. Hurt. Scared. I’d rushed things. Strong women, I’ve found, love with great power, but only once they permit themselves to.”

  “So what happened?” Azure asked.

  “I told her that I loved her,” Pierre said. “I said that she didn’t have to take on the responsibility of caring for her family alone. That I could help her. I promised to protect her, to never leave her side.”

  “What did she say?” Azure asked.

  He smiled, showing a row of bright white dentures. “Well, you know the answer to that. She said yes, and a year later we were married.”

  Azure found herself staring more at this man than at the breathtaking view. “I don’t understand. Why the sudden change of heart?”

  “Amelia didn’t fall in love with me until that moment. It took her seeing how far I was willing to go for her to release her heart. Later she told me that, with Paris at my back and my right cheek red, she realized I was the only one she’d ever loved so much that she wanted to run away. You see, it’s much harder for strong women, whom everyone depends upon, to give their heart away. It’s much easier to care for someone who doesn’t sweep them away.”

  “You mean it’s safer?” Azure asked.

  Pierre nodded. “Yes, because when their toes rise off the ground, they are truly vulnerable.”

  “It sounds like your wife had a major shift up here,” Azure observed.

  “That’s the thing about love,” Pierre said. “When we release the bars off our hearts, as she had to do, then it simply flows, as it was meant to all along.”

  Azure scanned the walkway, turning the velvet box over in her fingers. “I’d love to meet Amelia. Maybe you two could help me with something.”

  A tender smile half-broken by the grief in Pierre’s eyes made Azure instantly regret her words.

  “She’s dead, isn’t she?” she asked softly.

  “A year ago today,” Pierre said, blinking back tears as he stared out at the city.

  “I’m sorry,” Azure said.

  “You shouldn’t be.” Pierre’s voice cracked. “I’m here today to celebrate the life we lived together. She was the music in my life. There was a light that radiated between us. To know true love like that…well, that’s all anyone really wants.”

  “Because love is the true magic in the world,” Azure found herself saying, although she didn’t know where the words came from. She felt the Howling Willow stirring in her, the way it had when she was first introduced to it.

  “Yes, something like that,” Pierre said and tipped his hat. “Well, this old man won’t keep you a moment more. Good day.”

  Azure smiled at him before looking out at the city. If love was magic, and she was connected to the greatest source of it, then she reasoned that the Howling Willow could help her. Azure closed her eyes, focusing.

  She felt the power of the tree pulse deep within her, and when she opened her eyes, she knew at once that her intention had worked. All over Paris, lights radiated from different places, glowing with a magic that Azure innately understood.

  The Howling Willow had highlighted where true love flowed between two people.

  Chapter Eight

  Azure had expected the lights marking true love to radiate throughout the city, covering it like a blanket. That’s not what she found.

  “One, two, three,” she counted, searching for the next light, as each of the other lights had been scattered far from the one before it. True love was, in fact, rare—so much so that when she’d finished searching the western side of Paris, she’d only counted four instances.

  There is much devotion in the world, but something as powerful as true love takes the meeting of two special hearts, the Howling Willow whispered in her head.

  It was strange to hear the tree’s words, but then also not at all. She felt it had always been there, whispering, disguised as part of her subconscious. Azure was only more aware of it now.

  She turned, searching the walkway in front of her, where couples and families mingled on top of the Eiffel Tower.

  Surely there has to be true love up here, she thought. Otherwise, I’ll have to go out into the city and find one of the lights the Howling Willow lit up.

  Azure started off for the northern end, her focus sharp and eyes constantly scanning for the lights, like she’d seen out in the city. Several times, a flash caught her gaze, but when she turned, she found it was an artificial light, like that from a camera. Pure light, that’s what she was looking for.

  Her hope started to plummet when she had nearly made a complete rotation around the Eiffel Tower. She felt silly not even gawking over the view like the tourists she passed. She was completely focused on watching the people, the velvet box pressed tightly in her fingers.

  Even when two hearts meet that are meant to love each other, one might be imprisoned by its own obligations. Only free hearts find true love, the Howling Willow sang like leaves
rustling in the wind.

  Azure thought of Amelia. She could picture the young woman clearly, coming to terms with her own heart as Pierre stood raw and yearning in front of her, fresh after being rejected.

  Something rattled inside Azure, making her halt. She clapped her hand to her chest, suddenly breathless. She peered down at her feet, which were firmly planted on the walkway, although for a moment she could have sworn she was floating. When she looked up, through the crowd, she spied a light glowing unlike any other.

  The bubbles from the champagne tickled Ever’s throat. He took the final swig from his glass, then dragged his hand across his lips to dry the moisture. Blinking out at the city, he didn’t feel any better than when he’d first come to this spot to find a way to bury the loneliness.

  Ensuring no one was watching him, he pointed at his glass and refilled it. What, was he kidding? No one would be staring at him when all of Paris was beckoning for their attention.

  A few couples had asked him to take their picture, but otherwise, most were locked in their euphoria. And why shouldn’t they be? Standing at the top of the Eiffel Tower is a lifelong dream for many.

  He laughed humorlessly to himself as he took a sip. The Eiffel Tower was like falling in love. Most wanted to experience it on some level in their lives, but love wasn’t as easy as buying a ticket and boarding a lift.

  Ever had loved Azure before he even knew her. He remembered climbing across the canopy in the Dark Forest, tracking her, watching her. She was too good to be real. But the soon-to-be queen didn’t know she was being watched, and when people don’t know they have an audience, their true character is revealed.

  Ever always thought that women wanted a man who would fight for them. Who would go to the end of Oriceran for them. But Azure was different, and that was precisely what he treasured about her. Azure never needed saving; she was the hero of her own story.

  The pitfall to loving a woman as strong as Azure was that Ever didn’t know what she wanted, or needed. And could she even know, with the many burdens that fell on her shoulders?

  “Excuse me,” a voice said at Ever’s back.

  He turned, ready to take another picture of a happy couple. An older woman stood at his back, her wrinkled face pinched with confusion.

  “Yes?” he asked.

  The woman pointed a crooked finger at him. “You’re glowing.”

  Ever’s eyes shot to his midsection. He knew how to cover his magic on Earth. How could I have made such a mistake?

  But the glow…it wasn’t the way his Light Elf magic usually displayed itself. A golden light shimmered around him, like he was strangely radioactive.

  He looked up at the woman. “It’s the material of my shirt. It reflects light,” he lied.

  “What an interesting fabric,” the woman said, accepting his explanation at once.

  “Yeah,” Ever said, mostly to himself, staring down at his body.

  The glow faded, to his relief, but still he couldn’t understand what had caused it. He set the champagne flute down, concluding that he’d had enough to drink.

  “Are you wondering why you were glowing?” Azure asked, standing in front of him. He hadn’t noticed her approaching. The soft smile she wore made her eyes brighten.

  “Do you know?” Ever asked, grateful that the effect was gone now, especially because the sun was setting, and he’d stick out like a glowstick up on top of the Eiffel Tower.

  “It’s the effect of a spell that the Howling Willow cast,” Azure explained.

  Ever pressed his lips together and nodded to the box in her hand. “Did you find true love?”

  “I did,” Azure said, slipping the box into the robes of her pocket.

  “Then we should get back.” Ever wasn’t sure what he’d expected here today, but this wasn’t it. He strode past Azure, headed for the lift.

  Her hand caught his wrist, pulling him back around.

  He blinked, bemused, trying to decipher the unreadable expression on her face.

  “For as long as I can remember, I’ve felt obligated to Virgo,” Azure stated, like she was continuing a conversation they’d just been having.

  That’s a strange admission, out of the blue, Ever thought.

  “And now with the responsibility of the Howling Willow, I thought my own life was over,” Azure continued.

  Ever let out a weighted breath. He remembered his own miserable doom when he realized she’d been made the protector of the Howling Willow. He’d scolded himself for feeling that way, but there it was.

  “I always thought I was in this alone,” Azure admitted. “I’d reign alone. I’d protect alone. I’d be alone.”

  “I know,” Ever agreed. He had realized this about the young queen, instinctively felt that she’d put herself on a pedestal where no one could reach her. How could she not, when all of Oriceran relied on her constant sacrifices?

  “I realize now that all I ever have to do is ask for help, and everything in my life could change. All I have to do is open my heart to the possibility, don’t you think?” Azure asked.

  Ever couldn’t help but notice that something had shifted in her. If possible, her discourse seemed brighter than usual. “Of course,” he replied in a rush. “You know that your council would do anything for you. I would—”

  “I know you would,” Azure said, interrupting him. “And I would do anything for you. I have only just realized that, but it has always been true.”

  Ever’s mouth popped open. He read the look in Azure’s eyes, knowing at his core what it meant.

  “The spell the Howling Willow cast earlier…?” he asked.

  A nervous smile spread on Azure’s mouth. “It was a locater spell, of sorts.”

  “Oh, had you lost me? Were you trying to hunt me down?” he said, a playfulness in his voice as he took a step closer to her.

  She peered up at him, shaking her head. “It was a spell that marked the presence of true love.”

  Ever chewed on the inside of his cheek. “How handy, since you’re on the hunt for that.”

  “Handy, indeed,” Azure replied, coyly.

  Ever bowed to her. “I’m glad to have been of assistance to you, Queen Azure.”

  When he stood straight, Azure reached out and gripped his shirt, a suddenly serious expression in her blue eyes. “Everett, if you ever bow to me again, I’ll have your head.”

  “Well, that seems fair, since you already have my heart. But you know that now, don’t you?” Ever couldn’t help but smile, both with elation and relief. He thought he’d live his entire life and not get this moment.

  Azure tightened her fingers in his shirt, urging him closer. “I do. And now you know you have mine.”

  Chapter Nine

  “This is fucking ridiculous!” Reynolds yelled, his fingers tangling in his beard.

  Sari had known he was going to say that, and she stifled a laugh. She actually thought his little tantrums were cute. “Do I dictate which direction Oriceran rotates?”

  He rolled his muted green eyes at her. “Of course you don’t.”

  “Do I control which way the winds blow in New Egypt?” Sari asked.

  “No; if anyone could, it would be the home coven, or maybe your granddaughter,” Reynolds stated, striding beside her. Gillian was on Sari’s other side, taking double strides to keep up with them.

  “Then you can gather that I have no control over the tracking spell or when it dictates that we seek out the page from the Book of the Dead,” Sari stated, casting her gaze at the horizon where the sun was quickly setting.

  “I’m fairly well acquainted with tracking spells and how specific they can be about timing.” Reynolds whipped his head over his shoulder, scanning the street on their right.

  The Nile River drifted along their left, carrying ferries and cargo ships. This was one of the busier places in the city, which was probably why the tracking spell wouldn’t work until after sunset. Parting the Nile for a single piece of paper was undoubtedly going to c
ause a commotion during the day. But at night, when the city streets were deserted due to the threat of vampires, no one should be out to witness.

  “Then the conversation is over.” Sari paused, flicking her wand at the map. The tracking spell had brought them to this place, but it wouldn’t lead them further until the time was right.

  “Anything yet?” Gillian asked, unable to see the map properly from his low vantage point.

  “No, but it shouldn’t be long,” Sari stated, staring out at the darkening waters of the Nile. The two remaining Pegasi streaked across the bright orange sky, the sunlight shining through their feathered wings.

  “The good news,” Sari began, looking up at Reynolds, “is that once we have this last page from the Book of the Dead, we can leave New Egypt.”

  “Actually, I think we need to stay,” Gillian squeaked.

  The witch and wizard both spun around to face the gnome.

  “What? Why?” Sari asked.

  “I’ll need time to study the page, and it’s possible that the weapon and the cure are specific to New Egypt,” Gillian explained. “I vote that we go to the Sphinx, where the New Egyptian coven is located. According to the queen, we should be welcome and protected there.”

  “What? We could have been staying in the protected Sphinx instead of the Ritz Carlton all along?” Reynolds nearly yelled.

  Sari didn’t try to cover the look of mischief on her face. “Oops. Forgot to mention that. What can I say? I like to stay in fancy hotels.”

  “You’re trying to make me go gray,” Reynolds complained.

  “Probably,” Sari chirped. “But also, it’s never wise to delude yourself into thinking that some place is safe just because there are guards on it. You think that New Egypt is unsafe because this is where the vampire epidemic started, and, therefore, that all other areas on Oriceran are safe. It’s that kind of narrow thinking that will get you in trouble. Drop your guard because you’ve convinced yourself some place is protected, and a nasty, soulless vampire will find a way around the protective enchantment.”