Read Online Vanquished by Nancy Holder, Debbie Viguié - Free Book Online Page B

been the protectors and stewards of this world.
    Tears streaked down her cheeks, unchecked. She prayed to the Lady that they might water the earth beneath her feet, returning to it that which was lost.
    But they were only tears, not magick.
    She balled her hands into fists, as something powerful broke loose within her. An it harm none, do what thou wilt. It was the creed of her people. She had clung to it blindly even through the most desperate nights, trying to restrict and regulate her actions accordingly.
    But there were things worth fighting for, things worth dying for, and things worth killing for.
    And because she had refused to kill anything but vampires, people had died. Their blood was on her hands.
    “Never again,” she whispered.
    The wind caught at her words even as they left her lips. A warning or an affirmation?
    “Never again,” she said, louder.
    She could feel something stirring in the woods.
    “Never again!” she shouted as loud as she could. Her nails dug into her palms. She fell to her knees and fed the earth with her blood and her tears. The forestsighed around her, and the ground beneath her seemed to shudder.
    “I am a daughter of the Goddess, and I will defend you,” she pledged to the Earth. All the fear, the uncertainty, the frustration poured out from her, and she breathed in courage, purpose, and clarity.
    Some argued that the code had been transcribed improperly, and that the true words were these: “An it harm none, do what thou must .”
    She would protect the world. She must.
    And when she had shed her last tear, she tumbled down onto the earth and closed her eyes. Mist—or maybe dreams—rose around her, and she could almost see Holgar’s face. Almost hear his voice murmuring, Skye, merrily met.
    Then she realized that someone was talking to her. She opened her eyes. There, standing over her, were her old friends Soleil and Lune, their palms extended toward her. Soleil had grown; she was nearly as tall as Lune now. Both looked much older than when they had last met.
    Skye didn’t know why, but she felt no surprise at seeing them, just sudden, overwhelming gladness. She rose.
    “It’s about time,” Soleil said softly.
    “The Circuit welcomes a sister,” Lune murmured.
    They raised their left hands—the hand of magick. In each palm was a henna pentagram. Then Skye’s sisters in the Art pressed their left palms against each of Skye’s bleedinghands and threw their arms around her, and the healing began to take place.
    * * *
    Soleil and Lune wouldn’t tell Skye exactly how they had found her, saying only that “a friend” had alerted them that she was in England. They had cast a finder’s spell to pinpoint her location. Skye wondered if that friend was Melody, or Summer’s husband.
    The two gave her a chance to wash up in the bathroom of a pub, then fed her a savory mushroom pie. Lune had brought her a change of clothes; Skye dressed in a pair of brown leggings, an olive pleated miniskirt, and a cream-colored sweater. Everything was a little loose on her, but Skye rather liked Lune’s choice of earth tones. Soleil wore jeans and a ruffled yellow blouse, befitting her name, which meant “sun.”
    Then they drove her to the beautiful castle of Leeds. Part of the castle was built on land, and part extended into a lakelike moat. It was after hours, and all the tourists had left. The three crept to the water’s edge, where a small white rowboat waited, and Soleil and Lune guided the boat with magicks onto the water, using no oars to power it. A small, arched gate provided them entrance. They glided in, climbed out, and pulled the boat onto a stone landing.
    “So this is the headquarters of the Circuit?” Skye whispered as they went through a small door and up a narrow, circular staircase.
    “Just one of many,” Lune replied.
    “Did you know that a medieval princess, Joan of Navarre, was imprisoned here for using witchcraft? Her magicks have soaked into the stone. Do you