Viktoria's Shadow: Jael

by Ysobella Black

  Sated, he licked over the bite to heal it and buried his face in her hair. “My Dragă.”

  A shudder went through her, and she snuggled closer to him.

  But the mage wasn’t done with him yet, and even as his Dragă’s fiery blood filled him, something cold seeped back into him, and Jael slipped into memories. He fought to relive this latest one, the happiest one, but it was only one, and the painful horrors of his past were legion.

  The bond he now shared with Viktoria would let her feel what he felt. He couldn’t close it like she could, and he couldn’t tell her to close him out to save herself from the pain before the memories dragged him away from her. As they threatened to tear his mind apart, he had the fleeting regret that now he was the biggest danger to his Dragă. To protect her, he went deep into himself, and took his agony with him.

  CHAPTER SIXTY FOUR

  VIKTORIA

  VIKTORIA DRIFTED ON a bed of shadow, her magic gathering inside her. She and her sisters were each born with one particular type of power, named for it. The name Shadow reminded her of how she’d been one for over five thousand years, but that was better than being named Gout, Scab, or Rickets, like some of her brothers born as plagues.

  Soră, now a familiar presence, nudged Viktoria's consciousness. The silver girl felt more solid, not so tenuous or hesitant.

  Hello, Soră.

  Soră pushed, streams of silver magic manifested, tendrils searching, gliding over Viktoria’s shadows. Would the silver magic dilute or make her shadows lesser?

  No, Soră! I want to learn. Look. I’ll share with you.

  Black-haired women glowing silver sat around a green meadow. Soră, as a lively small girl, flitted from woman to woman. One held up her hands. A doll, an apple, and a flower appeared, each presented to Soră, who hugged the gifts to her chest. The second woman vanished, only to reappear in a new place. Called from the sky, silver lightning danced around the third woman.

  Now will you show me shadows?

  As Viktoria opened herself to the strygoi magic, shadow and silver twined until they blended — not diluted, but made into something stronger. She let the energy settle inside her and tried out her new power. Traveling through Shadow remained the same, and she brought Soră along.

  She opened her eyes, startled by the black hair draped over her pillow, and the silver glow lighting the room.

  Even confused and in desperate need of feeding, Lurky and his erotic venom had awakened places and nerves she didn’t know she had, every one of them a new pleasure center.

  Parts of her were still tingling.

  And her magic —

  Opening herself fully and bonding with Jael had not only given her him, it gave her a stronger her.

  Viktoria’s sense of utter contentment slipped away when Lurky did. He just... left. There was no other way to explain it. Distracted by the changes to her magic, and her person, she hadn't felt him slipping away.

  Eager to share her magic, and a soul deep bond after having to keep everyone out for over a thousand years, she explored the link, but an ache stretched across one side of their connection. An emptiness where Lurky should be. Did he regret forming the bond? Not want her?

  He’d felt as happy and sated as her one moment, and called her Dragă. Not quite in the tone Stryx used with Ember — but Viktoria didn’t need the lust Stryx and Ember shared. She’d been subjected to that many times.

  When Jael called her Dragă, it sounded like love.

  Then she’d felt regret from him, and he’d just... left. She didn’t know much about being a Dragă or this bond yet, but trying to follow it to him hadn’t worked. He slipped deeper when she neared him. Viktoria called to him, but he didn’t come. Maybe he didn’t love her after all. But they were bonded now. Had she made a mistake? Had he? Did he not want her because she was strygoi and not just a Dragă? Because she wasn't a witch like he thought? She needed to talk to Selene and Ember.

  Sighing, Viktoria unwrapped Lurky’s arms from around herself and rose from the bed. He didn’t stir. She picked up what was left of her clothing from the floor. Nobody would be wearing those anymore. Letting them fall, she dressed in a new set of leggings and tank top, a garish green this time. Her sisters had terrible taste in clothing and colors. Calling her strygoi side, she examined herself in the full-length mirror. Glowing silver was much better. Would she keep her new magic if there was such a thing as Dragă-divorce and Lurky wanted one?

  Silver magic swirled and took the shape of a small girl with long, black hair standing next to Viktoria. Soră gazed up with shining eyes and spun in a circle, putting her hands on her hips to strike a pose. “Am I marvelously monochromatic?”

  Viktoria laughed. “You are.”

  Soră darted to a window and peered outside at the snowy landscape. “Where are we?”

  “This is Pohjola in the far north. My mother's realm.”

  “I want to see! Will you show me?”

  “Selene was here before, wasn’t she? You didn’t come with her?”

  “When there were lots of strygoi I could go lots of places.” Soră shook her head and stared at her toes. “Not like now.”

  Viktoria crouched and tucked strands of long, black hair behind Soră's ear. “I don’t like seeing you sad.”

  “I don’t like being sad.” Soră lifted her chin. “I’m learning to be brave. I won’t let them kill me anymore.”

  “Would you like to meet my sisters?”

  Soră beamed and held out her arms to be picked up. “All of them?”

  “Unless one has been kidnapped and isn’t here. That doesn’t happen so much anymore, though.” Viktoria stood, settled Soră’s little body on her hip, and with a glance at Lurky, exited her bedroom. “You’re not going to try and fix them up with one of your vampires, are you?”

  Small fingers trailed along the ice corridor wall, leaving clearer ice beneath the frosted surface.. “Only if they’re supposed to love a changed one. I can’t make them.”

  Viktoria opened a set of double doors and walked onto a second-story balcony overlooking a grassy area where the soul birds gathered. Evergreen trees mantled in snow ringed the meadow. The soul paths lit the black sky overhead. The swans honked and lifted their beaks over the railing to examine their visitors.

  “How can you tell if someone is supposed to love one of your vampires? What I saw of strygoi magic when you mixed with my shadows didn’t seem like matchmaking was something the witches did. And I don’t feel like I should find dates for all my sisters.”

  Bare feet balanced on the rail, Soră pet all the feathered heads within her reach. “It’s hard to remember, but I think I wasn’t always strygoi magic. I was...something else. We were all different...before.”

  “Before what?”

  The silver girl shrugged. “Before the beginning of what we are now.”

  Vampires had first time come to Pohjola thousands of years ago. “How old are you?”

  Soră turned away from the swans and half scowled, half smirked at Viktoria. “Hey. It’s not polite to ask a little girl her age.”

  “I don’t think little girls are supposed to care. It’s us ladies who don’t like that question. Who do you mean when you say we? You and Selene?”

  “And Riordan, Tazraus, and Requiescere. We were all first.” Soră dropped her head, long hair covering her face. She wrapped her arms around Viktoria's neck. “I miss them. I couldn’t fight and I lost all of them.”

  A silver tear splashed on Viktoria’s chest.

  “Do you want to remember what you were before? Memory is still tired from helping Jael, but when she feels better, maybe she could help you.”

  Soră shook her head. “Sometimes I want to remember, but I think it’s better if I don’t. Now I just know when a witch should be a Dragă and a changed one should love her.”

  The door slammed open behind them and Weaver rushed onto the balcony, arms full of colorful long swathes of thin material. Her platinum hair fell from a bun
on top of her head. She skidded on the slick marble in her socks, stopping an inch from crashing into Viktoria.

  “Soră, this is Weaver. She makes the majority of my clothing. Weaver, this is Soră, my new friend.”

  Soră crossed her arms and frowned. “I don’t want to be friends. I want to have sisters!”

  “Very well. Weaver, this is Soră, our new sister.”

  Weaver mumbled, then snorted and reached up to remove pins from her lips. “Oh, you are adorable! I have to make something for you. A red cape! Yes, I think a red cape with a hood.” She flung a flowy white gown at Viktoria. “But that’s for later. Right now, Mother wants us all in the throne room.”

  “All of us?” She’d been waiting for Mother to call her to the throne room. There was sure to be some penalty for letting Viktoria out of their deal two days early. But everyone? This couldn’t be good.

  “Yes. Now. Hurry, before she thinks of something worse than she already has! She hates to be kept waiting.”

  VIKTORIA STOOD FROZEN in place before her mother's throne. A fire burned in the fireplace to one side, and ornate chandeliers overhead illuminated the crystalline room. No one sat on the comfortable sofas in front of the fireplace. All twelve of her sisters, dressed in white gowns and slippers, crowded into a knot behind her, including Memory, though her eyes didn't sparkle as much as usual.

  Soră flitted from sister to sister, accepting hugs and affection. When Mother swept into the room, Soră, apparently indestructible, or incredibly unwise, ran across the room and leapt, fully expecting to be caught.

  To Viktoria’s surprise, Mother did catch the silver girl and held her close. For a split second, Viktoria relaxed. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. But, as Mother sat on her throne and lifted her eyes from Soră, Louhi, Goddess of Witchcraft and Death, studied Viktoria.

  This was to be expected. Viktoria refused to cower. She’d prepared. At least, she hoped she had. Time to take the offensive. Maybe that would shock Mother out of whatever unpleasantness she planned. “Last time you had me stand here before you, it was because I kidnapped all my sisters. What did I do this time?”

  Seeming to finally sense the tension, Soră glanced between the goddess in full power and Viktoria. The girl slipped from Louhi's lap and returned to Viktoria's side.

  The Goddess of Witchcraft and Death waved an elegant hand. “There is the matter of our agreement. Your sisters may all have their chance for freedom and make a deal. A thousand and one years —”

  “No, Mother.” Her confidence rang through the room. “That’s not how this will go.”

  Her sisters gasped and Louhi sat up, rigid on her throne. “Really?”

  Viktoria swallowed and willed her voice not to quaver. “My sisters have been involved in our deal from the beginning. When I kidnapped all of them, you bound our fates together and put their freedom at risk if I failed. They’ve already put in their thousand and one years the same as me. If you’ve released me from that agreement, you’ve also released them.”

  “They’ve had no time to learn the ways of the human world. If they’re suddenly free, what would they do? They have nothing.”

  “I left here with almost nothing. But my sisters won’t have that disadvantage. They’re all rich women. For the last thousand years I’ve put money into accounts and grown investments for each of them.”

  Louhi tilted her head ever so slightly to one side. “If they're all free because of their fates being bound to you, then they had the same constraints. It sounds like you’ve been helping them. That negates the agreement, doesn’t it?”

  Viktoria shook her head. “No, Mother. Our bargain was about accepting help. They didn’t know I did it for them, so they couldn’t accept my help. Plus, I kept a commission on each transaction, so it wasn’t so much me helping them as doing something that profited me.”

  Memory's indignant protest came from behind. “You sneaky —”

  Viktoria smacked a shadow across her mouth.

  Louhi leaned back on her throne. “There is still the risk of their being kidnapped.”

  Viktoria smiled and turned toward her sisters.

  “Memory, defense!” She hoped Memory had recovered sufficiently from helping Jael.

  Each sister stiffened as Memory unblocked memories for them. They rushed to the center of the throne room, forming three lines of four, just as they’d practiced together every night in their shared dreams for the Amazon’s lessons.

  “Weaver!”

  The white dresses and slippers her sisters wore became uniforms.

  “Rainbow!”

  The uniforms changed from white to black.

  “Dream!”

  Each sister suddenly held a staff in her hands.

  Viktoria put on her best Amazon impersonation. “Dae ye ken yer waiting around fer some eejit to scoop ye up like he’s away fer the messages?”

  “No!” Twelve voices thundered.

  “WE CAN TAKE CARE OF ourselves.” Viktoria turned sideways, so she could see her sisters and their mother. “We are helpless Maidens no longer. Now we’re an army.”

  Louhi let silence hang in the air as her eyes moved from one woman to the next. “This looks suspiciously like you’ve all been accepting help from each other. That negates our deal, doesn't it?”

  “No, Mother. You allowed contact between us. We broke no rules. Our deal was no rescue or help in the human world.” Viktoria lifted one shoulder and played her last card, hoping she projected more confidence than she felt. “You’ve kept my sisters in Pohjola.”

  Louhi’s gryphon form flew from her throne and landed on taloned feet a scant inch from Viktoria.

  She stood ramrod straight, refusing to flinch.

  The Goddess of Witchcraft and Death prowled among them, and Viktoria willed her sisters not to break.

  They didn’t. Looking like this, Mother was only slightly more intimidating than the Amazon in a foul mood, and they all had a thousand and one years of dealing with her.

  Mother ended her inspection and let her hag form go. She was a slim, beautiful, red-haired, blue-eyed woman offering a gap-toothed grin when she stopped in front of Viktoria. “Well done, Shadow. You’ve done better than I hoped.”

  CHAPTER SIXTY FIVE

  JAEL

  “A UNION BETWEEN MY mercantile business and your influence as a leader...” Faba's father, a grasping merchant never content with what he had, droned on about the benefits of his connections. Posture indolent, he balanced a wine cup on his knee, treating his chair like a throne, with Jael and his father as supplicants, when it should be the other way around.

  They were in Father’s office after all, where he listened to his constituents from a place of power across the wide desk. Normally so clever, he seemed oblivious to the other man’s character, and that of his manipulative daughter. Or maybe Father saw merit in the proposal. Lesson one — a politician always took advantage where he could. Jael hated everything about politics and the way anything could be bartered, apparently even a son’s happiness.

  Expression deceptively innocent and placid, Faba didn’t hide the gleam of triumph in her eyes when his gaze met hers. His half-hearted flirting had been a diversion and friendly competition between him and Bashaa, nothing more. Fully expecting Bashaa and Faba to pair up, Jael had ignored her lately, busy making plans for his future now that he was coming of age.

  Bashaa was welcome to the shallow, vain girl. But what she saw as a snub hadn’t gone over well, and this was her retribution. She didn’t want him, just the status and wealth he came with. A life of luxury in a fancy house full of servants. While well off, Bashaa’s family didn’t have the status of Jael’s.

  He slouched, resisting the urge to shift in his seat as Father negotiated the future Jael wanted away. Plans to travel and see the wider world, maybe go to all the way to the coast and touch the ocean. It was supposed to be deeper than the tallest mountain, go on forever, and take ships to lands full of strange animals. That dream wouldn’t happe
n anymore — drifting away like one of the mysterious tides of the sea.

  Arrangements made for the marriage to happen in a week, Faba and her father departed.

  “How could you do that?” Jael knew the answer, but the question had to be asked. Father needed to understand that although his son had sat through these negotiations without protest, the callous way he’d bargained for Jael’s life would not be forgotten. “I will not forgive you for this.”

  Father rose and slapped Jael on the back. “It won’t be the end of the world. The girl isn’t hard to look at, nor did she seem shrill. You could do worse, and we can expand our influence.”

  His influence. Jael didn’t want any part of it.

  Seven days didn’t leave much time, but new plans already formed in his mind. He’d never intended to take his father’s place on the Council or get into politics. It was time to set his escape plan into motion. If he couldn’t have what he wanted, Faba wouldn’t get what she wanted, either.

  Father sighed and left, sending Mother in to deal with Jael’s moroseness. She patted his shoulder. “Faba is pretty. Your father and I were married at your age. We hadn’t even met before the ceremony. It wasn’t easy at first, but we came to love one another.”

  But love never blossomed between Jael and Faba. They’d dutifully consummated their marriage, but starting the next morning, they wielded spite and resentment at one another like sharp knives.

  “Don’t bother to unpack. Father let us use this house last night, but we’re not going to live here.”

  Faba whirled from her trunk of dresses. “Where will we live?”

  “In a house I can afford.”

  “What?” She certainly sounded shrill now. “But you have wealth. Why can you not afford this house?”