Envy (Protectors of the Elemental Magic Book 4)

Book summary

In the town of Starten, secrets lurk beneath the surface, and Blanche, known for her icy demeanor, guards a haunting family secret. The Drygens, overshadowed by the prosperous Silvers, are bound by a dark past and a foreboding future. ENVY, part of Marnie Cate's Protectors Of The Elemental Magic series, weaves a chilling contemporary fantasy tale of a cursed family's struggle to break free from the chains of winter.

Excerpt from Envy (Protectors of the Elemental Magic Book 4)

“Grandmother?” Taking a deep breath, I rested my hand on the elderly woman’s shoulder.

She didn’t turn to face me. Instead, she just stared out the window. The tightness in her shoulders relaxed the smallest amount when I called my element – Air.

Silently, I prayed for the element to release her tension. I hoped it would coax her into being honest with me.

I had taken a chance coming here. Being back in the home of my grandmother gave me an uneasy feeling. For the first six years of my life, I had been raised in this cold, lifeless mansion as Miles Drygen. It wasn’t until I went to live with the Stones, that I began to understand what family meant. I was immediately welcomed, and they made me feel at home.

At the Drygen Mansion, I’d been taught to only speak when spoken to. They emphasized focusing my mind on becoming an educated young man and to always use proper etiquette. In all the time I was here, I could only remember a handful of tender moments with my Grandmother Drygen.

Blanche Drygen was a complete contrast to my maternal grandmother, Mae Veracor. My first introduction to Mae started with her insisting I call her Gram. Of course, both women were beautiful and intelligent. However, where Grandmother Drygen was always formal and icy towards me, Gram wrapped me in love for the brief hours I spent with her.

Even though Gram truly was a stranger to me, her death cut me to my core. This small glimmer of love had awoken my heart. I decided, then, that I would never be a Drygen. Instead, I would become the man Gram would want me to be.

I not only felt loved by this new family, but they taught me about the Goddess Danu and the elemental magic she had gifted our families with. I learned, like Mara, that I had a connection to Air, not just the scary dark magic the Drygen maid, Hazel, had taught me to hide.

“I know you hear me, Grandmother,” I said forcefully. “I want to talk to you about our family. I need to know more about him. I need to explain —”

“He was a good man, Miles,” she said, interrupting me. “He just never knew how to break the bindings she put on him.”

I stood still, not wanting to stop her from talking. If I listened quietly, she might tell me what I needed to know. She might tell me why the Drygen family had become so dark and cruel. Why they had betrayed the Goddess Danu.

“It was all because of their ridiculous promise to Protect the Magic,” she sneered. “If they would have just left it alone, things could have been different. If they would have said, ‘No, thank you’, they could have lived a happy mortal life.” Her shoulders slumped, and she sighed. “No, that isn’t true. The truth is, it all had to happen, or Jameson would never have known I existed.”

Kneeling next to her, I softly touched her cheek. Her eyes glistened with tears. “Please, tell me why our family is so cursed, Grandmother. I killed him. I need to know. Am I bad?”

“You are from Mae’s blood. The Silver line has drowned out any drop of Drygen you had left in you,” she said softly. Her words were not hateful. Instead, she sounded full of regret. “Please, get me a sweater from my room, and I will tell you how the Drygens became cursed to never truly love.”

My mother sold her soul to the Goddess of Winter, and mine along with it.

Camille Drygen was Starten’s most powerful woman, and I was my mother’s biggest disappointment. As she brushed my black hair, I could almost feel her eyes boring into the back of my head. I clenched my jaw and closed my eyes as the bristles dug into my scalp.

“You have embarrassed me for the last time, Blanche Adriana Drygen,” she hissed. “Roger will have nothing to do with you after such an outburst. Do you want to be a spinster? Do you want to end up alone and penniless?”

Grabbing my shoulders roughly, she forced me to turn and face her. Her hazel eyes locked on my violet ones. Her eyes held more than anger. I could sense her fear.

“You cannot marry me off to get rid of me. I am barely nineteen years old and far from a spinster, Mother. We have plenty of money, more than anyone can ever need. Why do you insist on trying to send me away with such horrible old men? Roger Kingston is almost sixty years old. What kind of husband would he make?” I argued.

“He is a well-respected businessman, and stop exaggerating. He is only fifty-three years old, not to mention handsome and physically fit. There is no reason for your disdain. I have done nothing but try to protect you. Why can’t you believe me?” My mother asked, cupping my face. “You have no idea what I have done to protect you. Everything I have given up.”

“Mother, I know you lost your elemental magic, but that has nothing to do with me. Besides, why does this matter? You don’t need it anymore. We have plenty of money, and you are the most influential woman in this town.”

My mother had told me how she and her three friends saved a goddess and were gifted with elemental magic. Her friends were so jealous of her that they bound her Fire magic. She never forgave them and especially despised Genevieve Silver.

Viv, as the girls called her, had always been the leader of their small group. Of course, my mother didn’t follow readily, but like the others, she usually relented to the calming guidance of their friend. In the end, Viv had been the one who decided to take my mother’s magic.

“Blanche, do you see your father?” My mother threw her hands dramatically into the air.

“Of course not, he’s dead. Why would you say such a horrible thing?” I asked, glaring at her. Bringing up my father to prove a point confirmed she was a cruel person.

“My decision to go against her is the reason I lost my magic. It is the reason your father and your brothers are not here today. It is my fault! I am to blame. Their deaths were no accident. The machinery at the cannery did not cause the explosion.” My mother paced, back and forth, behind me. “She warned me. She gave me a chance to listen, and I ignored her words. She took their lives as payment for my disrespect.”

Finally, my mother collapsed into a chair and weakly said, “She has told me you will be next if you don’t produce a powerful child – and soon.”

I paled at her words. “What do you mean? Who are you afraid of? I don’t understand what you are trying to tell me.”

“I need to see you married and with child – sooner than later. This is the only way. It will buy us time.”

I stood up and went to my mother. “I don’t understand. Who are you talking about? Why is she targeting our family?”

Our gazes locked. I could see the desperation in her eyes. She let out a long sigh before finally speaking.

“When I was seventeen, Snowystra approached me after an elemental blessing with my friends. She told me she was Danu’s sister and she had come to warn me. The goddess said the decision had been made to remove the magic from all four of us. The deities felt we had been too careless with the gift.”

My mother shook her head. “Snowystra told me that of all the girls, I shouldn’t be punished. I should be allowed to keep my magic. If I pledged loyalty to her, I would not only have my strong Fire magic, but she would bless me with the magic of Winter, as well. I accepted her gift naively. I didn’t know she was a cruel goddess.”

My mother stopped as if it pained her to go on. I gently touched her hand.

“As her cold magic ran through my veins, the joy I once felt from Danu’s gift was gone,” she spoke in a whisper. “I blamed my friends for how my life turned out, even though I knew it was my own fault. They had kept their promise, but I was the one who was so full of greed I couldn’t see the truth.”

“Why have you never told me this? Why have I never seen your magic?” I asked. “You told me yours was bound, and it was Genevieve Silver’s fault.” Frantically, I dug through the drawer of my vanity and pulled out a small candle I had saved from my sixteenth birthday. Holding it out towards my mother, I commanded, “Show me your magic.”

My mother wrapped her hands around mine. Her eyes filled with tears. My mother was crying. Even when my father died, I hadn’t seen one drop.

“I cannot,” she said softly. “I told you the truth. My elemental gift was bound and is forever gone.”

“Show me the gift from Winter then.”

“No!” The hardened mother I knew so well stood before me, again. The tears in her eyes were gone, and the cold stare of hatred had returned. “I will never use her gift. And, you mustn’t either, Blanche. You will carry the child she wants and turn it over to her. If we give her what she wants, she will release our family from this cursed life.”

“You can’t be serious? You want me to have a child and give it to her? Mother, I think you’ve lost your mind,” I shouted.

Slap. The cold sting of her hand across my face brought tears to my eyes.

Narrowing her eyes, she hissed, “You will listen to my words, Blanche. If you don’t, you will end up like your brothers and father. What’s the big deal? You will marry someone you don’t love. You will give away the child. Then, I will find a way to free you, and you can live a new life. A good life. Maybe even with someone you love.”

She set the candle down on my vanity table and walked out of the room. Stopping in the doorway, she said, “I am sorry, Blanche. I never wanted your life to be like this. I never wanted my life to turn out this way.” She inhaled deeply, lifting her chin with determination. “You are a beautiful woman. We will try again. You can fix this.”

***

The dress my mother chose for me was too tight and cut scandalously low. It revealed much more cleavage than I would dare to show on my own. However, she insisted it was necessary. She said I must be every man’s desire in order to make Roger realize the mistake he would make if he didn’t pursue me, again.