Chapter 1 - Celeste
“Estia!”
Ignoring the female voice calling my name, I leaned my head back and moaned.
Big, warm hands tightened around my body, lifting me higher as the man I loved drove his cock deeper inside of me. I tried to hold back my scream when the orgasm rippled through me, but he knew exactly how to make me unravel until I couldn’t remember my own name.
His lips crashed against mine before I could make a sound, his tongue claiming dominion over my mouth while he kept pounding into me. When he finished with a low grunt, I ran my hand down his back, making him shudder. He lifted his head that had fallen on my shoulder, and a pair of blue eyes stared into mine with pure male satisfaction. A smirk blossomed on his face just as the voice called again.
“Estia, where are you?”
I sighed in annoyance.
“She won’t give up,” I whispered, trying to push him off so I could stand on my own. “I’d better go.” A low sound of protest tore from his lips. “Noah.”
He sighed before setting me down. I moved to adjust my skirt and leave, but he pressed me against the tree again, slipping his hand between my legs. I gasped when his finger pressed against my entrance, dipping inside, as if trying to push the traces of him back in. I gulped when his dark gaze bore into mine.
“I want you to think of me when you walk back to your house,” he whispered, running his thumb over my sensitive bud and drawing out another moan. “I want you to think of me when you sit beside your family with my hot cum still inside of you. I want you to think of the time when your mother will finally let us be together, and I can fill you up every single day.” I squeezed my thighs together as the flame of desire blazed again, ready to ignore the irritated voice calling me and focus on the man who kept pumping inside me without hurry.
On the man I loved. On the future I was so desperate to start. On the day I would be his.
“I want you to think of me only,” he whispered in my ear. “Convince your mother to accept me, and this could be your life. You, me, and this perfect bliss. All day, every day. You’d love that, wouldn’t you, Celestia?” I opened my mouth to agree when he rubbed his thumb over my clit again.
“She has no choice but to accept,” I whispered, closing my eyes and leaning into his touch as another orgasm started to build, “because I’m pregnant.”
His hand froze, and my mind instantly cleared, making me realize what I’d said. I hadn’t intended to tell him, not yet, but it had just slipped.
Noah’s eyes were wide as he stared at me. Then he suddenly grinned, cupping my cheeks. Before I could explain myself, he was kissing me so hard that I swayed when he finally let me go.
“Is this true?” he asked in a trembling voice, and something inside me fluttered at the satisfaction dripping from his tone. If I had known the news would make him this happy, I would have told him earlier, but he had been distant these past few months, more distracted and withdrawn, so I had feared his feelings for me were waning.
“Yes,” I replied in a trembling voice, and he pressed his lips to mine again.
“That is just splendid! She can’t reject me now, not with my child inside you! Don’t you get it, Estia? You’re mine.” I nodded breathlessly, and he finally released me, catching my hands instead. He brought them to his lips, kissing my knuckles. “With your bloodline and mine, we’ll be the most powerful people in the area! We’ll get what we want! All we want! And when our daughter is born, nobody will take it from me!”
His hand slid over my stomach, and he leaned in, brushing his lips over mine. A strange sense of dread filled my chest, making me pull back until he was no longer touching me. The feeling subsided, and I shook my head, trying to get rid of the lingering foreboding.
“I’ll prepare everything. Just make sure to talk to your mother,” Noah continued, as if he hadn’t noticed my reaction. “Tell her you want to be with me. And Estia…”
“CELESTIA!” the voice shouted, and we both jumped. “I can feel you! Now show yourself before I send your mother to drag you out!”
Noah grinned again, nudging me toward the voice.
“Go now, my love. It won’t be long before I come to get you. Like it or not, your mother has to accept me. Just like you did.” He winked at me, then turned around and disappeared among the trees. I fixed my crumpled dress while trying to ignore the sensation of his warm cum slipping down my thigh.
I had barely taken ten steps when my best friend appeared from behind a tree, putting her hands on her hips. Short, slender, and with delicate lines running along her heart-shaped face, Medina was the perfect embodiment of the name the village gave her—the fragile flower of Corriz. The gentle calm to my wild fire, as the older folk liked to joke.
Her skin was pale and unblemished, her long, dark hair curly and full of life as it coiled around her shoulders. Gray eyes bore into mine with disapproval, and even though she was shorter, she had the uncanny ability to look down her nose at people.
“Do you have something to say for yourself?” she asked, cocking her head. I wondered if she was referring to what I had been doing until now. Witches didn’t have heightened sight or smell like other supernatural creatures, but we could feel the world through our powers, and Medina was extremely deft at that.
Her other magical skills were much weaker than most of the witches in our coven, but her innate ability to see into things and understand their workings was recognized even by the Head Witch. Not a talent typical for a coven that devoted their lives and magic to the dead, but power was power. And it had helped her become the best magic welder in the village before she even turned twenty.
I knew that in a few years, she’d likely leave this place and settle somewhere where her skills would be more appreciated. We had even talked about me going with her since, while necromancy was in my blood and my mother insisted that I was strong enough to make the dead obey, I was not interested in death.
I was about to apologize for ignoring her, but she was already moving. Her hand slid over my stomach, and her eyes focused with concentration. Before I could stop her, she was stepping back, her mouth falling agape.
“You really are pregnant!” she gasped, looking down at my stomach with something akin to horror. The smile that had been creeping onto my face froze. “Is it Noah’s?”
I frowned.
“Who else could it be? You know I love him! I have only ever been with him!” I hissed, moving to go around her, but she grabbed my wrist. “I don’t want to hear anything bad about him from you too, Medina. We’re getting married, and neither you nor my mother will convince me otherwise. I love him, and he loves me!”
I yanked my hand out of her grip, storming away. When I didn’t hear her following, my step faltered, and I looked back. She was standing where I’d left her, watching me with a dark, angry expression.
“What?” I snapped, shifting from one foot to another.
“Does he? Love you?” she asked, crossing her thin arms over her chest. “Has he ever said it? Would he have looked at you at all if it weren’t for your mother’s power? Noah can have any woman he wants. His family is the richest in the area. But he chose you, Estia. If it weren’t for your bloodline, he wouldn’t have looked at you twice. And because your mother rejected his marriage offer to you, he is now determined to have you. There are two things men love above all else: to feel strong and to win.”
My throat bobbed, and I shook my head.
“Why are you being like this?” My chest tightened as my friend glared at me. “I thought you’d be happy for me. Didn’t you say you wanted us both to find good men to have children with at the same time, so we could raise them together? Just like our mothers…” I trailed off when Medina stiffened.
Her mother had died two winters ago, saving me from the illness that had stricken our village. She had been the best healer we had, but the toll it took on her ended her life a few days later. Medina insisted she didn’t blame me, but it had left a stain on our friendship, and things hadn’t been the same since.
“You know what? It doesn’t matter what you think. I’m marrying Noah. I’m carrying his child. I…”
Medina took a step forward, her magic crackling around her. I reached for mine on instinct, but she didn’t attack. She let her energy swirl around her, ruffling her hair and making her eyes glow as if she were seeing down to the very bottom of my soul.
“That’s the other thing, Estia,” she whispered in a voice that didn’t sound like hers at all. “There’s something wrong with that child, something dark and twisted coiling within your body. And I think you know what it is.” She paused before me, looking down at my stomach. It had barely been a few weeks, so I wasn’t showing yet, but her look made me put a protective hand over my belly. “It’s going to be a boy.”
A horrified gasp escaped my lips, and before I knew it, I had removed the space between us, and I was pressing a hand to her mouth.
“Don’t you dare say something like this ever again!” I snarled, digging my fingers into her cheeks. She didn’t try to free herself; she didn’t even flinch. “I’m not carrying… that! Do you know what they will do to me—to her—if they even suspect it was a… no! If you ever cared about me, Medina, you would not say a word about my daughter! Am I clear?”
Medina stared until I removed my hand. Even if she felt afraid that I’d strike her down, she didn’t show it.
“I’m sorry, Estia, that was unthoughtful of me,” she finally said, her voice going back to the gentle timbre I knew and loved. “I only spoke out of concern for you. You’re my best friend. I only want you to be happy. If this is your choice, I’ll respect it.”
I swallowed the bitterness that had gathered in my mouth and let go of my magic. Medina’s shoulders slacked. I might not have been as strong as my mother or some of the other witches in the Coven of the Black Sisters, but I was definitely stronger than her. We both knew it.
“I’m late,” I said, stepping away from her. “Dine with us tonight, like old times. Be there for me when I tell my mother about my daughter, about Noah. I need my friend, Medina, and I need her on my side.”
Her throat bobbed, and she licked her lips before a smile spread across her face, bringing forth memories of another time, a better time, when all was right, and she was the person I held most dear. Even above my own family.
“I’ll be there,” she said, fingering the thin silver chain hanging around her neck. She didn’t wear jewelry often, but I’d seen this pendant several times in the past few months. I was just opening my mouth to ask about it when she took my outstretched arm. “I’ll just drop by my home to grab the contraption I created for your father’s garden, and then I’ll join you.”
I smiled, holding back a relieved sigh, and let her lock her arm with mine as we made our way back to the village.
“I’m home!”
I pushed open the door to my house, peeking inside in search of my family. I found Sibyl crying while cutting onions by the kitchen table. She barely heard me over her sniffing and cursing, and when I patted her shoulder, she let out a loud, high-pitched shriek. There was a bowl on the side of the table, full of clear water that rippled as my sister leaned on the edge to steady herself.
“Goddess take you, Estia, you scared the demons out of me!” she whined, pressing her other hand to her chest. “Where have you been? You were supposed to be back an hour ago! And where are the mushrooms?”
“I dropped them while I was… running from something,” I lied, and the look she gave me told me she didn’t believe me for a second.
“Did that something catch you and roll with you on the ground? It must have been a vigorous battle. You are filthy!” She plucked a leaf from my hair before putting the cooking knife on the table and wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “Go wash up before Mother sees you. And make a better excuse if you don’t want to be cleaning swine intestines for the rest of the evening.”
Sybil grinned when I gagged. I reached for the bowl, but she slapped my hand before I could dip my dirty fingers into it.
“Not that one! That’s for my scrying!” She grimaced. “I’ve been working on it all afternoon, but I can’t seem to get my mind there. Maybe because Mother kept making me do your chores!”
I gave her a sheepish grin, hurrying to the bucket in the corner. After washing my hands and face, while Sybil helpfully informed me that our parents were skinning the pig our father had butchered in the morning, I took over for her. I told her about meeting with Noah—excluding our quick tryst in the middle of our conversation—and then about inviting Medina for dinner. She kept quiet, staring at her scrying bowl with such intent that I wasn’t sure if she heard a word I said.
Our mother returned to the house as the sun started dipping toward the horizon, carrying a large bucket with what looked like pig’s blood. I tried not to puke when she set it in the corner, and some of the liquid sloshed on the ground. I had managed to hide my morning sickness for the most part, but she was too smart not to notice I hadn’t bled for two months. Still, on the off chance that she had been too distracted with preparation for winter and really hadn’t paid attention, I had to tell her. For my sake and Noah’s.
“You’re back.” Looking me over, she wiped her hands on her apron. Her long coppery hair, the same as mine and Sybil’s, swung in a heavy braid over her shoulder. The wrinkles that had started to form around her eyes deepened when she narrowed her gaze. “What happened to you?”
A knock on the door left the new excuse I’d prepared lingering on my lips. I held back a sigh of relief, silently thanking Medina for the perfect timing. I was just heading to open for her when Sybil’s hand shot out, locking around my wrist. I hissed at the strength with which she squeezed me, but then I noticed her vibrant green eyes had dulled, a pale, milky veil giving them a glassy look.
“Sybil?” I said at the same time my mother did. The Head Witch had suggested that my sister had a natural affinity for scrying and other forms of divination, so my mother had started training her—unsuccessfully so far. Or so it seemed.
“Child, what do you see?” our mother asked as she moved closer. She didn’t touch her—startling her might sever the connection and even trap her within her mind forever, so neither did I try to free myself.
Another insistent knock came on the door, and I glanced at it, opening my mouth to tell Medina to come in when Sybil spoke.
“A serpent’s fangs lie hidden behind a smile made of dead promises. For within the folds of jealousy, betrayal lies in wait.” Her voice was low and raspy, as if her throat was clogged and the words could barely get out. I looked at our mother, who stared at me with concern in her eyes. “The Reaper’s call draws nigh, where mortal paths all come to an end in the realm of darkness.”
“What does that mean?” The hair on my neck rose, and I shuddered.
My mother sucked in a sharp breath, then whispered, “Death.”
The word had barely left her mouth when the door flew off the hinges with such power that it soared across the room and slammed into the wall. I watched the table below it topple over, the crystals and parchments scattering across the floor.
My mother was beside me in an instant, pushing me toward Sybil as the first figure stepped into our home. I gawked when I recognized the old, wrinkled face of the leader of our coven, her flock of elder witches filing after her. My mother eyed them cautiously but didn’t bow her head. She also said nothing about being excluded from the group she usually led as the Head Witch’s Second.
“What is the meaning of this?” she demanded as the women surrounded us. Her magic nudged me, and I wrapped my arm around Sybil’s middle, carefully guiding her out of her chair. She didn’t resist, although her eyes remained milky white while she stared into nothing.
“We’re here to uphold the First Rule that your daughter broke,” the Head Witch announced, moving her piercing black eyes to me. I gulped at the power behind them, at the deadly promise they conveyed. “She will stand trial and be punished in accordance with…”
“Where is your proof?” my mother interrupted, raising her hand in the direction of another witch who had taken a step toward the table. Several of the bones adorning the wall flew toward the woman, latching onto her neck and shoulders and yanking her back. Once she was pinned to the wall, the dead fingers squeezed her windpipe hard enough to make her stop struggling.
More of the bones in our house started to rattle, woken by my mother’s power, and the rest of the witches froze, looking at their leader for orders. The Head Witch glared at her Second.
“I asked, where is your proof?” my mother insisted.
Lifting her chin, the Head Witch raised her hand, motioning with her fingers. A figure stepped beside her, pushing her hood back. I stared at Medina with shock until the sting of betrayal burned so hot that it turned into a fire that almost consumed my soul. It devoured my love first, then the memories of a childhood full of laughter, games, and happiness. When I met her gaze, I saw the same emptiness filled with cold spite, widening the chasm between us.
“Shadows loom where the roots of the blood tree wither, and the flame whispers of the end in the winds of fate. Yet a new beginning is budding in the earth, fed by death and sacrifice,” Sybil whispered, her grip tightening on my arm as she raised her glossy eyes to mine. I knew she couldn’t see me, but I still shuddered from the finality in her voice.
I had no idea what her words meant, but I didn’t like the sound of them.
The room grew silent, but even with every witch’s gaze on us, my mother kept hers on Medina. “Your mother would have been so ashamed, child,” she spat.
My friend flinched as if she had been slapped, but then she raised her chin defiantly.
“My mother would have wanted to protect her coven,” she said in a trembling voice, glancing at me. “Celestia is with child. A male child,” she blurted, her voice shaking despite her stoic expression. “I felt it. It must be purged before it’s too late. For all our sakes.”
A few of the witches hissed, narrowing their eyes at me. I resisted the urge to cover my stomach, clenching Sybil’s shoulders instead. Just when I was about to say that Medina was wrong, my mother spoke.
“My daughter is just eight weeks pregnant. It’s impossible to tell the gender of the child yet. Her powers have not increased either, and she has shown no new abilities.” Shock rippled through my body as I stared at the back of her head. She knew. She already knew, and she hadn’t said anything. I couldn’t see her face, but the way she cocked her head told me she was looking at the Head Witch. “You’ll condemn a young, bright witch and her child because a jealous little girl felt something? Is this how the coven does things now? Because if it is, I want no part in this travesty.”
A muscle feathered in the Head Witch’s jaw as she leveled my mother with her glare. The latter didn’t even flinch, holding it and giving just as much back.
“This isn’t about jealousy, it’s about duty. Your daughter hid the truth from us.”
“She did not.” I had never heard my mother’s voice this cold and threatening, never seen her speak to her superior with such a challenge. “The only wrong she did was falling for a boy who couldn’t keep it in his pants. Isn’t that right, Medina?” Medina paled when my mother turned her gaze to her. “How about your child, hmm? You knew that imbecile would choose Celestia over you because you have nothing to your name. The only reason he’s even interested in either of you is because humans crave power, and in this place, our magic is the only strength that matters. They can’t possess it, so they need a witch to wield it against their enemies. You thought you had him in your grasp because he got you pregnant, but when you found out my daughter carried his child, you realized you can’t win against her. But if she lost his child, if she was marked for having conceived a male, nobody would want her out of fear of history repeating itself. Was that your plan?”
My heart plummeted as I gawked at my friend. Despite everything my mother said, I let my magic flow through me, focusing on the young witch across the room. A moment passed, then two, and I sensed it. A second heartbeat coming from within her body.
No, this couldn’t be. This child couldn’t have been Noah’s. Noah wouldn’t do that to me. He loved me! My mother was rarely wrong, but maybe Medina got pregnant by someone else and was planning to use the baby to force Noah to marry her.
“How could you?” I gasped, taking a step to stand beside my mother.
Medina’s throat bobbed, and she squeezed her hands into fists.
“You’re wrong. My only concern is for the coven. And it’s not my child that threatens it.”
As the words settled in the heavy silence, the other witches took a step forward as one.
“Nobody touches my daughter,” my mother warned, looking back at the Head Witch. “Not before we’re sure. If that child is a boy, I’ll slice his throat myself when he’s born.”
Hesitation passed through the women while they looked between my mother and the Head Witch, and for a second, I thought she’d relent. I held my breath, waiting for her word because part of me knew that my mother would fight until her dying breath if her superior ignored her plea. But could she beat them all? Even with my help? What if my father, who was nothing but a fragile human, got caught in the crossfire? What about Sybil, who couldn’t even protect herself in this state? Were their lives worth less than the child in my belly? What if it really was…
“Beware the harbingers of chaos.” Sybil’s hoarse voice filled the room, and I looked at her, only to have her finger pointed in my direction. “Unbound and unchecked, they shall unmake the world and plunge it into ruin.”
My breath caught as the words echoed in my head over and over again.
No, it couldn’t be true. It just couldn’t. Not my child, not my daughter...
“Stand down, Gretha, and we’ll do our best to keep her alive while we purge that abomination. Celestia has already shown she has no intention of surrendering it, so we cannot trust her to wait until its birth.”
The Head Witch raised her arms, and her magic gathered around her. Tendrils of black smoke slithered from her skin, filling the space with their chilly touch as the earth groaned beneath us. Medina slipped out the door as if she didn’t want to be anywhere near what the most powerful witch in the village planned to unleash.
On my family. On my stern, stubborn mother, who took a step in front of us to shield us from them all. On my little sister, who stood defencelessly by the table, her hand still up although it had moved away from me, pointing at the door. On my human father, who would have nothing to protect himself with.
I couldn’t let them get hurt. Not because of me. Not because of a misunderstanding. I could spare them that much.
The witches all stared at my mother, at the real threat in the room. Her power hissed, making the bones that hung around the house rattle and come alive. One by one, they fell to the floor, moved as if by an invisible hand as they gathered in piles that linked together. The remains of her enemies, she had told us, even though Sybil and I always thought she was just saying it to keep us from touching them.
My breath turned to steam as her power flooded the house, filling me with horror and awe. A magic that ran in my veins and that one day may be as strong as hers. But for that to happen, I needed to be alive. They needed to be alive.
I spun and ran toward the back door. I needed to lure the elders away from my family. I could go to Noah’s and hide there until we figure this out. He had told me his great-grandmother had put a protection ward around his home so I would be safe there until… until everyone calmed down and let me prove my innocence.
Because I was innocent, and so was my child.
My mother had to be wrong. Medina’s child couldn’t have been Noah’s. Whatever game she was playing, she was using him just to hurt me. I was sure he’d confirm that if I could only talk to him. He’d protect me and make them see reason.
“Celestia, stop!” my mother shouted, but I ignored her. I threw myself at the door and stumbled outside just as something slammed into the wall behind me, and cold black flames licked the wood in search of their escaping prey.
I staggered to my feet, ready to run, when I found myself face to face with my father. His dark hair was tied back, his beard in desperate need of a trim, but when he saw me, his entire face lit up in a smile that broke my heart. He was carrying a tray loaded with meat chunks, and the smell of blood and flesh made my stomach turn almost as much as the realization that he was now in my way. In their way. And they wouldn’t care for a human.
“Hide!” I hissed, pressing my hand against his chest. His eyes widened as he was sent flying back, rolling over the ground until he disappeared into the barn’s open doors.
Magic sliced through the air, and pain exploded across my back, blurring my vision and making me stagger forward. With a scream, I lashed out with my own power, pushing against the dark tendrils that were trying to drag me back. I gave my home one last look while it shook with that magic brewing inside, then I ran.
