The Sacred Maiden

  THE SACRED MAIDEN

  RISE OF THE ASH GODS, BOOK 3

  - reverse harem romance –

  Copyright © 2020 by Cara Wylde

  Cover by Otilia Jakab

  All rights are reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher, except for the use of brief quotations in book reviews.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are fictitious or have been used fictitiously, and are not to be construed as real in any way. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental.

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Have you read the Prequel?

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Epilogue

  More books by Cara Wylde

  About the Author

  Have you read the Prequel?

  Dear reader,

  It will take Valentina four books to find all her nine mates and build her harem. If you want to find out who her mates are before she does, then make sure you read The Test, a short Prequel that is available for FREE everywhere. Enjoy!

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  Valentina has prepared for this all her life. She is ready. Just one test to pass, and she’ll finally become a Keeper of the Spades, and a proper member of her coven. Born a witch, sworn to protect the Mysteries of the Tarot, Val will not fail and will not disappoint her family.

  But something goes awfully wrong. When she gets lost in the intricate multi-dimensions of the Test, she loses control and gets thrown from one time-space to another. And that’s how she meets them. She doesn’t know who they are, but what she knows for sure is they are not just men. Ghosts? Angels, or demons? Gods?

  Fate is playing tricks on her… She only wants to pass the Test and serve her coven, not figure out why she was meant to meet nine strangers who seem just as confused as she is.

  Books 1 and 2 are also available on Amazon and free in Kindle Unlimited!

  The Hanged Maiden

  Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Amazon CA

  The Cloaked Maiden

  Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Amazon CA

  CHAPTER ONE

  Chills ran down Valentina’s spine, and the tiny hairs on the nape of her neck stood on end. She felt like a thousand ants were crawling underneath her skin. She shuddered visibly and rubbed at her arms. She couldn’t let them see. She couldn’t let Adelina and Cosimo De Rossi see how terrified she was of them – of the things that were inside them, controlling their bodies as if they were puppets on a string.

  “You’re back.”

  It was her mom’s voice, and at the same time, it wasn’t. The smile on her lips looked grotesque, not reassuring like she had probably intended it. Valentina gulped.

  “I am. I... I’m sorry it took so long.”

  Her dad stepped forward and tried to hug her. Instinctively, Valentina backed away, then mentally cursed herself. This wasn’t going very well. She couldn’t even tell if they were pretending or not. Was she supposed to believe that Adelina and Cosimo were themselves and everything was fine? If they were, indeed, trying to play the role of her parents, they were failing epically.

  Her dad stopped in his tracks, cleared his throat, and crossed his hands behind his back. Instead of a warm hug, he gave her what he hoped looked like a warm nod.

  “It doesn’t matter. You’re here now, and we have so much to tell you. A lot has happened since you ran away with the Suit of Spades.”

  “I bet it has,” she murmured as her hand went to her tarot deck. She cursed herself again when that drew his attention to it.

  “You’re not doing very well,” Ravenna whispered. “Please don’t pee your pants if one of them decides to go ‘boo!’ on you.”

  “That’s not funny.”

  “You have what you need, you practiced... Just do it already.”

  “What if it’s Thailand all over again? What if I can’t...”

  Adelle De Rossi clapped loudly, giggled when Valentina was startled, then grabbed her husband’s hand and pulled him toward the door.

  “Come on! Everyone will be so happy to see you, Val! Dante asks about you every day.”

  For a second, Val forgot where she was and with whom. She forgot they weren’t who they were pretending to be. At the sound of her friend’s name, her heart jumped, and her eyes filled with hope.

  “Dante is okay? But I saw him...”

  Adelle’s eyes bore into hers. They were a shade darker than they used to be, and that brought Valentina back to earth.

  “Oh, it was chaos! You poor thing, what did you think you saw? We’re all fine, darling. La Congrega di Spade is as strong as ever. Come on, let’s not waste a minute longer. Everyone is waiting for you at the temple.” She winked mischievously. “They might have even prepared a surprise party for you.”

  Valentina furrowed her brows. “So, you knew I was coming.”

  Adelle shook her head, as if she didn’t understand what she was talking about.

  “This is Thailand all over again,” Val sighed.

  “Thailand?” Adelle let go of Cosimo’s hand and stepped closer to Valentina. “You’re confused, sweetie. Come, let’s go see the others. Dante will explain everything to you. He’s missed you so much!”

  Val stared at her mom’s outstretched hand as if it were a disgusting claw that could grab her any second if she wasn’t careful. Which was strange, because her mom’s hands were as beautiful and dainty as ever, with soft skin, French-manicured almond nails, and her engagement ring and wedding band resting side by side on her long fingers. What Valentina could see was not, in fact, her mom’s hand. She could see what it was underneath, hiding from the human eye, trying so hard to trick anyone who looked at Adelina De Rossi into thinking she was still herself, and not a shell holding a foreign being inside.

  “I’m sorry, Mom.”

  Adelina cocked her head. “Sorry for what?”

  Val dragged in a breath and reached for the second leather pouch attached to her belt. If she picked more things up along the way, she’d soon end up with no space to store them. Her precious backpack was with Piper, Sia’s paintings of the Ash Gods safe in it. Slowly, she took out the small jar and unscrewed the cap, her eyes never leaving Adelle and Cosimo. He was close to the door now, but he didn’t look like he intended to leave without his wife. Good. If she was lucky, maybe she could catch them both.

  “You can do this,” Ravenna whispered. “This time, it’ll work. You got the potion right.”

  “Well, I pray to the Goddess I got the potion right...”

  “What Goddess?”

  Valentina thought for a brief second. She didn’t have time for this silent banter, yet the name rose above all her other thoughts, as if it had been there for a long time, waiting to be acknowledged: Fate. With a clear intention and a flick of her wrist, she made the dark liquid inside the jar float out and rush around Adelle and Cosimo in a thin stream that pulled and pulled at itself until it managed to encircle them. When Cosimo tried to break it, the liquid emitted a force field that kept him inside the circle.

  “What is this?” The smile on Adelle’s red lips was starting to falter.

  Valentina focused on what she had to do next. Her potion circle wouldn’t last long if she didn’t chant the spell to reinforce it and exorcise the beings that had taken over her parents’ bodies. It was an old spell, she could barely pronounce all the words right, and most of it still didn’t make much sense to her. It was as if she knew what every word meant individually, but when she put them together, half of the chant was lost on her.

  “What are you doing?” Cosimo asked through gritted teeth. He tried to break out of the circle once more, and the force field sizzled at his touch. “Valentina, I demand you stop this right now. This is madness!”

  “You’re not my father,” she spat out before she started chanting again, from the beginning. She closed her eyes as her voice rose and her hands started drawing circles in the air, making the dark liquid wave and swirl as it closed in on Adelle and Cosimo. When they were back to back, the liquid fell to the floor, staining the oak tiles and spreading closer and closer to their feet, until it was under their soles and they both grunted in pain, feeling the strong magic of Valentina’s potion even through their shoes.

  “Lavender,” Adelle said, disgusted.

  Val smiled. “Oh, but Mom! You love lavender.”

  The woman narrowed her eyes at her but didn’t say another word. She knew the young witch and Keeper of the Spades had them cornered. Well, not exactly cornered, but trapped inside a magic circle that burned them from the inside.

  Valentina released a long breath. It was working. In Thailand, she had tried the same spell but had gotten the potion wrong. As it turned out, it took some witchy mastery to mix Baba Yaga’s ingredients into something that resembled the recipes in the books she’d gotten from La Congrega di Denari and worked. The dark liquid started bubbling, and with every passing second, its mass and density grew and expanded until it began to creep up her parents’ feet and ankles. They tried to fight the spell, but there was no use. As they started to writhe in pain, Val had to remember that they were not her mom and dad. The Walk-Ins inside them were using all the sigils and spells Adelle and Cosimo knew to break the dark circle, but the truth was that neither of them had a single chance. Val began chanting once more, her arms rising toward the ceiling as the black liquid snuck up their legs. The louder she chanted, the faster the liquid enveloped them. She was now demanding that the fourth-dimensional beings left their hosts, which made Adelle toss her head in distress, her long, black hair whipping around her shoulders and hitting her husband in the face. He didn’t move and didn’t say a word. He’d closed his eyes and he wasn’t struggling anymore. It was as if he was either thinking about something or waiting for all of it to be over.

  Valentina couldn’t pay attention to both of them. Her mom was the one who was reacting strongly, yelling profanities and screaming in pain and frustration, so she focused on her, her eyes trained on her face as she chanted, never looking away, not even when the being hiding inside her body started coming to the surface. The black liquid had enveloped Adelle up to her waist. It was getting harder and harder to make it rise even higher, and Valentina gathered all her strength in her arms, imagining her power pooling in her palms as she held them up, reinforcing her spell with the conscious motion of her body to better direct her intention.

  The liquid enveloped Adelle up to her chest. She stopped fighting but didn’t take her dark blue eyes off Valentina. Her face morphed in and out of the beautiful features that ran in the De Rossi family. One second, her small nose, high cheekbones, and perfectly arched brows reminded Val that she was the spitting image of her mother, and the next, her skin turned a suspicious shade of gray, her skull took the elongated form of an animal that was sure to belong in the seas, and her blue eyes turned black and glassy. When one of her arms morphed into a clawed fin, Valentina took a step back, her voice almost breaking.

  “I still can’t figure out what she is,” Ravenna whispered.

  Val ignored her. She chanted louder and faster. At some point, when her mom was covered in the dark potion up to her neck, she noticed her dad had somehow escaped it. She didn’t have time to think about it, though. If she could exorcise one of them, it was still better than her complete failure in Thailand. She dragged in a breath, gathered her courage, and stepped closer to her mom.

  Adelle opened her mouth to scream, and the dark liquid poured down her throat. She threw her head back, her black, empty eyes fixed on the ceiling, and smoke started coming out through her parted lips, through her nostrils, and through the very sockets of her eyes. It floated in the air, above her head, and once it left her body completely, Adelle collapsed to the ground. The liquid under her limp body started to fade away, and soon Cosimo was able to step out of the circle and run to the door. Without a single glance behind, he rushed down the stairs and out of the house.

  “Damn it!” Valentina didn’t know whether she should chase after him or stay with her mom.

  “Let him go,” Ravenna said quickly. “The black smoke…”

  Yes, the black smoke that had come out of Adelle had started to take the vague shape of a creature that was half woman and half seal. The last thing Valentina wanted was for the thing to break out of the house and roam around for a fresh host. She took out her deck, placed her hand above it, and with a quick chant and a sigil, the Magician card popped out, and Veles stepped out of it, tall, strong and mighty, launched himself at the deformed being, and swept it to the fourth dimension in the blink of an eye. One moment, they were there, the next… gone.

  Valentina fell to her knees, her whole body shaking and sweating as if she had a fever. A tear ran down her cheek.

  “I did it,” she whispered.

  “Yeah, you did it! You go, sis!”

  Adelle was lying on the floor. The black liquid had been half absorbed by her skin while the other half had evaporated once its power had diminished. Carefully, Valentina crawled toward her, her hand reaching out to push her mom’s hair away from her face. Her cheeks were beginning to get their natural rosy color back, and her lips started moving silently. Her eyes were still closed. It was as if she was trying to wake up from a long nightmare, and she couldn’t quite believe she had been given a second chance to see the light of day, enjoy the sun on her skin, and be herself in her own body again.

  “Mom?” Valentina moved closer and pulled her head on her lap. “Mom, can you hear me? It’s me. I’m back.”

  “Valentina?” Adelle’s voice was barely a whisper. Her eyes fluttered open and her hand went to touch her daughter’s cheek. “Is that really you?”

  More tears ran down Val’s face. She wiped them quickly. This was so embarrassing. She never cried in front of her mother, and now here she was, all sappy and emotional. Her mom was a tough woman who was never impressed by the show of emotion. She’d taught Valentina a long time ago that emotions were for the weak, and if they came with tears, they were downright unacceptable.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me.” Val sniffed and tried to get a hold of herself.

  Her mother smiled, sat up, and drew her into her arms. Valentina hugged her back, and they stayed like that for a long minute. It was probably the longest hug her mom had given her in all her twenty-one years of life. Val closed her eyes and allowed herself to enjoy it. Her mom smelled exactly how she remembered – apples and peppermint. Her long black hair felt nice and soft, although it was slightly damp and in need of a wash. She hadn’t seen her mom wear it loose on her back in years, but she guessed it hadn’t been her choice. Once Adelle returned to her old self, she would pull it up in a neat bun, and Val wouldn’t see this relaxed and careless version of her for many years to come. Now that she fina lly had her in her arms and she was herself, it struck Valentina how much she’d missed her. When she’d first stepped into the art room an hour and a half ago, interrupting Adelle’s reading and her father’s painting, Valentina had been genuinely afraid that she’d lost them, and her potion and spell wouldn’t work. She’d been scared for them every minute while she’d been away, but seeing them like that... It had downed on her like never before: the enemy had taken over her family, her coven, and everyone and everything she held dear. She was one, and they were many. Did she really stand a chance?

  Adelle pushed her away gently and held her at arm’s length.

  “It is you.”

  Valentina nodded, not trusting her voice to speak a coherent sentence out loud without choking.

  “Do you have it? Is it safe?”

  “Yes.” Adelle was referring to the Suit of Swords. Valentina’s heart ached a bit. She would have hoped her mom would first ask if she was okay. But then again… the cards were more important. The Mysteries of the Tarot were the most important thing in the world.

  “Good. Good.” She reached out to trace Val’s scar with her fingertips. “You did good, my daughter. I am so, so proud of you.”

  There it was. The validation she’d been craving all her life! Val thought it was all so pathetic… that she needed her mom’s approval in the first place. What was she? A child?

  “Knock it off!” Ravenna sounded angry. “She was a bad mother.”

  “No.”

  “Yes! She ignored you, left you to your own devices. You could have hurt yourself so many times, playing with spells that were too dangerous for you.”

  Val huffed, then bit the inside of her cheek when she realized she’d done it out loud. Her mom cocked an eyebrow.

  “You seem to forget you were the one who was the bad influence…”