A Witch’s Beating Heart

by Kasey Mackenzie

  Brilliant light flashed as magic etched that vibrant silver-and-emerald mark into the back of my left hand, opposite the hand where my witch’s identification already sat. “From this day forward any who see this Mark will know you as mine and harm you to their own peril. With this Mark you should gain the power to Heal both yourself and others, one of the most precious gifts I can bestow. It will not make you or anyone else immortal. But if you work this power upon someone swiftly enough, almost any wound can be healed.”

  My mouth went dry again as the enormity of this gift hit me. Pixie had the ability to heal the minor wounds she caused me, and she’d once also healed a broken bone I’d suffered after falling from a tree. But anything much beyond that would have been impossible for her to heal. Only a full-fledged Healer could handle serious injuries or illnesses.

  “Which you now are,” Artemis said with an amused smile, having read my mind once more. “So long as you hold true to your oaths to me, that is.”

  I bowed my head at the reminder. “Of course, Moon Mother. I thank you with all my heart for this boon.”

  “Now, then. As I said before, time grows short. We must extend the life of the spell cast upon your false hearts or both you and Mellora—Misty—shall die.”

  “Please, tell me what I must do to extend the spell, and I’ll do it.”

  She cast me an expression that signalled chastisement loud and clear. “Always consider your words with all due weight, daughter. Especially when speaking to deities. Many are much less patient and well-meaning than I am.”

  I flushed and nodded. “As you say, Mother.”

  “Take my arm, and I’ll show you what needs doing.”

  No sooner had I touched her arm than vertigo assaulted my senses as she teleported us in an instant. I squeezed my eyes shut and fought to hold on to my sense of self. It was both more overwhelming and less disorienting than the teleporter trip had been. Which didn’t really make sense, but she was a divine being and I a mere mortal.

  When my eyes flashed open, I couldn’t help a gasp. We stood in the trophy room from my recurring dreams. The one I knew lay in the heart of the Gloaming’s royal palace. An opaque mirror that impossibly did not show any reflections hung upon the wall on the far side of the room. Shelves lined each side of the wall, containing a multitude of beating hearts that I just knew had once belonged to an enemy of the Witch Queen. Each heart glowed with a different magical signature that represented whatever color their owner had manifested in life. The air vibrated with the steady thrum of dozens of hearts. No, hundreds of hearts. That thought had me stumbling and letting out a soft whimper.

  Artemis gave me a sympathetic look. “No one can hear us while I am present, but we must be swift.” She guided me to the shelf nearest the darkened mirror. There, two hearts—one glowing with a teal magical signature and the other a magenta magical signature--had pride of place directly next to the mirror. She didn’t need to tell me that these were the false hearts for Misty and myself. Both hearts flowed much less brightly than the surrounding hearts, and they also beat much more slowly. Anxiety twisted my insides as I realized they were so close to going still completely.

  The Moon Mother pulled two tiny vials out of thin air, one of which had been sealed. She held the other out toward me. “I already took three drops of blood from your sister for the spell on her heart. I need three from you as well.”

  I unsheathed the silver dagger from my boot and gently poked my finger, letting three drops drip into the vial. She sealed it like the other, and then she began a cantation that physically hurt me to hear. She poured our blood on first one heart then the other, and then her spell became pure torture. It twisted my insides so fiercely that I clapped my hands over my ears and fell to my knees, humming to further dull the sound of her chant. Just when I thought I might go insane watching her channel both Eternal and Infernal magic in a way that no mortal would ever be able to bear, a far louder pop than accompanied any spell I’d ever heard rent the air.

  Thank the Eternal Graces that nobody can hear us! That would have brought both the palace guards and the Witch Queen herself!

  Although who needed to worry about a measly Witch Queen when one was accompanied by the Moon Mother Herself?

  Artemis’s lips twisted as she overheard my thought, but she merely gestured toward the hearts. Each now glowed as brightly as the others and pulsed with sure, steady rhythm. For the first time, a sense of relief lightened the burden I’d begun carrying when my parents told me the truth about my heritage. Not entirely, of course, but my facing Artemis’s challenge and her spell here would give Misty and I the time we needed to learn how to defend ourselves with both branches of magical energy.

  I licked my lips and glanced up at Artemis. “How long do you think this spell has bought us, Mother?”

  She sighed heavily. “I would like to say it has bought you unlimited time, but that would have disturbed the Great Balance too much. I can only guarantee that it will hold for the next four years that you are here at the Academy. But beware, my daughter. That doesn’t mean that others won’t still discover your true identity. Or that my archenemy won’t discover my subterfuge and seek to end the spell prematurely.”

  “I understand. We must still be careful.”

  “Indeed. Now, don’t forget to cover my Mark upon your left hand the same you do the other mark.”

  I nodded and quickly cast a charm to do just that.

  Artemis held out her arm again. “Come, I will return you to your room so you can finish out the night of sleep your body requires.”

  Just as I reached to touch her arm, bright silver light tinged with ebony-dark spikes suddenly burst from the formerly opaque mirror next to the beating hearts. I gasped and froze as a face suddenly appeared in the mirror. A woman with Misty’s magenta hair and eyes but a face and height nearly identical to mine stared straight into my eyes. “Beware the one who courts you, Cressida! He can’t be trusted! Oh, my daughter, how I wish I had the strength to tell you more. But this damned mirror is already sucking me back und—

  Her voice choked off and the mirror went dark once more. Artemis cursed and reached for my hand as footsteps suddenly pounded on the other side of the room’s only door. She quickly teleported us away from the trophy room and back to my room, where I could only fall to my knees as tears streamed down my face and I spoke the impossible truth that had just slapped me in the face. “That was my mother. My mother is still alive!”

  THE END

  Connect with Kasey Online

  Hi there!

  I hope you loved the first Eternal Academy book as much as I did! Writing about Crystal, Misty, and their friends has been a blast, and I can’t wait to find out more about their heritage and discover who their true allies and enemies are. Not to mention seeing more of Zane freaking Anders!

  I love to connect with readers! You can find my current social media accounts by checking out my website at http://kaseymackenzie.com. Please sign up for my newsletter to stay up-to-date on all my red hot urban fantasy releases. It would also be completely amazing if you could leave a review on Amazon.com or Goodreads.com. Reviews (whether positive or negative) help writers get new readers—meaning they can continue writing the books you love. Any time you take out of your busy life to post a review is appreciated more than this wordsmith can say.

  Thanks so much for reading!

  Kasey

  Other Books by Kasey Mackenzie:

  Urban Fantasy:

  Eternal Academy

  1: A Witch’s Beating Heart

  Novels from the Untamed Elements Universe:

  The Phoenix on the Rise Quartet

  (featuring Cassidy Grant)

  Reborn in Fire

  Forged from Flame

  Embraced by Embers*

  Ignited by Ashes*

  The Gryphon Takes Flight Quartet

  (featuring Amadia Patterson)

  Air Pressure*

  Wind Shear*

  Gale
Force*

  Hurricane Level*

  Novels from Other Universes:

  The Psychic Storm Series

  (featuring Storm O’Malley)

  Where Angels Fear

  The Shades of Fury Series

  (featuring Marissa Holloway)

  Red Hot Fury

  Green-Eyed Envy

  Blackhearted Betrayal

  White-Knuckled Fear*

  Young Adult Urban Fantasy:

  The Magical Ties That Bind Series

  Subtle Fire

  Steampunk:

  The Austen Sisters Series

  Plague and Pestilence*

  (*Forthcoming)

  Biography

  Kasey Mackenzie lives with her husband and son in St. Louis, Missouri; home of the Gateway Arch, the baseball Cardinals, and the world’s greatest thin-crust pizza. Kasey was one of those students who always had her nose in a book–so no big surprise when she was voted Teacher’s Pet in her high school yearbook. Today, she is a voracious reader of fantasy, romance, science fiction, and YA. She adores her oversize dog, mischievous cat, and shaking her groove thing as a Zumba instructor. Let’s not discuss the hours spent PC video gaming or the amounts of Dr. Pepper Ten consumed...

  Passionate about the written word, she feels extremely lucky to make a living as an editor and writer. Now, if she could just figure out how to get paid for cleaning her own house, maybe that would happen more often…