Magic Betrayed (Rise of the Arcanist): More than Magic, #4

By Elizabeth Kirke

Never again must another Arcanist rise…

 

They say it took one hundred magical beings to defeat the first Arcanist. Great care was taken to ensure the secret to his malevolent power died with him. Now the brutal reign of the Arcanist has become little more than a scary bedtime story. And yet, the descendants of his loyal followers have sworn to find a way to bestow his dark magic upon another. If they succeed, they'll unleash a new terror upon an unsuspecting world.

 

It has been five years since I found out I'm a witch and, at last, I have taken the final plunge into the magical world: I moved. Now, I'm living with in New York with

my closest paranormal friends and interning at MES, the Magical Enforcement and Secrecy agency. Other than having to lie to my non-magic family, things are going great.

 

Except that magics keep going missing… Tasked with figuring out if these seemingly random disappearances are connected, my friends and I find ourselves on the edge of a huge breakthrough; there might be a cult of witches and wizards practicing an ancient, forbidden magic. Worse, it seems like one of them is inside MES.

There's nobody to trust but each other and the deeper we go, the clearer it becomes that someone is trying to stop our investigation, even if it means using dark magic and deadly force.

 

Magic Betrayed is Book Four in the Urban Fantasy series, More than Magic, featuring witches, vampires, werewolves, and more. Please note, this book starts the six-book Rise of the Arcanist arc, which takes place five years after the original trilogy. As the characters have 'grown up' so has the content: this book and the following five are darker, with more foul language, and certain doors that are ajar instead of closed. As these were originally written as a serial, they are shorter and will feel more connected than the previous three. But, you can still expect your favorite characters, the snark, and the heart.

 

If you like your magic mixed with a little mystery and sweet romance, dive into your copy today. Also available on Audiobook.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elizabeth Kirke
• Release date: Jun 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9798201792190

Book preview

Magic Betrayed

Rise of the Arcanist

More than Magic

Book Four

Elizabeth Kirke

Copyright 2020 Elizabeth Kirke

Cover by T.M. Franklin

Editing by Rachael Riches

Formatting by EK Formatting

All rights reserved. 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 written permission from the author.

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Also available on audiobook

The More than Magic Series

New Adult Urban Fantasy

Semester Aboard (Book One)

Snow Bound (Book Two)

Soul Choice (Book Three)

Magic Betrayed (Book Four)*

Magic Vanished (Book Five)*

Magic Awakened (Book Six)*

Magic Conquered (Book Seven)*

Magic Unveiled (Book Eight)

Magic Sacrificed (Book Nine)

*Listen to my audiobooks FREE on Youtube

Chapter One

Author’s Note

Hello Dear Readers,

Magic Betrayed, the fourth book in the More than Magic series, takes place five years after the events of the third book, Soul Choice. As the characters have grown up, so has the story itself; these next six books have darker content, steamier scenes, and fouler language.

Unlike the previous three books in the More than Magic series, which each had their own plots wrapped up at the end, the next six are interconnected and should be read in order. These six are subtitled Rise of the Arcanist. They were originally written as a rapid-release serial, so they are also shorter than the original three.

While you do not have to read the original trilogy first, you will enjoy this book much more if you have. You can start with Semester Aboard.

I hope you enjoy the adventure. If you do, please consider leaving a review when you finish, it’s the best way to help spread the word about the book. The number of reviews a book has determine its eligibility for some promotions and advertisements. I read and appreciate every review. Thank you.

~ Elizabeth

~~~***~~~

Jen

Dear Rachel,

Can you believe the first 90 days of my internship are almost over?! I’ll move from a stipend to a salary (which means you can stop sending me money, although I appreciate it) and start accruing vacation time.

I want to thank you again for being so supportive of my move. You’re the best stepmom ever! Especially because I know you think I came to New York for all the wrong reasons. Why else would I get a Master’s in History, then turn around and get an internship at a security company you’ve never heard of, in another state... where my boyfriend just happens to work... It’s hard to explain. Okay, maybe not that hard.

I’m a witch.

I know, not the explanation you were expecting. But it’s the truth. There’s so much I want to tell you. So much I wish I could tell you.

"Mar."

I watched a flame flare to life at the corner of the letter. The paper curled and blackened as the fire moved along, destroying the words I had written. As I watched it burn, I told myself the tears in my eyes were just from the smoke. When nothing was left but ash, I aimed my wand at it again.

"Ahn."

The ashes sailed lazily though the air as I directed them to the fireplace and dropped them in. A black furry head popped up from the cat tree on the hearth; Rak stood and stretched, watching the ashes float by. He took a step toward me and jumped off the perch. He vanished the moment his feet left the ground, leaving only a few wisps of smoke in his wake. A moment later he appeared above the couch and landed next to me, as gracefully as if he jumped a couple of feet instead of across an entire room. As more smoke drifted down around him, he curled his inky tail over his feet and watched me with unblinking, yellow eyes.

What were you writing? he asked, tilting his head a bit.

A letter to my stepmom.

A sense of sympathy and understanding passed through our bond. He stretched out and bumped his head gently against my arm. I scratched him behind the ears, feeling the pleasant sensation behind my own as I did.

I thought it would be easier like this, I confessed. "I had to lie to Rachel so much when I was living at home, but now everything she knows about my life is a freaking lie."

She knows you live with Thomas.

"Honestly, Rak, that’s one thing I wish I had lied about. Half of the reason Rachel’s upset I’m here is because she thinks I’m doing it just to be with Thomas."

Sure, it was nice to finally move in together after five years of dating long-distance, but he was a perk of moving, not the reason. For one thing, I had several close friends here; all of them magical beings, like me. I had met a few magics over the years, but never got as close to them as I was to this group. It was probably something about facing an evil vampire together, not long after I first met them. My friendships usually weren’t forged out of a shared fear-of-death experience.

Not that I could explain that to Rachel. Especially not when I made the mistake of telling her Thomas worked for the same company I was applying for an internship with. After getting a Master’s in History – another lie – Rachel couldn’t understand why I’d want to work for a little company like M. E. Security. She said it bothered her that I could talk about what I learned in history class for hours but couldn’t muster the same enthusiasm about MES for even a few minutes. That was because I had no idea what the company did. Or rather, what they were supposed to do. It was all a cover presented to non-magics, like Rachel, who took an interest in them. Their website looked like, and probably was, something out of the ‘90s, and was maddeningly unhelpful. It looked, as Rachel pointed out, like some sort of scam company. It not only worried her even more, but it made her paranoid about Thomas’ morals as well.

I certainly couldn’t tell her that MES actually stood for Magical Enforcement and Secrecy. It was, in a way, somewhat security related at least. The classes I claimed were for an advanced history degree were actually magic classes I was taking at our local MES office. Thanks to my magic coming from my biological mother’s side, nobody knew I was a witch until I met Thomas and the others. It put me behind other witches my age, so I took the classes to build my skills and learn things about my new world that I would have known, had my mother been around to teach me.

Working for MES would give me a leg up, no matter what I chose to do. If a magic didn’t work directly for MES, sooner or later they worked with them in some way. In fact, all of my friends worked for MES. We were in different departments, but it was fun to get to spend time with them. The biggest downside was that Thomas and our roommate worked the night shift together. Once my internship was finished, I’d probably switch to that shift as well, but for now I was stuck with whatever I got. It meant that Thomas and TS were often getting home as I was leaving. I couldn’t be too upset though, I still got to see them far more than I did while living in Maryland.

In addition to his regular duties working for MES, Thomas also doubled as a special agent. Special agents were called in for the really dangerous stuff; feral werewolves, murderous vampires, out of control elementals, and things like that. I sometimes wished I told Rachel that Thomas did something other than boring office work. It would have given me someone else to talk to on nights he was late and I worried he was out on a dangerous job, especially when some of my other friends were out too. TS was a field agent, which meant he was always sent out first. Our friend Dani was a special agent and nearly always out on a job with Thomas, and then there was Charlie, who was just an agent but was still on call for problems that required a fire elemental or needed as many people as possible.

Maybe I should have waited to... I trailed off with a sigh.

No, I didn’t regret coming to New York at all. Staying wouldn’t have changed the fact I’d still have to lie to Rachel. And the longer I stayed, the more I’d have to make up. She’d start wondering why I was still long-distance with a guy I hardly saw; one she thought she had yet to meet. She’d never understand that we weren’t in a rush. Five years was a blink of an eye for a magic. Charlie and Dani had been engaged for that long now, with no wedding date in sight, after dating for nearly twenty-five. Thomas and I weren’t in a hurry. If nothing else, at least my stepmother understood that I wanted to be closer to him.

But then, if I had opted for a magic job in Maryland she’d ask all sorts of questions; questions I couldn’t dodge in person. And I’d have to get a job. Sooner or later a twenty-seven-year-old bumming around at home would concern her as much as me leaving had.

I couldn’t linger there anyway; I could still pull off my real age, but the truth was I stopped aging not long after I started using magic. In another five years I might be able to pull off thirty-two and looking good, but not for much longer than that. Once that started to happen, I’d have to slowly withdraw from my non-magic family. Immortality had its drawbacks.

With another sigh, I stood. There was no need to dwell on it. I wasn’t happy knowing I’d be forced to limit contact with Rachel and my sister someday, but I had it better than some. My friends were like one big family. I had a steady job, well, internship, with plenty of opportunity to grow. I had my familiar. And, of course, I was a witch. That was pretty damn great. Even my non-magic cousin had been turned into a dhampir. She’d be in my life no matter what, now.

Thomas lost his parents and familiar to vampires during a massacre at his high school, decades ago. TS was too young to remember it well, but he had been in first grade there and nearly died. In fact, most of my friends had experienced some level of trauma in their lives. Even I lost my father young and grew up thinking my biological mother abandoned me. Never mind a few recent brushes with death since becoming a magic...

Still... I kissed Rak’s dark fur and he purred. No regrets.

I grabbed my half-forgotten dinner plate and carried it into the kitchen. It was the most updated, and finest, room in the old farmhouse. Thomas, TS, and Dani had owned it for nearly forty years. Dani moved out long ago, but practically still lived here, at least it felt like it sometimes. The big house always served as a gathering place for our group of friends, and old habits die hard, especially when you’re immortal. Well, older immortals maybe. I was already thinking of it as my house, although part of that was Thomas, and TS, making sure I felt at home.

Just as I started getting lost in a book, my cell phone rang. It was Lynn, my biological mother. She was attacked and changed into a vampire not long after I was born, which left her hospitalized for a month while the turning process completed. Her relationship with my father was strained, mainly because she was a witch and hadn’t been able to get a permit to tell him about magic. When he came home to find his baby daughter alone and his wife gone, he assumed she left on purpose. After that, he raised me alone until he met Rachel, who just happened to be the aunt of my best friend. Then he passed away, just a couple of years later.

Rachel was really the only parent I had ever known and I thought she was the best mom ever. Which made it tough to suddenly have Lynn drop back into my life. Over the last few years the two of us had built more of a friend or sisterly relationship than a mother-daughter one, which I was fine with. The hard part was that since Lynn was a magic, I was able to be honest with her about everything, while I was forced to keep lying to my stepmom. Since I couldn’t even tell Rachel that Lynn was around, it made the lies even harder sometimes.

Nevertheless, when I got off the phone I was feeling better. It was nice to not worry about keeping my story straight and just talk for a bit, especially when Thomas was at work and someone could share my concern that he’d be sent on a dangerous job.

I was feeling hungry, so I started browsing the fridge for a late-night snack. I sensed surprise through my bond with Rak, just before I heard the sound of the front door closing. Someone was talking with Rak, and I quickly identified Thomas’ voice.

You’re home early, I said, successfully finding some salsa that would go bad soon. I opened it and took a whiff. Seemed fresh. I closed the fridge and turned to see Thomas behind me, offering a bag of chips, with half a smirk. He brushed a lock of brown hair off his forehead, away from his eyes.

Thank you, I said, taking the bag from him.

Don’t eat that, he advised, nodding to the salsa.

It smells okay... I took another sniff. He shook his head in disagreement, so I shrugged. I trusted his sense of smell over mine. If you say so.

He grinned and held up a new container of salsa. Grabbed this too.

I laughed and hugged him, careful not to smash the chips. He was taller than me, but not by too much. It was just enough that he could give me a hello kiss on the cheek without having to stoop. He hugged me back. I fit comfortably under his arm, with my ear snug against his shoulder and my head tucked under his chin.

Are you home for the night? I asked, as I pulled away.

Yeah, I finished up everything I needed to do and didn’t have much else going on. Stopped for a pint and then figured I’d head home.

TS?

He’s still at work. His green eyes narrowed in concern. That missing wizard case.

Oh. My stomach gave a nervous flop at the reminder. A wizard had gone missing a couple of weeks ago. He was just the latest in a string of disappearances that stretched back to before my internship started; years before, if you believed the rumors. Several cases had been