Page 86 of Merciless Is My Crown

“We will heal the dragon as well. But this magic works on physical injuries and illnesses only.” Her pale eyes caught the light. “Not what’s in their minds.”

“I understand.”

“Now, as far as these markings.” She pulled the plain black book closer, flipping open the cover, and the air in the room throbbed in response.

“Let me find it…I’m sure it was in here…toward the beginning, I think.”

That hollow rustling crept through the chamber again from some far-off corner, echoed by Bella flipping pages so fast they became a blur. She stopped suddenly, her finger pressed to a dark, familiar symbol etched on a page.

“This is what I found. Here is our coven’s mark, the one that appeared when Vireena struck her bargain with the Oracle. I don’t know what any of this means, we don’t even know where this text originated from, and none of us can translate the language. But this is our mark.”

Her eyes flicked up to mine as she dragged her finger over to a hand drawn lightning strike. “And this is yours.”

I scanned the page. Each and every one of our markings was there, including every single one off the floor of Corvus’s cave. Not only that, they were all surrounded by notes as if someone had labeled them.

“There are so many,” I muttered, wondering what, if anything, this meant.

Once, a very long time ago, someone had known what these symbols stood for.

They’d written everything down in painstaking detail.

I leaned closer and squinted at the neat, careful handwriting. Someone had taken the time to keep a record for whomever came after them. But to sing the praises of these gods?

Or tell us how to destroy them?

“This book is called The Etheric Codex, or The Codex for short. According to ancient coven lore, this is the oldest book in the library and contains our earliest known records. I doubt anyone has seen this book in a millennium.” Her finger dragged down the page, pausing on that circle within a circle symbol.

“I searched this library for years, trying to figure out what our marks meant so I could undo the hold the Oracle has over my people. Imagine my surprise when I found exactly what I was looking for but in a language that cannot be deciphered.”

“Your marks all appeared at the same time?”

“At the exact same moment, during a welcome banquet given by the new High Priestess to celebrate our new alliance with the Oracle. Until you killed her, I had believed Vireena either swore a blood oath or made a blood pact with that foul creature, but now I know that’s not the case.”

“Why do you say that?”

Bella’s eyebrows rose. “Because we still have them. If Vireena used blood magic, her death would have broken the pact and the symbols would have disappeared from our skin.”

“What is blood magic?” I asked, trying to wrap my head around how this worked. “I wasn’t raised a witch; I know nothing about magic.”

“Yet you possess every last drop of the Fae magic.” Bella’s eyes narrowed as if she was trying to decide whether I was lying.

“I’m still learning how to control that power. I never learned formal spells or casting because until a few months ago, I was still in Varitus. Living as a slave.”

Bella’s eyebrows hit her hairline. “By the Mother, you mean no one has taught you about your power? That’s dangerous, Anaria.”

“There hasn’t been anyone to teach me. When I left Varitus, I couldn’t even ride a horse, but I learned.” Anger, quick and bright, flashed through me. “I’ll learn this, too. Tell me how blood magic works and why you think that’s how the Oracle controls you?”

“Blood magic is spilled blood combined with a binding spell. A thimbleful, even a few drops are often enough depending on how complex the spell. Blood magic is that powerful if you are willing to pay the cost. According to our histories, the earliest of my kind used blood magic to protect themselves from the Mystara.”

“What are those?”

“Our ancient enemy, but they disappeared so long ago, we must have exterminated them or they died out. But once, they hunted our kind for our magic and our blood.” Her eyes dipped to the markings. “There were once fifteen. These were their symbols.”

“Those were…” I tried to catch my breath. “You called them the Mystara?”

She nodded. “A long time ago, but now they’re nothing but myths.”

The witches and the Fae had been fighting the same enemy—different names but the same enemy.

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