Eternity: Immortal Witches Book 1 (The Immortal Witches) (42 page)

Staring at the flames that even now devoured Nathanial Dearborne’s body, Arianna lifted the box that held his heart high above her. In silence Duncan and I closed our eyes and aided in empowering her spell by joining our will with hers as Arianna spoke in a low but powerful voice.

Thy spirit is free, and separate from thee. Thy body’s no more, thy spirit can soar! I release thee, Nathanial Dearborne, and commend thy spirit to the light.”

Then she lifted the box higher, for the heart beat on.

“The life in this heart, this heart does not own. Return to thine own hearts, return to thy home!”

I caught my breath as at last I realized her intent. “Arianna, no. You mustn’t–”

“As I will it,” she cried, her voice ringing with sheer force, “so mote it be!”

The sound of the beating from within that box grew suddenly louder, suddenly deafening, and then all at once, the box burst into flames. I caught my breath as the blazing thing tumbled from Arianna’s hands to the ground, snapping and crackling as if soaked in some propellant. In seconds it flickered and died, leaving only ashes. Arianna sighed and relaxed. Nathanial’s heartbeat was silenced now. Utterly, completely silenced.

She sank to the ground, lowered her head. And one by one the soft, weak thrum of the dying hearts in the boxes around her grew stronger, louder, until they all pumped with the steady rhythm of life.

I lowered my head into my hands. “Oh, Arianna,’’ I whispered. “What have you done?”

“The hearts live on, the bodies only rest,” she told me. “That’s what Nathanial said, isn’t it?”

“Yes. But these were nearly gone. You should have helped them pass, Arianna, helped them find release, and peace. Now who knows how long they’ll go on beating from those prisons?”

Slowly she shook her head: “No. We don’t know that they’d ever have stopped beating entirely, do we?”

“Well, no, but we could have cremated them.”

“It would have been too much like murder,” she declared.

“Those hearts were not strong enough to sustain life, Arianna.”

“And now they are,” she shot back. “Now they’re as strong and as healthy as they were when he stole them.”

“But I don’t understand.”

Duncan’s hand closed around mine. “I do,” he said. He met Arianna’s eyes. “You’re goin’ to put them back.”

She smiled gently, and nodded. “If I can find the bodies they belong to. Nathanial kept journals and diaries among all those books of his. There might be clues there. If it worked for me.... Well, there’s a chance.”

I stiffened, and stepped forward. “You...you’re leaving me?”

“Yes, my darling.” She cupped my cheek with her palm, leaned forward, and kissed me very gently, very briefly. “It’s time. This is your time, yours and Duncan’s.”

“No!” I cried. “No, you don’t have to leave. We want you with us. Tell her, Duncan!”

“She knows,” he said softly. “But I think this is her time, too. Her second chance, perhaps.”

Arianna’s lips pulled tight, and her eyes welled with tears. “One of these hearts...means more to me than my own,” she said, then she bit her lip, but her tears fell anyway. “If there’s a chance in a million that I can find him, that I can restore him, I have to try.”

I blinked, searching her face. “You loved him.”

She said nothing, but I could see the truth in her eyes. So I hugged her close, held her a long time. “I will never be more than a wish away,” I promised her. “And you’ll come back to me. Promise me you will.”

“You know I will, little sister.”

Sniffling, I released her. Arianna gathered the small boxes, the six hearts of Nathanial’s victims, and gently packed them in a satchel. Then she zipped it tight and gathered it up. “I love you, you know,” she told me. Then she glanced at Duncan. “Both of you.”

“If you need us–” Duncan began.

“Ha! Me? Need help? You do make me laugh, Duncan.” But she said it with a wink and a smile. Then her smile died. “Take care of each other,” she whispered, just before she turned and walked away, disappearing into the night.

But not from my life. She would return to tell me all about her adventures, and this mysterious man she sought. I knew she would. We were sisters, and always would be. Nothing could change that.

Just as nothing could change the love Duncan and I shared. A love beyond mortality. Beyond life, or death, or the forces of evil.

“Well, we should get started, too,” he said.

“Get started?” I turned toward him, and he gently brushed the tears from my eyes.

“I guess you didna believe me, did you lass? When I said I’d see to it you never hurt again.”

“Of course I did, but–”

“Then we’d best get started. I've lots of time to make up for, you know. Three hundred years of lovin’ to give to you. Three hundred years of sweet nothin’s to whisper into your ears, an’ of gifts, an’ of kisses an’ pamperin’.”

I nodded. “And I suppose I have three hundred years of magic and of fighting to teach you.”

“Aye. But first, we travel.”

I tilted my head.

Duncan smiled and kissed my nose. “We dinna want that stubborn sister of yours to get too far ahead of us, do we?”

“We’re going with her?”

“Aye, we’re goin’ with her.”

“But why?”

He stared down at me, his dark eyes growing darker, even as the light of that distant fire danced its reflection in their depths. “If you could see the joy in your eyes right now, love, I’d point to it, an’ I’d tell you, that’s why. I love you, Raven St. James. What makes you happy, makes me happy. I love you. I love you, lass.”

I closed my eyes when he kissed me again, and I knew it was true. The darkest night of my soul had ended, though it had been three centuries long. Dawn had finally broken, and my heart was whole again.

If you liked Eternity, check out Maggie’s new witch series,

THE PORTAL
.

Legacy of the Witch

A prequel to The Portal Series

Eternity: Immortal Witches Book 1 (The Immortal Witches) (42 page)

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