Free Legacy & Spellbound by Nancy Holder Page A

couldn’t stop herself from wondering.
And just how did Holly stop it?
Something wasn’t right with that. Didn’t the others see that as well?
    They’re too busy kissing the ground she walks on,
she thought bitterly.
Well,
I
certainly didn’t elect her as head of the Coven. I don’t know why we have to do everything she says.
    Truth be told, she would much rather have Sasha as their leader. The older woman was more experienced and kinder, especially to Kari.
    And Sasha was Jer’s mother. Kari wasn’t so naive as to believe that that didn’t play a huge part in how she felt. Tears stung the back of her eyes. There was something so comforting in Sasha’s presence, and she reminded Kari of Jer so much—her manners, her features.
    Kari could feel the tears streaming openly down her face now. The others didn’t notice, though. They never did. Either that or they didn’t care.
    So many nights she had lain awake wishing she had never met Jer and been introduced to the world of magic. Then she would repent her thoughts becauseshe couldn’t imagine a life without Jer Deveraux. So many nights she cried herself to sleep praying that she would see him again.
    But when she had seen him … he had only had eyes for Holly. Kari tried to convince herself that Holly had bewitched him.
But was I already losing my hold on him? He was so dour and withdrawn. Things were coming to a head between him and his father … almost as if they sensed they were going to have a showdown.
    Holly came between them and forced the issue. She’s the most arrogant chick I’ve ever known … and with her power, that makes her dangerous. God, I wish I’d never gotten involved in all this crap.
    I’d have a Ph.D. by now, if I’d just stayed the course.
    Yeah, but I was too into Jer to turn back when I realized he really was a warlock, and there was such a thing as true magic. By then I was hooked on him, and on trying to learn how to use magic on my own. I can’t blame that on Holly.
    But I can blame her for taking him away from me.
    Some time there’ll be payback, Cathers. Count on it.
    Kari balled her fists and closed her eyes.
    The tears kept coming.

Part Two  
Imbolc

    â€œWhen they hung her, I watched and laughed. She was innocent. I was the witch they
sought. I sold my soul to the Devil himself, and the Devil
protects his own. He protected me, and he protected the Cathers woman. She told me once she was
descended from queens of powerful witchery, and I believe her.”
—Confession of Tabitha Johnson, upon her deathbed
Salem, Massachusetts

FOUR  
HEMATITE

    We lick the wounds that we have borne
As limb from limb we have been torn
But we will rise and live again
Death’s the beginning, not the end
    Find now the strength to change
To take our souls and rearrange
We can be as we will
We can love, or laugh, or kill
    Headquarters of the Supreme Coven: London
    In the clothes she’d been captured in, although freshly laundered, Nicole paced the floor of the honeymoon suite. Her dark hair was in a tangle, her thoughts as jumbled.
    I have to get out of here.
    The room was her prison, and she was not allowed to leave it. She had tried everything, from blasting at the door with magic bolts to hacking at the knob witha wooden coat hanger. She felt terribly inept at figuring her way out—real life certainly wasn’t like the movies—and it embarrassed her that she gave up so easily.
    James had been gone for two days, which was a relief, but she was unbearably tense from wondering what was going to happen next. Tension squeezed her heart as she gazed at the carved relief of the moon on the headboard of the bed. All witches knew when the full moon blazed; in two more nights, it would be Yule, one of the most sacred nights of the Coventry calendar—and the night James had promised he would force her into thrall. She would be the Lady to his Lord,