Sorceress (Prophecy Series Book 3) Read online

  Sorceress

  Prophecy Series book 3

  Jessica Wayne

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Epilogue

  Sneak Peek

  Bonus Chapter

  From The Author

  Also By Jessica Wayne

  About the Author

  Sorceress

  by Jessica Wayne

  Copyright © 2018. All rights reserved.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, businesses and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, places, or actual events is entirely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Edited by Jessa Russo of Russo’s Editing Services

  Proofread by Dominique Laura

  Cover Design by Covers By Combs

  1

  Terrenia: 26 Years Ago

  Vincent

  Vincent walked through the village, a smile on his face for the first time in years. His brother’s wife had just given birth to a baby girl. He was an uncle! He couldn’t wait to show his niece how to harness the power that was surely inside of her. After all, she was a Silvan, and even though Gregory refused to use his own magic, Vincent was sure his brother would allow him to teach her at least some of what he knew.

  An uncle! He couldn’t believe it. He was so excited to hold the little one in his arms. Would she have his brother’s blue eyes? Or maybe Annabelle’s smile? He approached his brother’s cottage with thoughts of the infant still in his mind, a broad grin stretched over his face. By the second knock, his brother had pulled the door open.

  “Gregory!” Vincent pulled him in for a hug. He was far too excited to realize that Gregory did not welcome the intrusion.

  “What are you doing here, Vincent?” he asked, his voice harsher than normal. Vincent assumed it was due to the lack of sleep that surely came when a new child was brought into the world.

  “Why do you think I’m here? I came to see my niece.”

  Gregory sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. “You are not welcome here, Vincent.”

  All of the happiness and excitement Vincent had been feeling drained away in an instant. “What do you mean I’m not welcome here? I’m your brother.”

  “I cannot help clean up your messes anymore, Vincent. I don’t want you near my family.”

  “I don’t understand.” Fear gripped him. Gregory was the only family he had left. What would he do if his brother turned his back on him?

  “I have a child to think about now.”

  “I can help!”

  “Help with what?”

  “I can teach her to hone her power!”

  “I don’t even know that she has magic. And if she does, I will be teaching her like our mother taught us.”

  “You cannot possibly think teaching her to fear herself is a good idea!” Vincent’s voice took on a dangerous edge. Their mother had convinced them that their magic was a curse, and it was years before Vincent realized she had been wrong. Gregory, always the rule follower, never did.

  “She will understand the dangers of using her magic.”

  “Don’t be a fool, Gregory!” he insisted, his pride and sadness fighting for control over him.

  “I am not a fool!”

  Anyone watching the exchange would have known them as brothers just by looking at them. They had the same dark hair, the same sharp nose and square jaw, but that was where the similarities ended. They were nothing alike on the inside anymore. Maybe they never were.

  “You will be if you teach your child to fear herself.”

  “You know nothing of my family.”

  “I am your family!”

  Gregory stared at him, blue eyes blazing. “Not anymore,” he said sadly, and shut the door.

  He had no idea how much he would come to regret that decision.

  Vincent closed his eyes, and before he did something he would regret like level the house with his brother, sister in law, and new niece inside, he turned and left. How dare Gregory turn his back on him! He had been the one who stepped up and kept them safe when their father had died. Certainly not their weak-minded mother who jumped at her own shadow.

  And to teach the child to not know her magic! What an abomination! Might as well kill her now if she was going to be forced to live a life of not being allowed to truly be herself. Vincent had tried too hard to get Gregory to use the magic inside of him. Even when the village kids were taunting his little brother, calling him names, and sometimes even physically hurting him, Gregory refused to harness his power to make them stop.

  Vincent had taken it upon himself to force Gregory into using it. He looked down at his hands. All these years later and he could still feel his brother’s blood on his knuckles as he forced himself to hit him until he finally fought back.

  Gregory still didn’t know that afterwards, Vincent had spent the afternoon throwing up from what he had done. But his little brother had to know how to protect himself, otherwise the Darkness that was coming would swallow him up too.

  Now as an adult, Gregory still refused it. Somehow, Vincent knew simply challenging his brother to a fight wouldn’t do the trick. If he wanted his brother to face the magic inside him, he was going to have to go bigger.

  A plan formed in his mind as he made his way back home. It would be hard, but in the end, Vincent knew Gregory would be thanking him for it.

  2

  Terrenia

  Carmen

  “Annabelle, Gregory!” Carmen greeted her daughter and son-in-law at the door. “Is this my beautiful granddaughter?” She reached for Anastasia and Annabelle handed her over. “She’s gorgeous. Look at the little hands!” Carmen smiled when Anastasia wrapped them around her finger.

  “We need your help, Mother,” Annabelle said softly, and Carmen looked at her daughter.

  “What is it?”

  “We need to know if she’s magical.”

  “Why not wait? If she is, it will show in time.”

  Gregory swallowed hard. “I want to be prepared if she is magical. My brother started showing signs at an early age, but it was too late for our mother to convince him of the dangers that came with power.”

  Carmen shook her head sadly. “It is such a shame Vincent has gone the way he has. Perhaps he will turn around still.” She offered Gregory a kind smile, then carried Anastasia over to her chair.

  Taking a seat, Carmen closed her eyes. Gregory felt her power reach out to his own, but he ignored it. Magic was not something to toy with, his power especially. There hadn’t been a man in their line who hadn’t used it for the dark.

  “Oh my,” Carmen said softly, and Gregory knelt before her.

  “What is it?”

  When she spoke, it was a multitude of voices unlike anything Gregory had ever heard before. “A period of darkness will fall over our worlds. It will radiate through the worlds and infect them one by one until none remain. This child will possess more power than anyone who has come before her and will prove to be the one who will bring light into the darkness. She will live a life of pain and neglect, but when she returns to her home, she will become her peoples’ only hope.” Carmen shook her head as if trying to clear a bad dream. “Oh my, that was strange,” she said, and looked at Annabelle and Gregory. “I need a drink,” she said, and handed Anastasia over to her mother.

  She walked into the kitchen to grab herself some Terrenian whiskey, and looked over to Gregory, who followed her.

  “What just happened?”

  “To say she is powerful is an understatement,” Carmen said, and took a swig of the whiskey. “I have never had a vision come to me like that before. Frankly, I wasn’t sure I would ever get another one. It’s been years.”

  “What you just said, that was about Anastasia?”

  She eyed him as she took another drink. “Something is coming, Gregory, and if it is not stopped, it will mean the destruction of everything we know.”

  “What does that have to do with Anastasia? And how do we know your vision spoke of my brother? Did you see who is behind it?” His thoughts went to his brother. He was powerful, and dabbled in magic beyond what Gregory believed
was right, but he wasn’t an evil man.

  “That girl in there is going to grow into the most powerful force this world—or any world, for that matter—has seen. And as far as who is behind it, I don’t know.”

  Gregory shook his head. “No, we can stop whoever it is, before she has to. We can’t put that on her, she’s just a baby!”

  “I would be the first in line in that fight, Gregory, but if you try and do it now, you will fail, and then where will she be? You have to let her destiny run its course, Gregory.”

  “I can’t do that.” He shook his head. “It’ll be years before her magic comes in, who knows when this power will rise?”

  Carmen finished her drink and then set the glass down again. “If you want my advice, protect her. Keep her shielded from him for as long as you can, and by all means, Gregory, learn to use your magic.”

  “Why would I do that? My line—”

  “How many times have I told you that those in your line did not turn dark simply because of their power? That seed of evil was there to begin with.”

  “I can’t believe that.”

  “You’re going to have to. Because her destiny is coming, whether you want it to or not. And she is going to need the magic in her veins in order to succeed.”

  Gregory looked back at where Annabelle cradled their daughter. “What did that last line mean? That she would live her life in suffering and pain?”

  Carmen shook her head sadly. “I wish I knew. Best thing we can do is shield her from what we can until she is ready for what lies ahead.”

  3

  Terrenia: Present Day

  Dakota

  Dusk had fallen over Terrenia. A curfew was in place and everyone made their way toward their homes for the night. It seemed even the animals feared for what might come under the cover of darkness. The horses in the stables were restless. The cows in the pasture huddled together in a tight circle, each watching out into the dark.

  Even Kaley, who padded alongside Dakota, was on high alert. The entire village had been for the last week. There was no room for relaxation in a village under constant attack.

  “Anything?” Shane asked as he joined Dakota and Kaley.

  Dakota shook his head. “Everything is quiet so far.”

  “I don’t count on it to stay that way for long,” Shane responded dryly.

  “Not likely.”

  “Any word on Anastasia?”

  “Nope. As soon as things calm down, I’m going to have Carmen take me back. It’s been a damn week; we should know something by now.”

  “Want to grab a drink?” Shane asked. Even though they hadn’t gotten off on the best foot—probably due to the fact that Shane was also in love with Anastasia—he and Dakota had become friends, or at the very least, they weren’t enemies.

  “Sure, we can head over to my place, since it’s closer,” Dakota offered.

  “Sounds good.”

  Dakota stepped through the front door and into the house Ana had spent the last five years of her life in. Everything reminded him of her and being here without her pained him.

  “So strange Gregory isn’t here writing in one of his journals,” Shane commented as he looked around the space. “I practically grew up listening to his stories.”

  “He was a storyteller, too, huh?”

  Shane nodded.

  “Ana used to want to be an author.”

  “I could see that,” Shane answered sadly. “Maybe once all this is over, she can still do that.”

  “I hope so.”

  Dakota pulled a bottle of Terrenian whiskey down from a cabinet. He poured the golden liquid into two handmade wooden cups and stepped back out onto the porch with Shane. Kaley followed them out.

  “Man, what the hell are we going to do? We can’t keep fending them off like this.” Shane took a drink of his whiskey.

  They were exhausted, and the number of villagers physically able to fight dwindled down with each attack. It wouldn’t be long before they didn’t stand a chance at all.

  War was ugly—there was no way around that—but the way Vincent toyed with them made it more so.

  “I don’t have a damn clue. Keep fighting, I guess, until we either win or lose.”

  “I can get behind that.” Shane held up his mug, and they tapped them together.

  Dakota drank deeply and looked out at the stars. He let his mind drift back to simpler times of sitting on an ugly red couch, drinking cheap wine they were much too young for, and binge-watching whatever TV show they could find on Netflix.

  He would sneak glances at Ana, hoping that one day he’d have the courage to actually tell her how he felt.

  Now where were they? He was a cop—or was he considered an ex-cop now that he had no intention of returning to Seattle? She was possibly dying at the hands of a Sorceress due to a war they had nearly no chance of winning.

  To say things had taken an interesting turn would be the downplay of the century.

  “She’s tough, you know,” Shane said.

  Dakota looked over and nodded, knowing exactly where Shane’s mind had gone. “She is.”

  “Anastasia will be back, and she’s going to give Vincent hell.”

  “Yeah she will,” Dakota agreed, even though the fear that continued to creep into his mind was nearly suffocating. If she didn’t come back, he knew that meant death for them all.

  “Until then, we do what we can to keep the walls standing.” Shane took another drink.

  “That seems to be the only plan at the moment, but I worry we may need to start thinking of a backup.”

  Shane turned his head to Dakota. “You don’t think Anastasia will be back?”

  Dakota shut his eyes tightly on the tears that threatened to fall. The idea that she wouldn’t make it was nearly too difficult to comprehend, but she would want her people safe. He had every intention on keeping them that way as long as possible.

  “I think she will, but if we’re wrong, the price of failure is entirely too high.”

  Shane nodded, and turned back to his drink.

  Silently, they watched as the sun sank lower in the sky, casting a golden glow over the land as it went.

  4

  Sorceress World

  Anastasia

  Anastasia opened her eyes. The light pouring in from the windows assaulted her senses and she quickly closed them again.

  Where the hell was she? She cracked her eyes open again and took in the single-room space.

  Sunlight snuck in through cracks between the boards making up the walls, and worn down cloth had been placed strategically on the floor to cover up the flaking wooden boards. Three windows had been covered with old red fabric. There was no furniture aside from a table with two chairs and the small bed she currently occupied.

  Anastasia placed her feet on the floor and stood on wobbly legs. It took a moment, but she was able to steady herself enough to walk to the window and look out. Definitely not in Terrenia.

  There was nothing around but tall grass. No mountains, hills, trees, or other structures anywhere that she could see.

  Anastasia turned from the window and faced the space. Beside the old bed she’d laid on, there was a wooden door. How the hell had she missed that?

  The floor creaked as she moved, but she tried to silence her footsteps the best she could. Once she reached the door, she pulled it open to reveal a beautifully kept garden overflowing with plants and a woman kneeling next to a grouping of them, pulling weeds.