Winter's Heart Read online

  WINTER’S HEART

  J.E. Taylor

  Winter’s Heart © 2019 J.E. Taylor

  All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Cover Art by julienicholls.com

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  WINTER’S HEART

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  About J.E. Taylor

  WINTER’S HEART

  Myths. Magic. And a prophecy realized.

  Lisa Winters is supposed to save the small town of Opal from destruction with magic she does not possess. The white tiger has awoken, and he wants revenge on the people who betrayed him, as well as the sorceress who bound him in frost.

  Lisa was not that witch. And yet, everyone believes she is the fated one. The one who will finally end the white tiger’s reign of terror.

  Even her mentor, Herk, thinks so.

  Lisa doesn’t want to let anyone down, but she can barely start a fire with a match and lighter fluid, let alone do anything magical.

  That is, until the moment she meets the white tiger.

  His majestic beauty stirs deep within her soul. Her magic, dormant for so long, sparks to life like a shooting star streaking across the universe.

  But as the burst fades, so does her strength, leaving her vulnerable to the tiger’s wrath.

  Chapter 1

  “Try again!” Herk Canicula stood over Lisa like a handsome and frightening tyrant. His dark hair blew in the cold breeze, and his grey eyes looked like the ice on Opal Lake. But his demand was futile. He might as well have asked for the last drop of her blood.

  “I am!” she cried, concentrating until sweat dripped into her eye, stinging.

  She closed her hands and slumped on the sitting log around the great circle of fire. Except there was no fire. It was as cold as she was. She couldn’t even light a damn candle with her mind, never mind light it like the prophets foretold.

  She had no magic.

  Not even a flicker, despite Herk’s insistence that she did. She hadn’t possessed it since she was a small child, and she was convinced that had not been actual magic.

  The one time that she had, it was because she had gotten so mad at her parents, angry enough for sparks to snap from her fingertips. They were in a public place with enough people to start hearing murmurs about her being that girl. It wasn’t long after that incident that a fire took all that she knew and loved and Herk’s family took her in.

  “This is a waste of time, and you know it. I haven’t created magic since I was four, if that’s even what it was.” They went through this daily. This exact argument every single day since she’d turned eighteen. He hadn’t left her any time for friends or fun, and she was tired. Tired of this same stale routine.

  “Which is why we have been trying to help you tap into it ever since,” he said and leaned his hands on the table next to her. “You’ve been able to move things with your mind before,” he added. It was his way of coaxing her into continuing.

  Telekinesis was very different than magic, but she wasn’t going to argue with him. She could almost repeat this lecture word for word at this point. Two years of failed practices and Herk’s bullying her into exhaustion. He seemed to think she was the fabled one who would beat the white tiger if it ever awoke from its long winter slumber.

  The mountains buffered Opal from the rest of the world, and they were content in their little snow-filled region, so she didn’t understand why parents continued to scare their children with the stories about the white tiger’s return and the inevitable slaughter.

  It was just a story.

  She closed her eyes, and instead of willing the candle lit, she wished Herk would just give her a day of solitude and rest. This was not the way to get her mind to open. A lazy day in bed with a good book was all she needed. But that would never come to pass.

  Not with Herk and his obsession.

  “You can do this,” he said softly, trying to coax the magic out of her.

  She opened a single eyelid and stared up at him, determined to change this mundane routine of his. “I need rest. You do know the entire idea of insanity is repeating things every day and expecting a different outcome.”

  His lips thinned and his glare sharpened. “You think I’m insane?”

  She sighed. So much for the ability to change his crazy pattern. She did not want to have words with him. Not with exhaustion licking every muscle to the point she thought she would just slide off the seat into a writhing puddle of goo.

  “I am going to do something more useful than staring at a candle wick for the next six hours and expecting it to spontaneously combust.” She stood.

  “Sit down,” he bellowed in her face and drew back as if he were going to strike her.

  “No!” For the first time in years, she stood her ground and didn’t flinch as the muscles in his arms tightened. “And if you so much as lay a finger on me, I will break it.” She was in no mood to be bullied beyond exhaustion today. She’d had enough of his sick game.

  Instead of backhanding her, he wiped his face and closed his eyes. She could almost see his mental pep-talk to rein in his anger. When he opened his eyes, they still held the dark grey of frustration, but there was something else underneath. Something more feral, like she had just ruined a much-anticipated date.

  He inhaled and then nodded. “Fine. Let’s head inside, and I’ll make you a nice hot cup of our special tea.”

  “You know what? I am not in the mood for tea right now. What I need is a walk.” She started towards the path, and when Herk fell into step by her side, she glared at him. “Alone.”

  Hurt flared in his eyes, but she was past the point of worrying about his fragile ego. All he wanted was her to save the day. To produce magic as easily as snapping her fingers. Magic that had only surfaced once, and if there was anything the years following that strange release of magic had taught her, that sorcery had been a fluke.

  Chapter 2

  The blanket of white covering the forest floor calmed her as much as the cool breeze. Lisa knew Herk wasn’t her enemy, but since she’d turned eighteen, his obsession had changed him into someone she didn’t know. She wouldn’t have guessed her oldest, dearest friend could become such a vicious slave driver.

  She had once told him she didn’t feel worthy of all the attention. She wasn’t a mystical goddess who could stop Opal from destruction. She couldn’t even stop water from boiling over in a pot.

  He had been so determined to prove her wrong. That was what drove him to these daily practice sessions. She wondered if she had kept her thoughts to herself, wo
uld he have become this demanding tyrant?

  She shook her head and drifted farther into the woods where the pines thickened, blanketing the snow with needles and sap. It smelled glorious, and she took a deep inhalation through her nose letting the evergreens fill her senses.

  Something shifted in her peripheral vision, but when she looked, nothing was there. Perhaps snow had just slipped off a branch. She scanned the area, but nothing marred the perfect landscape.

  Her skin tingled, and she glanced around, turning in a circle as the overwhelming sensation of being watched interrupted her peaceful walk. A plume of steam escaped from her lips with a deep sigh.

  She turned, heading back to the village before the sun dipped below the mountain ridge and the icy winds picked up. She did not want to get caught in the deep woods in the dark. There were bears and wolves and other sordid creatures that came out after the sun set to hunt.

  And she had been thoughtless enough to leave without any decent weapon.

  Lisa hurried along, still feeling the heat of eyes on her, but when she glanced back, only white painted the ground. She slowed to a stop and stood still for a full minute, trying to shake the weird sensation.

  She turned back towards the village. Snow shifted and fell in a great chunk, plopping onto the snow-covered ground, making her jump. The winds were picking up, and she quickened her pace, hell-bent on outrunning the coming gales.

  A blast of warmth welcomed her along with hushed conversation as she stepped inside the Caniculas’ house. Herk peeked around the kitchen doorway, his worried brow smoothing at the sight of her.

  “I have some hot tea for you,” he said.

  She hated the tea they plied her with at least once a day. It tasted like charcoal with a hidden bitterness and always made her hands feel heavy. This tea had become a staple in her life ever since she’d moved in with them. And she didn’t have the heart to tell Mrs. Canicula just how awful her home-brewed tea really was.

  “I’m still not in the mood for tea,” she said and headed towards the stairs.

  “The tea will revitalize you,” Mrs. Canicula said from just beyond Herk. “Come. Sit. While it’s still hot.” She poked her head out from behind Herk with that warm smile Lisa couldn’t turn down.

  She resigned herself to their imposed routine. “Fine. But just a half cup tonight.” She didn’t want to be up at midnight with her mind racing. The hideous-tasting tea seemed to strip her of the ability to sleep, which made concentrating for Herk’s training sessions especially draining.

  She sat down and steeled herself as Mrs. Canicula placed a steaming full cup in front of her. Lisa sighed and picked it up. She had tried to burn her taste buds many times to drown out the taste, but that hadn’t worked. Neither had loading the cup with sugar.

  There was no escaping this, so she blew on the steam then closed her eyes and quickly drank the cup, ignoring the burn that traveled all the way down her esophagus. She shivered as it plunged into her stomach like a lead ball. Her eyelids shot up as the heat hit, but she didn’t make a noise. She crossed to the sink and turned on the cold water, leaned over, and gulped enough to staunch the fire in her mouth.

  When she straightened and turned, the family was staring at her. Granted, she hadn’t done that in years.

  She shrugged. “I guess I was thirstier than I thought.” She let out a nervous laugh and forced a yawn. “I’m going to head upstairs for a bit.”

  She went through her normal bedtime routine, brushing her hair until it shone, polishing her teeth, and rinsing the dirt and grime off her face. By the time she slipped into bed, her limbs had that heavy feeling the tea always seemed to bring.

  Just as her eyelids started their slow descent, a soft knock pulled her from the edge of sleep. She groaned and glanced at the door.

  Herk poked his head inside. “Can I come in?” he asked with eyes so full of concern that Lisa nodded.

  He crossed and took a seat on the edge of the bed. “Are you okay?”

  She sighed. “I’m just tired. Tired of our grueling days of no progress. Tired of the way the townspeople stare at me as if I’m some new revelation that was delivered from God. I’m just tired.” Lisa threw her arm over her eyes before he caught the sudden mist of emotion that threatened.

  “I get it, but if you’re going to stop the white tiger when he wakes—”

  “If he wakes. If he even exists.” She sat up and glared at him. “This is all fables and folklore. It’s not based in reality.”

  “Then marry me,” he said.

  Lisa opened her mouth to argue, and then his words settled in. She blinked at him like he’d just asked her to slit her own wrists. “What?”

  His lips tilted in a half grin. “Marry me.”

  There were so many women in Opal who fawned over Herk, but he didn’t seem interested in any of them. Even Lisa’s friends at school would have gladly lain with him if he had shown interest. But Lisa had never seen him as anything but an older brother, which was the only reason she let him treat her so harshly day after day. Not once, even in her wildest dreams, did she ever envision a romantic entanglement with him.

  As a matter of fact, just the thought soured her stomach, threatening to purge the tea still sitting like a rock in her belly.

  “No.” She pushed herself back against the headboard, putting as much distance between them as possible. Nothing about being with Herk romantically settled right.

  Herk’s brow creased, and his arms flexed as tight as his jawline. He stood and marched out of the room without another word.

  Chapter 3

  The next morning, Lisa dragged herself out of bed, disoriented and achy from sleeping so deeply that the entire village of Opal could have been slaughtered and she wouldn’t have woken to the screams.

  She rubbed her face and headed into the bathroom.

  She met her blue-grey gaze in the mirror as she studied her mussed-up hair. The shine from last night had faded into a rat’s nest from sleep. She threw water on her face to lift the fog from her brain.

  Herk had asked her to marry him? She blinked at her image, trying to decipher if it had been a dream or not. She couldn’t be sure based on the stupor she had gone to bed in.

  Lisa brushed her teeth as she mulled it over in her mind. The more she polished, the more she questioned whether it had happened. No way. Herk had never so much as made a pass at her.

  Even as kids, he had a gruff way about him, like he was trying to not resent her for being in their home. He never handled her like she was a breakable piece of china. Until she turned eighteen, he would slide into her room to talk late at night after everyone in the house had gone to bed. He’d told her his dreams. His plans for Opal and beyond. And in none of those nightly conversations had he ever expressed wanting a future with her. And he certainly never made a move, and god knows he’d had plenty of opportunity.

  They had been friends, confidants, more like siblings. She must be confusing a dream with reality.

  By the time she stepped into the kitchen, she had herself convinced. It wasn’t until Herk didn’t even acknowledge her that her doubts evaporated. The glare he gave her before he stormed away all but screamed it at her.

  “Why?” she blurted before he exited the kitchen.

  He stiffened in the doorway but didn’t turn.

  “Because maybe I can help you attain your destiny,” he muttered and marched off.

  She didn’t know what she expected him to say, but making it sound more like a business arrangement rather than a romantic tryst made it all the more unappealing. The man she married would be the one to sweep her off her feet. He would make her see fireworks when he kissed her, and he would be much kinder and gentler than Herk had ever been.

  She slammed her cereal bowl down on the kitchen table and focused on eating, but it did nothing to calm the storm brewing inside. When she stepped outside to the start of another grueling day of training, Herk was nowhere to be found. Neither were her neighbors.


  She crossed to the road and looked towards the center of town. People were gathered around the great hall. Even from this distance, a woman’s cry reached her from within the crowd.

  Lisa started towards the group slowly at first, but the continued wail quickened her footsteps. She pushed her way to the front and stopped short at the gruesome scene.

  The town constable crouched next to one of the older women in town who was holding the dead body of her husband. Great swaths of torn flesh crisscrossed his abdomen and face. She would have guessed he was mauled by a bear until she saw the bloody footprints in the snow.

  Four-toed paw prints. Two bloodied, and two pristinely cast in the snow. Bear prints have five toes and longer claws.

  She looked up at Herk on the other side of the circle. His hard glare was on Lisa. Soon, everyone else’s attention was on her as well.

  “The white tiger has risen,” he said.

  A chill caught Lisa, and she wrapped her arms around her to stop her from actually shivering. It was bad enough Herk was staring at her, but now the widow and the rest of the town had started to notice that Lisa was present as a witness to this massacre.

  “It appears that way,” Constable Jones said and stood, looking at Lisa as if she had suddenly become this town’s savior.

  Now she wished she had stayed in bed and not bothered with starting her day. This was worse than finding out Herk had really proposed to her. Worse yet, the town expected her to magically make this tiger disappear. They expected her to fulfill the prophecy.

  Herk crossed and grabbed her arm, leading her out of the crowd and back towards his training grounds before any other of the townspeople started to join in with ‘what are you going to do about this’ looks.

  She was grateful for the exit until Herk opened his mouth again.

  “It’s time to tap that magic.”

  Was he serious? The last thing she wanted to do was stare at a cold fire for another eight hours.