Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 99529 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 498(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99529 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 498(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
“I won’t be running.” I shivered. “And, I still want to learn from you.”
“It takes years of practice and study, sometimes even decades before one can master the power of blood magic.”
“But those who do, have great power.”
“But that power comes with a price. Are you not listening to me at all? Our kind has been hunted and persecuted for centuries.” Her eyes darkened with anger. “We have been labelled as evil, cursed, and unnatural. And for what? For simply being born with a certain ability.”
I could feel the weight of her words on my shoulders.
“People fear what they do not understand, and they hate what they fear.”
I took a deep breath. “But I still want to learn. I want to be able to protect myself and my people.”
The woman looked at me with a mixture of pity and understanding. “And who are your people?”
“Anyone who is oppressed and mistreated. Anyone who’s village has been destroyed by the Quiet King or even mage tribes. My people are the unprotected.”
She parted her lips. “They said you were crazy.”
“Then, they are correct.”
“Run.”
“Stay.” Sadness washed over me. “Teach me and then fight by my side.”
“They will never let people like us fight on a battle field.”
“This woman pulled me into her tent at the market today.” I picked up my dagger from the ground and placed it in my robe’s pocket. “She said something odd to me that now, makes so much sense.”
“What did she say?”
“She said that I was allowed into the village because I showed Tru and Spenrik that I did not know my power.”
She nodded.
“And. . .she said that. . .blood mages do not have to ask. They just make it so. I want that power.”
“Who was the woman?”
“She was in the fortune teller tent.”
“She probably was a blood mage hiding too, trying to help you.”
I studied her. “What’s your name?”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “We are not friends, and I am not helping you—”
“What’s your name?”
She sighed. “Seraphine.”
“Where is your family?”
“I came from a blood mage village that had been. . .overtaken by a coalition of earth and fire mages. I was just a kid.”
My heart ached. “I’m sorry.”
“They killed all of the adults in front of us. My mother, father, grandmother. . .my older brother. . .I was just. . .a kid. . .” She hugged herself. “After they spilled so much blood all over our village, then they burned our homes down and placed us in the wagon.”
“Why?”
“They sold me and other kids to the Quiet King.”
“They did?”
“They spent years killing our people and giving the kids to vampires to be fed from and drained. Years and years.” She grinned. “The only thing that is funny about that is. . .when they ran out of blood mages to give to the vampires. . .the vampires began grabbing them.”
“Was that how they grabbed the Ground Mover?”
“That is how the story goes. He came with a wagon of blood mage children, and the Quiet King decided to keep him too.”
How could I have been so easily tricked?
I considered my life. Now that I knew what I was, I also knew that my biological parents must have snuck off from a village and given me to the people who raised me.
They had been trying to save me.
Would I ever. . .meet any of my blood relatives? Or are they all dead?
I focused on Seraphine. “If you were put in the dungeons at a young age, then how did you learn so much.”
“A Heart Mage named Reye taught me how to—”
“Heart Mage?” I shrieked. “That is a. . .thing?”
“It is the highest level of blood mage powers. When you can control a living being’s heart, you have become a master.”
Dear Ambi. No wonder everyone is terrified of us.
Seraphine continued, “Reye spent years in the dungeon teaching me everything she knew—”
“So that you can run away and hide?”
Seraphine rolled her eyes. “Who are you to judge me, Blood Queen?”
“I need your help.” I pointed at her. “Do you not want to be safe?”
“I just want to be free.”
“You are not free, if you have to run and hide all your life, shaving off your hair and eyebrows to simply survive.”
Seraphine blinked.
I continued, “But if we work together, we can fight for our freedom. We can protect ourselves and others who have been oppressed. We can show the world that blood mages are not evil, cursed, or unnatural. We are just like everyone else, with a different ability.”
Seraphine looked at me, then turned away. “You are brave.”
“I have to be.”
“Thank Ressi, that I don’t have to be brave at all.” Seraphine headed off. “I wish you luck, Blood Queen.”
“No!” I extended my hand. “Please, don’t leave!”
Suddenly, leaves rustled around us, creating a soft, almost musical sound as they swayed gently in the breeze.