The Rose Witch (The Coven: Old Magic Stand-Alone Novel Book 1) Read online

  “Edward wasn’t his?” My mother whispered.

  “No. Of that I am certain.” Malachi frowned. “I am sorry, I thought you knew. I should have told you.”

  “Thank you.” Mum sighed long and hard. Her eyes watered. “Did he not tell you anything? There were so many years between…”

  Malachi grimaced. “It was dangerous to speak of such things out loud. The Lancasters had all lost their magic, The Coven left England for Italy. Michael left. Henry told me…he told me he had a plan set in place for the chosen Lancaster to retrieve Michael’s sword. And he had a plan for the locket, and for you two. I promised him I would find you and that we would join The Coven to end Lilith.”

  Mum groaned and balled her skirt in her hands. “Does she have to?”

  He nodded. “The Lancasters were the first children of angels, the first line of witches in this world. Your absence from magic has been a detriment, one that we can no longer withstand. Jackson is in The Coven. His role is prominent. But the rest of you will be a part of this war.”

  My pulse skipped beats. I felt his nervousness and I didn’t like it. “Especially me, that’s what you’re trying not to say.”

  He turned his gold eyes to me. “You are the only living Lancaster who was born with magic and then had it taken. The rest of your family will take a generation or two to regain its potency, but yours won’t. You are as strong as the Bishops and Proctors, you are a daughter of the founding bloodline…and you are soulmates with an angel. I cannot be blind to the importance of either of those, or the side effects.”

  “What’s going to come of me?” I heard myself ask.

  His eyes darkened. “I do not know, nor would anyone tell me if I asked it of them. Things will play out the way they must. We have to have faith in that.”

  I threw my hands up. “So we just sit and wait?”

  “Well, first, we figure out how to get that damn locket off you before it gets you killed.”

  “You think the answer is in this journal?”

  “I know there’s something in that journal we need.”

  Mum frowned and cocked her head to the side. “What journal?”

  “Henry sent his journal with you two. He told me this himself.”

  “No. No, it wasn’t there.” She shook her head wildly. “Trust me, I spent years staring at all our stuff. Mourning the death of my husband six hundred years later. His journal was not there. I know the one you speak of. Small, red leather, with a strap around it and a rose burned into the cover?”

  “That’s it. It has to be here somewhere.”

  “Why don’t we just ask Henry?” Granny said as she picked up a biscuit. “We spoke to him once. Speak to him again.”

  “What do you mean you spoke to him? He’s dead…”

  Granny waved her biscuit at me. “His spirit haunted that old Abbey. I’d heard rumor of this for years from other Lancasters…when you two came back, Millie Anne and I went there and spoke to him.”

  Tears pooled in my mother’s eyes. “I saw him…”

  Malachi sighed. “I know. I was there.”

  She gasped. “You were?”

  He shrugged. “I kept my eye on you two from a distance…as I promised him.”

  Granny grinned. “See? Why don’t we go there and ask him? Maybe that’s why his spirit has not passed?”

  “He’s gone.” Malachi’s face fell. “His spirit remained to help guide Jackson back to the sword.”

  “Did you see him?” Mum whispered.

  “Yesterday. I escorted him to the afterlife – I didn’t know the locket would not come off.” He groaned. “Or I would have asked him. So you see, we need that journal.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chloe

  “What exactly are we looking for in here?” I asked as we walked into the small library connected to my mother’s room. “I mean, obviously the journal but…”

  Malachi whistled. “This is quite the collection, Your Majesty.”

  Mum blushed and bit her bottom lip. “Thank you. The transition has been difficult for me, so I relied on my books.”

  “This reminds me of the library in the palace.”

  Mum grinned and her eyes sparkled. “I tried to emulate it as best I could on a small scale.”

  The palace. I remembered it. Vividly. I hadn’t thought about it at all but now that she mentioned it I saw it in my head. The library was like this. She did an amazing job recreating it. “I used to love to ride the ladders…”

  “YES.” Mum grinned. But then she shook herself. “But memory lane later. Let’s find the journal. Come.”

  We followed her all the way inside, or Malachi did. I was hanging on his back like a spider monkey. His little smoke trick worked but it was too exhausting to walk on my own the further we got inside the estate. I had my arms coiled around his neck and my legs around his hips. It was a sweet, sweet relief to be able to be with him like this. To be working together. If I didn’t have him, this would’ve been a nightmare to solve.

  Mum crossed the room to the far corner where there was a bay window with a seat inside. She pulled the cushions and pillows away and tossed them to the floor. Then she slid the entire wooden top of the bench off and bent over to dig inside. When she stood straight, she had a massive chest in her hands that was probably half her size.

  She tried to take a step but it was too heavy and she dropped it to the floor. “Sorry, bit out of practice. Only two more to go.”

  Malachi flicked his wrist and the chest slid across the room to the coffee table in front of us. He flicked his wrist again and the two identical chests lifted out of the bench storage space and floated over to the table.

  Mum spun toward us right as I kissed his neck. Her eyes widened and dropped to where my lips touched his skin and then she turned away. “Thank you, Malachi.”

  “No problem.” He walked up to the edge of the table holding all three chests and put his hands on one. “Let’s divide and conquer then, shall we, ladies?”

  Granny popped up from the chaise lounge she’d been sitting on and opened the chest nearest to her. “I’ll search this one.”

  Mum smiled and moved to the other side of the table so she could get to the opening of the middle chest. “Be careful with this stuff, please. It’s all we have from home.”

  Home. Like we weren’t standing in it. For me, this house felt more like home to me than the palace did – I’d lived here more years. But my mother, well I couldn’t imagine what this was all like for her. To get lost for a few hours and come out centuries in the future. Now that I knew the truth, I understood my mother better.

  Malachi opened our chest and my eyes widened. Inside, folded neatly on the top, were stacks of clothing. My old clothing. As Malachi carefully lifted the stacks up and out, I recognized many of the pieces. Later, when this business with the locket was over, I was going to come back and dive into these chests. For now, I snuggled into Malachi’s back and stayed there as he dug through all of our old belongings.

  Every time I giggled at him, my mother looked up at us.

  Every time I kissed his neck or ran my hand over his arms, she flinched.

  He pulled out a stack of six books, but a quick flip of the cover and pages told us none were my father’s journal. He sat them on the table, then reached in…and pulled out a sparkling diamond-encrusted tiara. I gasped and slid around Malachi’s body so I could grab the tiara.

  “What do you think?” I placed it on my head and gave him my best smile. “How does it look?”

  He grumbled low in his chest. “You look beautiful.”

  My heart fluttered. I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his. Warmth filled my veins and I could have just stayed like that for an eternity. But we had a mission and an audience. Kisses would need to wait.

  I couldn’t reach into the chests for some reason but I inspected each and every item Malachi sat on the table. So far, nothing was a small red journal. This was going to be a bust, which only matt
ered because of the demon-beacon, soul sucking locket stuck on me.

  Malachi cursed. “That was everything in that box— oh, what’s that?” He flicked his wrist and a red stuffed bunny rabbit floated into the air.

  I gasped. “Ruby!”

  Ruby was my stuffed animal, an adorable red bunny with big floppy ears. She was my favorite. I took her everywhere. She’d been my best friend at one point. My heart hurt but I surged with happiness at the same time. I reached for her but she floated out of my grip.

  Malachi chuckled.

  I swung for her again and she flew up over my head. The cheeky smile on his face told me he was enjoying taunting me a bit. I see you. You play dirty. I bit my bottom lip and swung around so I was hanging from the front of him…and then I sucked his bottom lip into my mouth. He gasped against my lips, his tongue slipped out seeking mine.

  Someone cleared their throat real loud and we jumped apart. When I looked, I found my mum watching us with narrowed eyes. I knew she wanted to ask about us but I wasn’t ready to talk about it. All we knew we had for sure was right now, and I wasn’t going to squander it any longer. I would seize the moment and the day and answer questions later.

  With Malachi distracted, I snagged Ruby’s ear and pulled her into my chest. Memories rushed to the surface. Too many. I hugged it close, remembering the moment Dad gave it to me.

  But then I felt something. An energy source that seemed to beat with its own pulse. “What’s that? You feel that?”

  Malachi frowned and then his eyes widened. “That’s the journal.”

  I held Ruby up. “I think it’s in here.”

  Malachi took it and carefully sliced open the side of the bunny rabbit stuffed animal. He held it up to me. I reached in through the cut and my fingers instantly landed on something hard. My heart stopped. I was almost afraid to look. But Malachi wasn’t. He dove in, tossing stuffed animal guts aside until he pulled his hand out – with a little red book.

  “YES!”

  Granny and Mum moved in close. He flipped through the pages and lights danced from within the spine. I was about to look away when I spotted a symbol in the book – it was a single rose.

  “Look!”

  “What’s wrong?”

  I pointed to it. “I’ve seen that stamp of a rose. At school. But that must be a coincidence because —" I froze. “All Souls College was co-founded by Henry Lancaster the VI. Everyone makes a big fuss about it because I’m a Lancaster who snagged a fellowship. Dad made the school. He made it and I go there – wait…wait…I went there with him. I remember. Mum?”

  She nodded. “Yes, we went there with him. And he would be so proud to know you attend that school.”

  My jaw dropped. I shook my head and mimicked an explosion with my hands. “Mind blown.”

  Malachi frowned and lifted the journal higher. His gaze traveled down the page as he read, then he flipped the page. “This is what we needed.”

  My pulse quickened. “Does it say how to get it off of me?”

  “No, but—”

  I cursed.

  “It seems clear that it getting stuck on you was not part of the plan, which may or may not be reassuring.”

  Mum leaned in to try and read over his shoulder. “How do you know that? What does it say?”

  “Well, first, it was Archangel Michael who told us we had to get her locket. That was why I took it.” He tapped on the page. “But Henry left us a note. It says that Michael told him the locket could not be destroyed because then Lilith could reforge it. The only way to render it useless is to bury it deep under Holy Ground.”

  My eyes widened.

  “It says to find this rose symbol at All Souls College and that will tell us where to go next.”

  “Like a reverse treasure map.” My stomach turned. “Except it’s stuck on my neck.”

  Malachi sighed and shoved the journal into his back pocket. “I’m hoping that when we get to the spot we’re supposed to bury it in, it will unlock itself. My gut is telling me we will find our answer in the process.”

  “Leap of faith and all that jazz?”

  He nodded.

  Mum reached out and squeezed my hand. “Chloe, do you know where you need to go?”

  Finally, something I knew with absolute certainty. I grinned. “Absolutely.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chloe

  When my feet hit the ground, I almost cried in relief.

  But then I looked down and found green grass under me. I cursed and leapt backwards so fast that my feet actually slipped on the slick grass and I landed right on my ass. On the grass. My ass was on the grass.

  Malachi stepped in front of me, blocking out the sun hanging high in the sky. “Are you okay, love?”

  My cheeks warmed. Love. Every time he said it, it did things to my insides. “We don’t walk on the grass here. Ever.”

  He nodded and pursed his lips. Then his feet hovered off the ground, his black smoke wings flapping behind him. “Sitting on it is okay though?”

  “Cheeky cheater.”

  He grinned and flicked his wrist, and then I was standing upright. Before I could take a step, I started floating backwards. He gently placed me on the pavement, then smiled. “Better?”

  I sighed and brushed my backside off. “Better.”

  “All right, you said you know where the rose is?”

  “I did. I do.” I walked to the edge of the grass field and glanced around to get my bearings straight and see exactly where he dropped us. Then I smiled. “This is my favorite spot on campus. Did you know that?”

  He cocked his head to the side and glanced around us. When he looked back to me he gave me a little smirk. “No. But I did tap into your thoughts in order to bring us here.”

  “That sounds really creepy, mister Prince of Hell.” I shook my head and then held my hand up over my eyes to shield them from the morning sunshine. “But I’ll let it slide for now because surely my brain cannot compute one more supernatural thing this morning.”

  He chuckled. “Fine. How about it’s probably your favorite because you were drawn to the magic even while yours was blocked?”

  “Still creepy, but an improvement.”

  He smiled and shook his head.

  I took a deep breath and just looked around. It blew my mind to realize that my own father had built this school five hundred and eighty years ago…and that I had been here when I was little. Even stranger was that I suddenly remembered it like it was yesterday. Maybe that had something to do with my magic being stripped…but the memories were back and vivid. I remembered holding his hand as we walked, with Ruby the bunny gripped tight in my arms. I remembered the stained-glass windows and intricate architecture.

  I remembered the libraries.

  I found my love of books right here at Oxford when I was four.

  My birthday was in three days. I thought I was turning twenty-two. It hurt my brain to know I was actually turning five hundred and seventy years old. I don’t feel old at all. Shouldn’t I feel…ancient?

  Malachi’s warm hand pressed to the small of my back. “Chloe?”

  “I’m five hundred and sixty-nine years old,” I whispered.

  “For three more days, yes,” he whispered back.

  “Why don’t I feel…older?”

  “Because your body has only experienced twenty-two years.” He reached down and laced his fingers with mine then squeezed. “It’s best not to try and understand just how these things work. There are some things the mortal mind just can’t compute, things even I had to grapple with as I aged.”

  Aged. Because you’re immortal.

  And I’m not.

  Right now we looked good together. We could pass for the same age, or close enough. Actually, we were close in age relatively speaking. I was five hundred and seventy, he was seven hundred and twenty. But that was only due to the magic of the Old Lands. I would continue to age at this point, yet he would not.

  As I looked up into his beauti
ful, flawless face I wondered what it would be like when I was a wrinkled old lady. Would everyone assume I was his grandmother? What would our relationship be like? Would he treat me like a grandmother rather than a lover? I imagined it would be difficult not to. And then when I died he would have to continue living without me.

  Even though it wasn’t me who would have to suffer a torture like that the idea that I would leave him alone…I didn’t have words to describe how much that hurt. And I’d only just found him. It would hurt infinitely worse decades from now. What would happen to him? Would we ever be reunited in the afterlife? Wait. My heart stopped. I can’t die, Chloe. That was what he’d said. He was the son of Lucifer, Prince of Hell.

  My chest grew tight, cutting off the flow of oxygen. I sucked in a shaky breath. His hand tightened on mine, like maybe he, too, was thinking the same things I was. Like maybe he was also realizing just how much this was going to hurt.

  I finally understood how Bella Swan felt in Twilight. Like really, truly understood her now. I was in her shoes. I feared what she had feared. I finally understood the desperation she felt to be turned into a vampire just so they wouldn’t have to be parted.

  Wait.

  My eyes widened.

  That’s it.

  That’s how I fix this.

  If I become a vampire, then we’ll both be immortal.

  That was my answer. Once we got this bloody locket off of me, I’d find a vampire to turn me. I knew they existed, my father had told me stories about them. I’d ask The Coven for help. Tegan owed me one after her little stunt. A smile pulled at my lips so I bit my cheek to stop it. Something told me Malachi would not approve of this plan but if Bella made Edward buckle, I’d win over Malachi. I’d get us our eternity together.

  “Chloe?”

  I froze at the sound of Edith’s voice. I peeked up at my soulmate and grimaced. He arched one eyebrow. “Just go with me, okay?” I whispered and pulled my hand out of his.