The Blind Witch

This is the first book in “The King of Kings” Series. The order of the books is as follows:

• The Blind Witch
• The First King
• Unraveling Darkness

Thank you, and enjoy reading!

Darkness... That is all there was. Not a single beam of light could pierce it. It disoriented the senses. To touch the darkness, you give up a part of yourself. You become more than yourself. The darkness takes hold and grips the soul. Once in it, there is no escaping. Hope is the only thing keeping the darkness from devouring everything. Will she sink, giving into the darkness? Or will she rise above it, conquering it?

The sound of leaves crumpling underfoot filled the air. Twigs snapped, and branches creaked. He was running through the forest. He could feel the cold mud beneath his feet. He felt scratches on his arms as he rushed by the trees.

Then suddenly, he slipped. He fell onto the forest floor with a thud. His ankle hurt. It was tender to the touch. But a hand grabbed his arm. Running. He needed to keep running. Why was he running? He didn’t know. His ankle pained him; he had to almost drag his foot. Only his toes could bear a little bit of weight. But he needed to run.

Aiden gasped as he shot up in his bed. He was panting. Running. He had been running. He couldn’t catch his breath. He looked around. No. He wasn’t running. He was dreaming. It was just a nightmare.

He pulls the covers off of him. He feels like he is burning up, as if he had been on fire moments before. He leans back against his headboard. Nightmares were not uncommon for him. But this one was different. It wasn’t like any of his other dreams.

He takes a moment to calm down, to steady his breaths. He parted his lips and realized how dry his mouth was. He stood from the bed and walked across his room. He took a pitcher of water, and without hesitation, he drank from it. The burning sensation slowly went away as he drank the cool water. He set the empty pitcher back on the table with a satisfied sigh.

He looked out the window and noticed the sun was already in the sky. He needed to get dressed. Morning Court would start soon. He looked into a mirror. His short, sandy blonde hair was disheveled. He took a comb, pushing his unruly hair down. He took one last look in the mirror to survey his work. His hazel eyes sparkled in the candlelight. He put on his clothes and hurried down to the throne room.

Aiden was 16 years old. He was the heir to his uncle, Azrael, the King of Kings. His uncle ruled over the human kings, the Alphas of the werewolves, the high priests and priestesses of the witches, and the vampire lords. During the time of the Long War, one man was given this title. He not only would rule over the known world, but he was tasked with protecting it, playing mediator to the rulers under him.

But there was one stipulation to being named the King of Kings: you had to be of a mixed race. How could you rule over a land of many peoples when you were just of one pure race? Aiden was a mix of three races. He was predominantly a werewolf, with some witch, and a little bit of human in his blood.

Aiden walked into the throne room from a side door. He was late. The Morning Court had already begun. He quietly walked up beside his uncle’s throne.

“Forgive me for my tardiness, Your Majesty,” Aiden said with a deep bow.

“You haven’t missed much—just some burnt crops. Go sit,” King Azrael whispered to Aiden.

Aiden smirked and went to his smaller throne, a few steps down from his uncle. He did not enjoy coming to the Morning Court. Once a week, it was a time for complaints. Anyone, whether of high or low status, could come before the King of Kings to file a grievance. For hours, he would sit, listening as others begged for assistance. His uncle would be the one to respond, so Aiden could only sit and watch.

Partway through, a fat man slowly approached the steps that the thrones sat upon. He knelt down slowly to one knee.

“Azrael, King of Kings, I request permission to enter the King’s Woods. I am a slaver, and last night, my camp caught fire. I had several slaves escape and run into your woods. But, I dared not enter without your say.” The fat man said.

Aiden looked up at his uncle upon hearing the request. The King’s Woods was the hunting grounds for the Royal family. Slaves hiding in there meant an opportunity to hunt while in wolf form. When Aiden turned 16, like other werewolves, he gained the ability to shift into his wolf. Until now, the only thing he has ever hunted was deer.

He watched as his uncle pondered. But Azrael saw no harm in allowing the slaver to get his slaves.

“I assume you have proper documentation on these slaves?” Azrael asked.

“On most, your majesty,” the man replied. He reached within his satchel and pulled out paperwork. The papers had soot and smoke on them. “Unfortunately, I was not able to save all of my documents. I hope you can forgive me for this oversight.”

“Nonsense!” Azrael boomed. “It is not as if you set the fire! You have my permission. Hunt down your slaves, but none are to be harmed while in the woods. Understood?”

“Uncle?” Aiden interjected. “Might I offer my assistance to help? It would be a great training session for me. I can shift into Cyrus and help to sniff out the slaves?”

“Do you object, Slaver?” Azrael asked the man below.

“Not at all!” The man smiled. “If the prince of princes offers to help me, I’d be more than happy to take it!”

“Aiden, you may go. Take a guard with you.” Azrael said as he looked at his nephew.

Aiden stood and quickly bowed to his uncle. He ran down the steps and touched the slaver’s back. He led the way out of the throne room and down to the King’s Woods. A few of the slaver’s men were waiting on the edge. Aiden brought with him a werewolf guard, someone who could shift and hunt with him.

“Werelia inttum.” Aiden whispers while waving his hand over his clothes.

This was a simple incantation that all werewolves knew. It preserved your clothes when you shifted so that you weren't naked when you returned to your human form. This incantation did not require much magic. Anyone could use it so long as they knew the words.

Aiden groaned as he shifted into his honey-blonde wolf. His wolf was larger than that of his guard. Wolf sizes depended upon your status in the wolf world. Aiden’s wolf, Cyrus, was considered an alpha.

Cyrus sniffed the air. The slaver had said all of the slaves were humans. They would be easy to distinguish from the smell of the forest. Cyrus took off, running deep into the woods. It would only take a few minutes to sniff out the first intruder: a middle-aged man with shackles around his ankles.

Aiden’s guard led the man back to the forest's edge to return to the slaver. For about an hour, Aiden and his wolf hunted. He enjoyed the thrill of being out of the palace. It was stifling to be there all day, never allowed to leave. Since he became the heir to his uncle, he was restricted in what he did. He had to be careful; he needed to be protected. He despised it, but he would not complain.

As the sun went high overhead, it became increasingly hot. It was towards the end of the summer, nearing the 8th moon of the year. Cyrus began to slow down in the heat, no longer enjoying the hunt. It had become a chore now.

As Aiden prepared to end his search, he saw an old woman sprint past him. Since Cyrus didn’t want to chase, Aiden sent his guard to run after her. She was old, after all. It didn’t take two of them to chase her. As he watched them run, Cyrus caught the scent of something else. It drew his attention to where the older woman came from.

The smell of cedar and jasmine filled his nose. There were no cedar trees here, so why did he smell it? Cyrus followed the scent, intrigued by it. He stopped when he came to a large, dead tree. At the base of the tree was a wall of fire.

Aiden shifted and looked at the fire. The tree was not smoking; the fire was not spreading. This was not just a wall of fire; it was fire magic. Aiden looked at his hand, and small flames appeared on his fingers. The magic that ran through his veins was fire magic. However, the wall before him was more powerful than anything he could produce.

He inserted his flaming fingers into the fire. He was able to slip through, and it didn’t hurt. He created a small fire shield across his body and went through the wall. Once inside, he saw a teenage girl huddled in a corner. He extinguished his flames and rushed to her.

As he got on the ground in front of the girl, he struggled to breathe. She was beautiful in every sense of the word. But there was something about her, something that wasn’t physical.

Mate! Cyrus yelled within Aiden’s soul.

Mate... she is our mate... Aiden replied to Cyrus.

He looked at her. Her bright red hair was tangled with twigs and leaves. And then she looked up, and their eyes met. Her eyes. They were black. Pure black across the entire eye. No white, no iris, just darkness. She held her arm out, pointing a fireball at him.

“Don’t come near me!” She yelled at him. Her voice was hoarse, and it wavered as she spoke.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he replied gently.

He held out his arms, showing he wasn’t a threat. But he could not tell if she could actually see him. He waved his hands, but her face never moved from his. He moved left, and her hand followed. What could she see?

“I’m Aiden. What is your name?”

“C-Clarissa,” she answered. The fireball in her hand grew smaller. “Are you going to take me back to the slaver?”

“No!” He growled. Clarissa flinched at his growling. He sat back, realizing he had scared her. “I’m sorry. No. You won’t go back into slavery. I’m taking you home.”

“Why? What are you going to do?” She questioned as she pulled her legs closer to her chest.

“Nothing, I promise.” He reassured her. “You’ll be safe. Nothing shall happen to you.”

“How do you know?”

“You are my mate. I shall protect you, forever.” He answered.

“Mate?”

“Do you know what that is?”

She shook her head no. But she relaxed as he spoke with her. His voice was gentle. And the light that danced in the darkness was relaxing. She could not see, at least, not how everyone else saw the world. She only saw darkness and the occasional flickers of light. And for Aiden, she could only see red and orange orbs that danced around him and bundled in his chest. She could not see his body nor his face.

“A mate is someone you’re meant to spend the rest of your life with. Werewolves get them.” He explained.

“But I’m not a werewolf.”

“I know, you’re a witch,” he smiled. “But I have witch in my blood. As well as werewolf and human. The werewolf in me means I have a mate. Someone I’m drawn to, someone whose smell warms my very core. We don’t get to choose who our fated mates are. The Moon Goddess, Bil, gives us our mates. And for me, that is you.”

“Are you sure? How do I know that you aren’t lying?” She questioned.

“Give me your hand,” he instructed gently.

She hesitated, but she held out her right hand. There was dirt and some dried blood on it, but Aiden didn’t care. He reached out and gently touched her. There were tiny sparks that shocked both of them. She gasped and recoiled her arm. Her eyes were wide as she looked in Aiden’s direction.

“That’s how you know I’m not lying,” he chuckled as he moved closer to her. “When you are mated to a werewolf, you get sparks when you touch. It doesn’t matter if the mate is a wolf or not. Does that make sense?”

“I think so,” she nodded.

“Good. Now, let’s get you out of here and back to my home. You look rough.”

He gently took her arms and helped her to stand, but she fell against him. She winced in pain. He looked down and noticed her left ankle was swollen and purple in color.

“It looks like I’ll need to carry you,” he said, placing a hand behind her back. “Can you drop your fire?”

She nodded and held out her hand. She called the fire back to her, and it disappeared into her palm. Aiden watched, amazed by her powers. She couldn’t have been older than him, so how was her fire magic so powerful? His fire was that of a flickering candle compared to hers. He leaned over, put his other arm under her legs, and scooped her up. She wrapped her arms around his neck, trying to hold on. He took a second to rest his head against hers. He inhaled her scent. How did he come across his mate so early? And why was she out here, hiding in the woods amongst slaves?

Below is a map of the world for this series. To see a map that you can zoom in on, go to my FindNovel.net page