The Witch: Book Two of The Sorceress Saga by Taliesin Govannon (top 10 novels of all time .txt) 📗

late afternoon finds you feeling well, Byrita?” Angelique said.  I knew, deep where my current self was watching, that she was speaking a different language, but I understood it perfectly.

                “It does.” I said.

                I threw away the words… they didn’t matter anymore.  I walked to her and took her cool form in my arms.  I kissed her passionately, feeling her tongue join with my own.  We broke the kiss, and she looked at me breathlessly.

                “Are you sure? You...” she began.

                I put a finger to her lips, stopping her.  “I’m sure, my love.  You do love me, right?”

                “I love you more than existence!" she declared and kissed me again.

                I saw it all, experienced it all… her hands on my clothes, my hands on her skin, her lips to my most secret places.  The building passion, and an explosion of pleasure that I never knew existed.

                She looked down at me, my body entwined with her own.  “I love you, my soft one...”

                My mind then fell to dreams, and I left the past behind for sleep.

Chapter Seven

                From the Diaries of Angelique Dupre

                01/13/1589

                Roanoke Colony

                The winter spirits have been kind to Sarah’s settlement.  It has been cold, but nothing like a British winter, so the toll has been light.  Nobody in Sarah’s family has been felled by disease, so my budding young Sorceress has been spared familial trauma.

                She is, however, impatient.  She wants to come into her power yesterday because she believes that will mark the end of her subservience to her parents.  I warned her that it could bring unforeseeable problems as well, but she’ll hear none of it.

                She is such a teenager. Some things never change. I have had to warn her repeatedly about dreams of revenge. Vengeance, especially old grudges, has a way of consuming those who pursue them, and someone with the power of the Sorceress is especially vulnerable to corruption by the power.

                I pray she listens.

                                                                                                *                *                *

                I hit the trail with purpose that morning, determined to find answers.

                There was fresh snow on the ground, so I had ditched my normal skirted attire in favor of heavy sweatpants, with thermals underneath. One of Raina's hoodies, a purple one that said "I F*&@ed Up My Diet For An Internet Fad And All I Got Was This Lousy Hoodie", completed the outfit.

                I am so beyond ready to roll! I thought determinedly.

                The crisp air stung my nose a little, but the energy was flowing that morning, so I had options.  I focused on the pure sunlight shining through the trees and visualized a ball of light and heat forming around my nose.  Once that felt back to normal, I extended the ball to my entire face.  Soon the flushing on my cheeks receded, and my face felt like it was a spring day.

                Raina had shown me that trick the last time we had trained together.  “Harnessing the energy freely floating around us keeps us from placing an undue burden on the Earth,” she had said, “as well as our bodies.”

                I wonder if Raina learned that one from Rini? I wondered.

                The beauty of the trail soon wiped questions from my mind.  The trees were still filled with leaves, the snow that had fallen the previous night being an early guest.  Samhain was still a week away, so the panorama before me was a strange blend of Halloween and Christmas.

                My mind wandered to memories of the previous Samhain I had spent with my friends.  The old Celtic holiday... that the modern world knew as Halloween, and that modern Pagans had fashioned into their festival of the turning of the year and the cycle of life… was a new one for me to celebrate, having been raised in a comfortably agnostic household.  However, Angelique had seen fit for me to meet some of my ancestors who were no longer with us, and I wound up making contact with my Great-Grandmother.

                When she said that I would learn ‘all of the magick’, she wasn’t kidding!

                I wondered if Raina was planning on doing anything.  I decided that I had to ask her… I just felt that I needed to observe Samhain ritually again.

                I turned a corner on the trail and saw the figure of Hatsu standing there, her usual kimono unchanged in the chilly air.  I probably should have been startled, but wasn’t… I was getting used to frequent appearances by her and her sister.

                “Funny running into you here.” I said breezily.  I didn’t break stride, and she easily matched me step for step.

                “I was hoping to get a chance to talk.” she said, her tone even and almost soothing.

                “I'm all ears if you want to start."

                We walked in silence for a minute after that, her head bowed in thought.  Finally, she looked up.

                “I was wondering what your intentions are, regarding your new-found power.” she asked, her voice not betraying the depth of her emotion.

                “Right now my goal is to learn how to use it without burning my ass off." I replied honestly.

                Her face showed the slightest hint of a smile, the most emotion I had seen out of her yet.  “You are humble, and this is good.  You also have respect for the power, and this is also good to hear.  I just wanted to know if you have given thought to what your plans will be, once you are comfortable in your role as the Sorceress?”

                Most people might have called b.s., but I had honestly not given it very much thought at that point.  I had just spent the better part of a year preparing for the coming of someone who... surprise!... turned out to be myself.  I had spent every day since then trying to wrap my brain around the idea of being the inheritor of legendary, massive power.  The wealth of Vincent and Angelique