Free The Last Witch (Incenaga Trilogy) by Debbie Dee

edge. “How much do you know?” she asked.
    Emmeline followed her and leaned against the bed post. “Not much.”
    “ You never felt your power?”
    Emmeline’s memory turned to the cliff. Other than the incident with the soldiers, she’d never felt anything strange before or since.
    “Even if I have felt something, it hasn’t helped me here.” Emmeline said.
    “There is a reason for that.”
    Emmeline straightened. “What is it?”
    “If you haven’t figured it out, I won’t be the one to tell you. Especially after what you did today. I won’t unleash that on the palace.”
    “This is absurd. I’ll find out even if you won’t tell me.”
    Adelia shrugged.
    “Where are the other witches? Can’t one of them marry the prince? Perhaps one of them wouldn’t mind being locked up for the rest of her life.”
    Adelia chuckled. “Don’t worry, Mahlon will ease up once the Prince returns.”
    “And if he doesn’ t? Could we find another witch who might like this lifestyle?”
    “ You’re being a witch is only half the reason the Prince is marrying you. And besides, you’re the last one. There are no others. That is why you are at such great risk.”
    Emmeline frowned. “What happened to them?”
    “ Someone discovered a way to control their power. The worst of it happened before I was born, and my mother too, I think. One by one they were controlled until they had no more magic left in them. Or life.”
    Emmeline shuttered.
    “They just couldn’t sustain that level of demand and they couldn’t stop it either.”
    “ How does it happen? How can I stop it?”
    “ I don’t know the particulars, but it is said that a person must withstand the heat of a thousand fires burning from the witch’s eyes and not look away.”
    “ My eyes don’t get anywhere near that bright! Maybe this won’t be a problem for me after all.”
    “No, it’s different, I think. Something else has to happen first.”
    “What?”
    Adelia shrugged.
    Emmeline eyed Adelia, convinced she was purposely evading her questions. What reason could she have not to help her protect herself?
    “Anyway,” Adelia continued, “if they are brave enough to look, they become her master. They can request anything of her and she must fulfill their demands, however horrendous. Essentially, they own her.”
    “Own her? The Crown Prince wants to own me, like some personal genie in a bottle? Does he think I’ll be able to prevent the war for him? Or that by forcing me to marry him I’ll hand my power over to him?”
    “What do you mean force you? I thought you were sent here by your father, to honor your betrothal?”
    “No! Mahlon burned my house down, beat my father and dragged me off.”
    “Oh my!” Adelia put a hand to her chest. “I had no idea. The Crown Prince would never have agreed to that, nor would’ve the King. Granted, Mahlon can be a little intense when it comes to the good of Dolmerti, but the Crown Prince would be furious if he knew you were brought here under such circumstances.”
    Emmeline s cowled. She doubted the Crown Prince would care. He hadn’t even bothered to return to Dolmerti to welcome her, and the King had yet to summon her for introductions. No, they didn’t care. She was just a prize to be won and a key to prosperity.
    “ You said my being a witch was only half the reason the Prince was marrying me. What is the other?”
    Adelia raised her eyebrows. “Because of your father, of course.”
    “What does my father have to do with this?”
    “He never told you?”
    Emmeline shook her head and Adelia’s eyes widened.
    “My Lady, your father was King of Pamizak. You are a princess of Pamizak.”
    A whoosh of breath swept into Emmeline’s mouth, filling her head with noise. She held it for awhile, willing it to calm her. But the effort failed her. She released her breath and let her shoulders drop.
    “This is a mistake,” she said. “ My father couldn’t have been King. And I’m not a princess.