Travel wasn’t difficult; trying not to make anyone sick was the difficult part. The more time that passed, the more it seemed as if my curse grew stronger. It made sense though…
My true name was once known as Princess Tatiana Echo-Ariadne Roisin, and I was the next in line to become the Witch Queen.
This was long ago… Things had changed much since then. For a very long time, the one thing even a witch strove for… was more time. The same is true to this day— immortality while retaining your powers.
I was the first to ever achieve this.
I am one of the strongest witches to walk this earth— my body harmonizes with nature in a way that if I so wished it, I could be one with a tree and never leave, working our magic in a way that would surprise even the Fae.
How much power I could use at once had surprised them when they visited weeks before I was supposed to be crowned.
One spell had been the difference between the life I could have had and the life I had now.
I had achieved immortality and depleted a lay line of all its power— something unheard of— and even now nothing but sand, dust, and memories live there.
Remember those plagues that occurred in Egypt? It took me a while to figure out that it was my curse, the hidden witches of history never to be recorded on the walls. We forbid it.
Nearly none of my family had escaped. It wasn’t until I killed my sister that I realized… it was my very existence. She had bandaged a cut on my hand, which had healed quickly.
I still shudder at the memory of her long, agonizing death. The plagues were a side effect from disrupting nature, but the true curse was my body.
I was a walking poison to the world around me, and I couldn’t die now.
I was now the most powerful witch in existence, that was well known, but also the loneliest. It didn’t matter how many times I tried to kill myself over the years… nothing took.
Thankfully I didn’t scar, otherwise I doubt I could marry a vampire prince. I didn’t understand their hierarchy— the ancients had kept to themselves since they walked the earth.
The only thing we have learned is to coexist, and they do not retaliate when their little ones step out of line to try to eat us.
A witch is as tasty as a sweet poison.
Devour the weak and vulnerable and you will infect everyone around you. Sometimes it may end up with you losing your life— or living an eternity in constant misery, depending on the spell used.
There are plenty of things that can be done.
Yet here I was, standing outside a castle in my cloak, my hair pulled back in an elegant braid, wearing my simple green dress that belonged in the 1800s. I liked the style; it was comfortable to me.
I could feel weak wards of a witch on the land, and my hand reached out to touch it as if I were stroking a purring kitten rather than an electric field.
Even though I knew I could step into the wards, I waited, knowing this would be enough to alert the witch I was here.
No need to harm her, since the ward seemed to be directly tied to some of her life energy.
It was night, and the moon was full, an owl hooting in the distance as the small river flowed.
I could see that this place was cloaked to look like a small mansion, and I was at the back of its supposed gardens.
I knew this would be an illusion though, and that the inside would be much different by the way the magic shimmered in front of my eyes.
It said to me, oh it’s another big house, but with nothing too special about it.
Within moments, I had three males in front of me glaring, identical. Who the hell made identical vampires? Someone was a collector perhaps; I could see a female wanting three lovers who looked the same. Sick.
But old age tended to make us do some odd things…
“State your name,” the middle one requested, folding his arms.
“I’m Echo of the Rose—my coven said your emissary requested a strong witch to wed the prince.”
He snickered at me, looking at my attire. “Another one?”
I kept my face passive—I would not fail. I was not weak.
“Either I can be invited in or I can walk through and severely hurt the witch protecting you. Though I suspect your masters would not approve of this.”
The other two were very good at hiding their thoughts. It made me wonder if they were linked, and all the emotion was sent to them one at a time, because again the middle one made a face.
“Our master Divinity wouldn’t approve, you’re correct,” he stated, stepping forward, his hand held out through the barrier. I took it and stepped through without harming the witch.
My hand was gloved, and I quickly removed it from his. Killing anyone quickly was not the way to handle this.
No, the plan was I was to spike the wedding party’s wine at our dinner to celebrate the marriage.
Anyone important would die, and most of the others would be spared—though the coven requested I spike all the wine…then bed the prince.
By the time he died, the rest of the castle would be so ill I could leave quietly.
I followed them through the grass, the illusion fading away to show a giant castle, though not like any I had seen before.
It was a cross between fantasy art and the wildness of the Fae; it was breathtaking.
The earth was literally abundant with magic. Sprites were freely floating about the gardens, even the walls seemed to be pulsing with life the closer we got to the castle.
Yet here I was…a poison green apple in paradise. Now I just needed Eve (the prince) to pick me and destroy everything.
