Illuminating Time

By Renee Hewett

The Nightshade Guild: Chapter Three - The year the Guild was lost in time.

Just as they’re about to bask in the glory of victory, Sunny, Bo, and Ray are tossed back in time, waking up in the streets of New York City in 1880: The Gilded Age.

They have no time to enjoy their surroundings because an astral projection of a thirteen-year-old Princess Ameria informs Sunny that they must find the piece of the time shard that was sent back with them… and they must return to her to help her fend off total world destruction!

Now Sunny, Bo, and Ray are on a mission to find the shard with the help of some nineteenth-century supernaturals, all while trying not to change anything that would disrupt the future.
Their journey won’t be so easy, because challenges are awaiting them in Gilded Age New York, from those who want to collect magical artifacts, to those who wish to destroy them. Will they be able to retrieve the time shard in time?

Illuminating Time is Book 3 of The Nightshade Guild Chapter Three. The reading order for this chapter is:

Rocking Time by Lia Davis and Kerry Adrienne
Defying Time by Mandy Rosko
Illuminating Time by Renee Hewett
Dueling Time by Sheri Lyn
Darkest Time by Cherron Riser
Losing Time by Jennifer Wedmore
Time After Time by Louisa Bacio
Swing Time by Cassidy K. O'Connor
Time Maverick by Gracen Miller
Crucible Time by Landra Graf
Restoring Time by Lia Davis and Kerry Adrienne

The Mages of the Guild encourage you to read Chapter One and Two which should be read in this order:

Chapter One
Mated to a Mage by Cassidy K. O'Connor
Mage you Blink by Gracen Miller
Mage you Look by Abigail Kade
Shadow Mage by Lia Davis
Mage Crafted by Cherron Riser
Mage of Misfortune by Lily Winter
Mage in Hell by Sheri Lyn
Sunny Mage by Jessica Ripley
Half-Blood Mage by Landra Graf
Sea Mage by Louisa Bacio
You Mage Me by Jennifer Wedmore
Midwinter Mage by Kerry Adrienne
Mage to Disobey by Mandy Rosko

Chapter Two

Magic Mishap by Lily Winter
Magic Confined by Mandy Rosko
Magic Clouded by Renee Hewett
Magic Mayhem by Louisa Bacio
Magic Mourning by Cherron Riser
Magic Flawed by Jennifer Wedmore
Magic Deadfall by Gracen Miller
Magic Exposed by Lia Davis
Magic Reflected by Sheri Lyn
Magic Masque by Kerry Adrienne
Magic Malfunction by Abigail Kade
Magic Burned by Cassidy K. O'Connor

• Language: English
• Publisher: Celtic Hearts Press
• Release date: Mar 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9781949575330

Book preview

Prologue

Vampires moved fast, but they weren’t a match for the quick-witted Nightshade Guild mages with their familiars and mates.

There we were, in the large main cavern of an abandoned mine shaft, fighting off Sidrith and her minion Hack; the former an ancient vampire and the latter a corrupted mage… and the actual father of one of our own. Poor Charlie.

The battle was the culmination of a months-long struggle. Sidrith had stolen our powers to fill the Time Scythe and we’d each had to work to retrieve what we could. Some of us had more power back than others, but we were all determined to take down Sidrith and Hack and destroy the Time Scythe. Not only did we need to win to get back the rest of our powers, but we needed to ensure the safety of the entire world.

That’s what we did. What our duty was. The Nightshade Guild had been established thousands of years ago when the magical world was in disarray before there was any kind of governing body that stopped mages from cutting down each other and all those around them in the search for more power.

Humans had suffered the most, but so did the other paranormal beings, until the Guild had been established. Now, a magical mark—a tattoo usually on our hand—was passed down from a retiring Nightshade mage to a new one, keeping our numbers always at twelve.

Though only eleven of us fought now. Sidrith had captured Arion and incapacitated him. We’d arrived in the cavern to see him hovering, frozen in mid-air, and being drained like Sidrith’s personal blood bag.

I’d thought that I’d felt rage toward Sidrith before for stealing my powers and playing games with my head, but it boiled over at the sight of what she was doing to my friend.

You okay? Bo asked.

I nodded to him. Despite being centuries old, and together for decades, this was the first time I’d fought like this alongside my longtime paramour. Bo was a demigod berserker who wielded a staff most of the time, and while I’d always thought him the sexiest man I’d known, my appreciation had gone up a few notches watching him fight off vampires and a giant minitour on our way to the cavern.

How about you? I asked him, gesturing toward his leg.

It’s nothing. He shrugged. For anyone else, it would have been significantly more than nothing. When he and B had been battling the minotaur, the beast had fallen on Bo, landed on him, and snapped something in his leg. I knew his demi-god healing would have him in tip-top shape in no time, but he was still limping a little.

Not that it would slow him down. His long dark hair—normally kept up in a kind of man-bun—fell loose around him, though it was matted down now. The shirt that stretched across his broad shoulders was stained from the blood and guts of his fallen foes, but his blue eyes shined wickedly, as the lust for battle still burned strong within him.

Ray chirped to let us know they were also fine. My familiar looked like a little twig creature, as the forest spirit had pulled from the trees to create their corporeal form before bonding to me and becoming my familiar. It had happened only two years ago, which made Ray feel young to me, even though the magic that created them was more ancient than I was. Now though, Ray’s body was thickening, like the oldest of trees, and they stood ready to aid us.

And then it began. A room of twenty-seven allies against a vampire and a mage and all the conjured clones Sidrith could make. The fight seemed to go on forever, but then also was over before I knew it. The end came when Stetson managed to use the Time Scythe to hold Sidrith still.

Good. But also… terrible. The man was telling his mate, Nic, to use her rune bomb on Sidrith.

That had been the plan. Nic with her rune bomb, and Charlie alongside her with her psychic blasts. The two mage’s efforts would be enough to turn the vampire to ash.

But it would also eliminate anyone else in the blast zone.

I didn’t need to look at Nic to feel her pain; it emanated from her, pouring out into the room as thick as honey for an empath like me. At the same time, I felt the courage and determination from Stetson. Yes, he had sadness for leaving his mate, but he had more regret over the fact that he’d not succeeded in eliminating Sidrith so many years ago.

Stetson needed to make things right. He needed to see Sidrith taken down, once and for all.

I didn’t like it any more than anyone else did, but what other option did we have? Nic shouted for us all to get back, and we did, finding cover. I heard Stetson calling out to his mate, telling her he loved her. As the light from Nic and Charlie began to grow, I peeked out, seeing that Sidrith continued to struggle but Stetson held her firmly in place with the Time Scythe.

Then, out of nowhere, a figure swooped in, knocking Stetson out of the way. Nic needs you! the figure said, and it took me a moment to realize that the figure was Finn. He’d shot Stetson down a tunnel and took his place holding Sidrith with the Time Scythe.

It happened so quickly that there was no way to know