The Hanged Maiden: A Reverse Harem Romance (Rise of the Ash Gods Book 1)

by Cara Wylde

  “So long to... what?”

  He stuck his thumb and little finger out and made the “call me” sign. When she looked even more confused, he rolled his eyes, extended his own arm, and tapped above his wrist.

  Valentina looked at her own arm, expecting to see something there. A phone number, maybe? There was nothing, though.

  “I don’t...”

  “Shh...” He interrupted her. “You must learn how to see first. That’s why you should try hanging upside down.”

  Valentina pursed her lips and considered doing just that. What did she have to lose? Only her dignity for having fallen for a handsome, non-human stranger’s prank? She hissed between her teeth “Fine!” and willed her etheric body to match the man’s upside-down position. The next thing she knew, she found herself in bed, at the motel, startled wide awake, staring at the underside of her arm like she was trying to decipher an invisible code. “Shit. Was that a dream?” She reached for the bottle of water on her nightstand and drank until her stomach gurgled in protest.

  “Maybe, maybe not,” the voice in her head chuckled rather darkly.

  “You know who that was?”

  “You don’t?”

  Valentina sighed in frustration. One of these days, she’d be so done with her Higher Self. Oddly enough, that meant she’d be done with her own self, too, seeing how they were one and the same.

  “Tell me,” she demanded.

  “Sure. But do you know how to listen?”

  “You want me to hang upside down, too?”

  “That would be fun to see.”

  Valentina turned on her other side and pulled the duvet over her slightly cold shoulders. “Good night, you.” She was facing the window now, and she noticed that she and Piper had forgotten to close the curtains. She was too lazy to close them now, so she drifted off to sleep with the dim street lights falling over her face and long, black hair. She missed the dark smoke that materialized out of thin air, covered the window to peek inside the motel room, then drifted off to roam the streets of Mount Shasta city.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  They woke up around 10 AM, found a café nearby, had breakfast, then jumped into Mr. Chase’s truck and hit the road again. Piper was driving, while Valentina was playing absentmindedly with her tarot cards. In four hours and a half, they would reach Sacramento, and that would be the end of their little adventure. There and back again. Or so she hoped.

  “So, are there little people living inside Mount Shasta?” It was obvious from Piper’s chirpy tone that she had slept well, and the black coffee had kicked in.

  “I never said they were little. But yeah, I think there are. I knocked on their door and they didn’t let me in.”

  “How rude! But you’re a powerful witch!”

  Valentina laughed. “It might be hard to believe, but that doesn’t necessarily open all doors. I did meet someone, though.”

  “Oh? Up there, in the astral world?”

  “The astral plane is not up there, it’s everywhere around us.”

  “I learn something new every day...”

  “I could swear I’d met him before.” Valentina rubbed her eyes, then sighed. Lately, she’d been feeling like her memory was failing her. And the voice in her head didn’t want to help even one bit.

  “Was he hot?”

  “Oh, very...” Val chuckled and blushed.

  “You sure you were astral traveling and not just having a sexy dream?”

  “No! I can make the difference. And besides, I don’t have sexy dreams.”

  “Seriously?” Piper shot her a concerned glance. “If you’re not lying, then you should have that shit checked out. Go to therapy or something. A 21-year-old virgin should only have that kind of dreams.”

  Valentina waved her off. “I can’t have a normal conversation with you.”

  “Duh. Because you’re not normal.”

  They drove in silence for a while, then Piper asked her the most obvious question in the world. Nowadays, Valentina herself wondered about the same thing every five minutes.

  “Why don’t you do a tarot reading for yourself? Just ask the cards if you’ve met the guy before.”

  Val stopped shuffling and looked up at Piper. She was about to say “You know what, you’re right!” when a sharp stab in the ribs almost made her drop the deck. She could ask the cards whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted. But she wouldn’t. “Ignorance is bliss, am I right?” The voice in her head laughed, and Valentina hated it for it.

  “That would be a yes or no question,” she told Piper, trying to act casually. “The cards don’t do well with those.” She was lying, but Piper wouldn’t know that. She’d done countless readings for her friend, but had never let her ask yes or no questions. It was that sort of thing that was too close to giving one’s power away, and Valentina didn’t want to take Piper’s power away from her.

  Piper shrugged and turned the radio on. She could sense that Valentina was struggling more than usual, but it wasn’t her place to judge. She was along for the ride. In truth, she couldn’t even begin to understand what her best friend was going through.

  One stop, then two more hours flew by in the blink of an eye, and they were driving through the streets of Sacramento. Tristan and Iseult helped them locate the exact place where they were supposed to find the Trionfi Scuri, and soon enough, they were parking the truck in front of a huge, luxurious house near North Oak Park.

  “Okay, I’m going in. Wish me luck.”

  “Hell no! I’m coming with you.”

  “Pipes, I don’t think...” She stopped herself before finishing the sentence, realizing how awful and selfish of her it would have been to tell her best friend in the world that she couldn’t go because she was not a witch. Piper had listened to her story, had taken her dad’s truck without a word, and had done more than just drive her here. She’d taken care of her the entire trip. “I would be very grateful if you came in with me,” she said instead. “I’m scared shitless. I’ve never met the High Sorceress before, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to piss my pants in there.”

  “Oh wow! Details.” Piper laughed out loud. “I’ll make sure you don’t.”

  Even though it was in the middle of the day, the street was completely quiet. They crossed the open yard, knocked on the door, and when nothing happened, Valentina tried the knob. It was unlocked, so she shrugged and pushed the door open. The house was empty. They checked the living room, then all the rooms and bathrooms upstairs, and even the kitchen. What was strange was that it was obvious people had been there just hours before. Many people. There were plates of half-finished food on the living room table, empty glasses of wine and champagne scattered everywhere, and the whole place smelled like an army of smokers had defiled it with much more than just your regular tobacco.

  “Do I smell weed?”

  “Good catch, but no. Witches smoke all kinds of herbs. Damiana, lavender, mugwort, hawthorn...”

  Piper stared at Valentina as if she’d grown a second head. Val ignored her and kept exploring.

  “Where is everyone? And more importantly, what the hell were they doing here? This is so against protocol.”

  She took out her tarot deck, found the Lovers card, and placed it on top, face up.

  “Do you guys feel like helping a girl out?”

  Tristan stepped out of the card first, then offered Iseult his hand. This time, they materialized as full-sized people, and Valentina gasped in awe when she saw just how tall Tristan was compared to her small frame. He was bulky, too, with wide shoulders and strong legs that were barely concealed by the tight leather pants he was wearing. Among other things, the characters in the cards could also change their outfits magically, as they pleased. Piper was more fascinated with Iseult, though. Her long, blonde hair hung in a thick braid over her shoulder, much like Valentina liked to wear hers when she had time to braid it, and she was wearing the most exquisite pale pink dress. Iseult gave P
iper a sweet smile before she reached for her lover’s hand and led the way to what seemed to be the basement.

  It was dark down there, and the lights didn’t work, either. Piper noted the badly ventilated room smelled like a horror movie to her, at which Valentina produced a beautiful sphere of green energy between her palms, leaving her friend speechless. Tristan and Iseult walked to the farthest corner of the basement and motioned for the two girls to follow them. When Valentina’s eerily green light illuminated the floor, she saw there was someone lying on the cold stone, motionless.

  “She’s still breathing,” Iseult said as she knelt beside the woman and touched her pale cheek.

  “Oh my Goddess!” Valentina’s heart started racing, she lost focus, and the ball of energy went out. She struggled to create a new one. “High Sorceress…” She threw the sphere of energy in the air, so it would hang above their heads, and took the old woman’s hand into hers. “No, no, no… This can’t be happening. Madam, can you hear me?” She slapped herself mentally. That was no way to address the High Sorceress. “Mrs. Vale, please answer me. I’m Valentina De Rossi, Keeper of the Spades. My coven was attacked, but the Suit of Swords is safe. I have it with me.” She held the deck up, the strong impulse to simply shove it into the woman’s hand and run far away from there so strong that it frightened her.

  The High Sorceress moaned in pain, turned toward Valentina ever so slowly, and opened her eyes. Her pupils were glassy, and she was struggling to discern Val’s features. The long, blonde hair so many witches envied was white, thin, and it looked like it was falling in chunks.

  “I don’t understand,” Val whispered. “You’re supposed to be young. Eternally young.”

  The more she took in the woman’s wrinkled skin and parched body, the more terrified she felt. Rowena Vale, the High Sorceress of the Trionfi Scuri, had been around since the beginning of time. Not that anyone knew when exactly said beginning of time could be placed in the history of mankind. Eternal life and youth were two of the perks of being the main protectors of the Major Arcana, and both Rowena Vale and her counterpart, High Sorcerer Athan Serac, were supposed to live pretty much forever. Unless...

  “Where are the cards?” Valentina looked around but couldn’t see a thing in the darkness. She raised her hand toward the globe of green light and sent it more energy, making it grow and grow until it lit the entire basement. Empty. “I don’t understand. If you were attacked, too...”

  Piper was pacing the floor, arms wrapped around herself. It was ridiculously cold down there. She knew she’d wanted to come, but now she wanted out. She might have been a mere human, an Ordinary with no magical powers, but she could swear there was something lurking in the shadows.

  “Val, let’s wrap this up if we can,” she whispered.

  Valentina placed her tarot deck on the floor and grabbed the High Sorceress by both shoulders. She squeezed roughly. The woman was obviously dying, and she needed to know why.

  “Where are the cards? You were supposed to protect them. You can’t die, do you hear me? You’re immortal!”

  The old woman let out a heavy sigh. She knew that the next sigh she’d release would be her last breath, so she closed her eyes to conserve energy. She couldn’t distinguish the Keeper’s face anyway, but she knew the young woman was who she said she was. She could feel the distinctive energy that ran through the De Rossi bloodline from miles away. This was good. This was the best she could have hoped for. A De Rossi. Adelina De Rossi would have been even better, but her daughter would have to do. With her last sliver of life, Rowena Vale raised her trembling hand and pointed toward her own breast.

  Valentina leaned in and pressed her ear to the woman’s lips. It was as if she’d just read her mind and knew these would be her last words. She couldn’t miss them.

  “They were made of black smoke,” the High Sorceress said. “You have to take them and go. Go now.”

  There was a hidden pocket inside the dying woman’s corset, and Valentina found the feminine cards of the Major Arcana there, along with the original Lovers.

  “Why are you alone? Where are the other Keepers?”

  It was too late, though. The High Sorceress gave her last breath, and her shriveling body turned to dust that scattered all over Valentina’s hands and knees.

  “Oh my God!” Piper covered her mouth to hold back her scream. “Oh my God, Val! What the hell?”

  For a long moment, Valentina just stared at her outstretched hands as if they didn’t belong to her, then remembered there was something she had to do. Something important. Something that had priority over her very human need to succumb to shock and a well-deserved panic attack. She grabbed the Major Arcana cards, then started going through her own deck, replacing the Fool, the High Priestess, the Empress, the Chariot, Strength, the Wheel of Fortune, Justice, Temperance, the Tower, the Star, the Moon, and the World with the original versions that Rowena Vale had hidden from the smoke beings. Now, she had two Lovers cards. Tristan and Iseult went back into theirs, but Valentina didn’t even notice. She held the other Lovers closer to her face, trying to see better.

  “What the...?”

  “We have to go, Keeper.”

  Valentina blinked, barely registering what the woman in the card was saying. She was so young, almost a child, with big brown eyes and brown hair that covered her back and shoulders in rich waves. She was dressed in a transparent nightgown, and she was sitting on the edge of a bed, looking over the sleeping form of her lover. Valentina couldn’t distinguish the man’s features to save her life.

  “What’s wrong with him?”

  “He’s sleeping.” The woman sobbed and gently caressed his cheek. “That’s why we have to go. They’re all sleeping, and I’ll fall asleep too, soon. I have to show you where the Trionfi Chiari are hiding before that.”

  “Why are they sleeping? Why are you falling asleep?” With Piper’s help, Valentina pulled herself to her feet. She was too confused and rattled to do more than that, though, so she let Piper lead the way. “Is this why she died?”

  The girl nodded.

  “But this is impossible! The High Sorceress and the High Sorcerer can only die if the Major Arcana is destroyed! You’re alive! The others are just sleeping.” She paused. Something just didn’t click. “Wait. I’ve never heard of anything like this. Cards don’t just fall asleep. I haven’t been a Keeper for long, but I think they would’ve told me about it.”

  “I don’t understand either.”

  “Then who does?” Valentina found herself being shoved into the passenger seat by a very agitated, very terrified Piper. “I’m freaking out here. If you don’t know, then what do I do?”

  “We find the Trionfi Chiari,” the girl repeated patiently. “The High Sorcerer will know. Look, nothing like this has ever happened before.” She turned to her lover again. “My beloved Eros… I feel him slipping away. I will join him soon, and then it will be up to you to wake us both.”

  “Eros? Does that mean you’re… Psyche?”

  “Val, where to?” Piper grabbed her arm and squeezed hard. “Where are we going?”

  “I… I don’t know. Just drive.”

  That was all Piper needed. She pulled out of the parking lot and sped up like their lives depended on it. They probably did, too.

  “The map, Pipes. Where did you put the map?” Valentina turned in her seat and started digging through the bag Piper had thrown under the back seat that morning. “Found it.”

  She spread it over her lap and quickly cast the spell that would help Psyche step out of her card and point at their next destination. Psyche walked over the old, crumpled paper for a minute, and stopped over Europe.

  “Are you kidding me?! Italy? No, no, no. I’m not going to Italy.”

  Piper moaned in distress and stopped abruptly at a red light. “She’s right, lady,” she said. “We’re not going to Italy. No way.”

  “You have to, Keeper.” Psyche yawned and rub
bed at her tired eyes. “The masculine cards of the Major Arcana are in Castelluccio. I… I won’t be here to guide you. Just… remember these coordinates…” Instead of saying them out loud, she snapped her fingers and a quill pen materialized out of nowhere. She knelt on the old map and wrote a string of numbers right over the Adriatic Sea.

  “Psyche, there has to be another way.”

  “I’m sorry, Keeper.” The girl smiled up at her and stepped back into her card. “You’re a De Rossi. You’ll do just fine.” She lied down next to Eros, snuggled against his chest, and fell in the deepest and darkest sleep of her eternal life.

  “Valentina?” Piper’s voice was shaking.

  They were already heading out of the city.

  “Turn around.” Val’s voice was shaking even harder. “I can’t think… I need to think… Turn around, we need to find a place to stay overnight.”

  “Oh my God, Val! You don’t want to…”

  “I don’t know.” She threw the map on the back seat and reached for her phone. “I’ll find us a hotel.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Valentina moaned in her sleep. Even though she and Piper were flying first class, the seat was still too uncomfortable for a proper, peaceful sleep. She turned on the other side, struggled with the blanket until Piper helped her straighten it, then feel back into her dream. She was inside a dark cave. It was cold, the stone under her feet was rough, and the galleries were narrow, winding, and unfriendly. They didn’t seem to be leading anywhere, but Valentina kept trying anyway. She wasn’t looking for a way out. She was looking for a way into the heart of the mountain. She took a turn, and then another turn, and finally, the corridor opened into a wide, well-lit space ahead of her. Val took a deep breath and walked slowly, carefully, as if she were afraid not to wake up the one sleeping there.

  How did she know there was someone sleeping inside this cave? She’d been here before. She just couldn’t remember when, and her memory, once again, refused to cooperate. When she stepped into the large chamber, she noticed that the stone floor was warmer here. Light poured through the open ceiling. It was almost dawn. The first sun rays fell on the scaly spine of the sleeping dragon, bathing the creature in a warm, eerie glow. Valentina stepped closer, on her tiptoes, holding her breath. Even the smallest shuffle of her clothes seemed too much and too rude a noise in the complete silence of the cave. The dragon was curled up in a humongous ball of black scales, leathery skin, and claws as sharp as knives. There were no wings on his back, but he had more than four legs. Six, to be more precise. Val stopped in front of him, quietly admiring his immense head. His eyes were still closed, and he was breathing evenly, as if he was dreaming his own dream.