Seven sisters, p.1
Seven Sisters, page 1
part #1 of World of Verdenian Series
Seven Sisters
D.L Howe
Copyright © 2023 D.L. Howe
All rights reserved
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Contents
Dedication
Epigraph
Playlist
Thank You
1. Chapter One Wren
2. Chapter Two Willow
3. Chapter Three Wren
4. Chapter Four Willow
5. Chapter One Belladonna
6. Chapter Two Belladonna
7. Chapter Three Belladonna
8. Chapter Four Henry
9. Chapter Five Henry
10. Chapter Six Belladonna
11. Chapter Seven Belladonna
12. Chapter Eight Henry
13. Chapter Nine Henry
14. Chapter Ten Bella
15. Chapter One Circe
16. Chapter Two Circe
17. Chapter Three Circe
18. Chapter Four Stellan
19. Chapter Five Circe
20. Chapter Six Stellan
21. Chapter Seven Stellan
22. Chapter Eight Circe
23. Chapter Nine Stellan
24. Chapter Ten Circe
25. Chapter Eleven Stellan
26. Chapter Twelve Circe
27. Chapter One Hazel
28. Chapter Two Ambrose
29. Chapter Three Hazel
30. Chapter Four Ambrose
31. Chapter Five Hazel
32. Chapter Six Ambrose
33. Chapter Seven Hazel
34. Chapter Eight Ambrose
35. Chapter Nine Hazel
36. Chapter Ten Ambrose
37. Chapter Eleven Hazel
38. Chapter One Juniper
39. Chapter Two Oz
40. Chapter Three Juniper
41. Chapter Four Oz
42. Chapter Five Juniper
43. Chapter Six Oz
44. Chapter Seven Juniper
45. Chapter Eight Oz
46. Chapter Nine Juniper
47. Chapter Ten Oz
48. Chapter Eleven Juniper
49. Chapter Twelve Oz
50. Chapter Thirteen Juniper
51. Chapter Fourteen Juniper
52. Chapter One Melisandre
53. Chapter Two Archer
54. Chapter Three Melisandre
55. Chapter Four Archer
56. Chapter Five Melisandre
57. Chapter Six Archer
58. Chapter Seven Melisandre
59. Chapter Eight Archer
60. Chapter Nine Melisandre
61. Chapter Ten Archer
62. Chapter Eleven Melisandre
63. Chapter Twelve Archer
64. Chapter Thirteen Melisandre
65. Chapter One Theodora
66. Chapter Two Theodora
67. Chapter Three Theodora
68. Chapter Four Theodora
69. Chapter Five Stan
70. Chapter Six Theodora
71. Chapter Seven Stan
72. Chapter Eight Theodora
73. Chapter Nine Stan
74. Chapter Ten Theodora
75. Chapter Eleven Stan
76. Chapter Twelve Theodora
77. Chapter Five Willow
78. Chapter Six Wren
79. Chapter Seven Willow
80. Chapter Eight Willow
81. Chapter Nine Wren
82. Chapter Ten Wren
83. Chapter Eleven Wren
84. Chapter Twelve Belladonna
85. Chapter Thirteen Wren
Epilogue Circe
I want to dedicate this to the family I’ve formed on Instagram. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of your love and support.
“Having a sister is like having a best friend you can’t get rid of. You know whatever you do, they’ll still be there.” —Amy Li
“A sister is like yourself in a different movie, a movie that stars you in a different life.”—Deborah Tannen
“If you don’t understand how a woman could both love her sister dearly and want to wring her neck at the same time, then you were probably an only child.” —Linda Sunshine
Playlist
Rhiannon-Fleetwood Mac
Witchcraft-Frank Sinatra
Black Magic Woman-Santana
Which Witch-Florence+The Machine
Burn the Witch-Queens of the Stone Age
I Put a Spell on You-Nina Simone
Season of the Witch-Donovan
I Did Something Bad-Taylor Swift
Wicked Game-Jessie Villa
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic-The Police
A Kind of Magic-Queen
The Magic Hour is Now-Hellogoodbye
Dark Horse-Katy Perry feat. Juicy J
Everything’s Magic-Angels & Airwaves
Magic Dance-David Bowie
Santeria-Sublime
I Got Rhythm-Ella Fitzgerald
Future Lover-Local Natives
Vampires Will Never Hurt You-My Chemical Romance
Werewolf-Fiona Apple
Wolves-Rise Against
The Wolves-Bon Iver
Elisa’s Theme-Alexandre Desplat
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1yn3HBdgdYCOyScDOge9dd?si=ETpSnJzTTnS-_rr90uadxQ
Thank You
First and foremost I want to thank Carxander Publishing and Ayana Guerra my PA. Thank you for keeping me on the straight and narrow and always having my back even if I don’t always deserve it. You have helped me more than I can possibly explain.
Thank you to Melony Ann for not only proofreading but giving me feedback and helping me to believe in myself. Your opinion means the world to me.
Thank you Laura, you’re an incredible graphic designer and this cover is absolutely stunning. I look forward to everything you come up with in the future.
Thank you to my beta readers, Jessi and Nova Flynn. You helped me shape this story into everything I could’ve hoped for and more.
Last but certainly not least, thank you to my readers. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that you took a chance and then went above and beyond in sharing your love for my work. A special shout-out to both Tina Alicea and Stefka, you both always fill me with joy and love.
one
Chapter One
Wren
My name is Wren Bishop, and I am the youngest of seven sisters. Sisters that are witches of the highest powers in a coven considered the purest and mightiest.
It’s a lot to live up to, each sister has proven herself but me. The daughter of Cassandra, the greatest seer in a millennium can barely tell you what will happen in a minute or know where I am at any given time, let alone have any kind of psychic ability.
I’m probably getting ahead of myself but as you can see my talents are limited to jabbering on about inanity.
So, why don’t I start from the beginning?
I mean I can’t go back to the very beginning because I’m no history expert, but I can at least go back to the birth of my oldest sister Belladonna.
Bella is twenty-four years older than me which makes her forty but don’t tell her I told you so. She’s a little testy about that sort of thing.
It’s an unusual trait for a supernatural being. Yes, witches aren’t the only kind of being in our realm.
Oh!
Did I forget to mention we live in a different realm than humans?
Goddess, I’m awful at this but they all insisted this was my story to tell. So, bear with me, I’m trying my best.
There’s the human realm as most of you understand but there’s another that co-exists side by side called Verdenian where we live. Not all preternatural beings live in this realm, some don’t even know of its existence since tears began to open hundreds of years ago. So, some were born in the human realm.
I, on the other hand, have never been to the human realm and have no intentions of ever going. You hear horror stories of war and famine, overpopulation, and the increase in pollution thanks to what you call automobiles.
No thank you!
Verdenian is beautifully lush with green plains, crystal clear blue waters, and picturesque mountains. Thanks to my kind our vegetation always flourishes so we can keep everything alive and well.
Even the not-so-savory vampires are kept well-fed, nobody needs a mob of bloodthirsty neck suckers. I shudder to even consider it.
And my coven, The Bishops are the most respected witches in our world. We are not dark and evil like the Blacks or Greens, nor are we weakened doormats like the Faulkner and Foster covens.
Not that there’s anything wrong with the Faulkners. My favorite person in the entire world is one and he’s perfect but I’ll get to him later.
Now, where was I?
Ah yes, The Bishops head the elders which is a group of older witches that form a council, sort of like what you humans call a Supreme Court?
I apologize if I get that wrong. Like I said before. I’m no expert on humans or your world. I barely know about ours, so how can I be expected to know about yours?
Drats!
I’ve gone off course again. I should have a moderator to keep me in line.
Anyway, t he elders are made up of the high priest and priestess of each coven. Both rule their coven. You see there’s a hierarchy inside a hierarchy. It’s all very doom and gloom, do as we say not as we do but we’re witches. We have magic at our fingertips so it’s hard to always listen, or I suppose so since I don’t have much experience in the magical powers department.
Ugh!
Before I go off on another tangent let me explain how each coven works. As I said you have a high priest and priestess. Both are the best magic users. Unlike their peers, they didn’t just specialize in one area but all. Then you have a Fetch who is the best summoner. The Protector is the best spell crafter, considered the kindest and wisest. Followed by The Defender, who is the best defensive spellcaster. Then The Caster, who is the greatest at working magic. After that, we have The Seer, who is my mother, whom I mentioned before the best psychic and scryer. Lastly, you have the necromancer who excels in all things dead.
Jeez, what a freaking mouthful. I’m surprised I got it all out in a fashion that made a bit of sense.
As for who plays each role, I’m sure you will be introduced as our story progresses. Otherwise, we’d be here all damn day.
Long story short… too late, I know, each of my sisters specializes in one of these areas, and Bella is in line to be our next high priestess.
The reason she’s so pissy about her age is our kind typically find their mate early on. Once you are bonded to your mate, you stop aging indefinitely, and she’s loath to admit she’ll be forever forty or, goddess forbid even older. Nobody wants to be a crone for all eternity, but it does happen.
Let me go back a bit and explain about fated mates. As far as I know not all preternatural beings have a predestined mate, but witches do. Shifters, vampires, the fae, they’re all immortal from the get-go but us witches we have to work for it. Well, as the elders would say, the fates have to work for it. Only once we’ve bonded with the being born only for us do we become immortal.
Not only that but for some crazy reason you have to go in order of your birth within your coven. Of course, as I said before I have six older sisters, all of whom need to be bonded to their mates before I can.
Which is fine. I mean I’m only sixteen. No need to tie myself down before I’ve even had a chance to live. The only reason I’m thinking about it today is that it’s my sixteenth birthday, and if you already know your mate today is the day for the fates to confirm it.
I mean, that’s highly unlikely. Most don’t meet their mate for years and years but if the goddess is smiling down on me, today I will know who I will spend the rest of my eternity with.
“That’s enough dilly-dallying, witchling!”
A precious little cutie in the form of a gold and cream British longhair jumps onto my chest.
“Ooof!” She barely weighs a thing but still manages to pack a punch when she wants to get my attention.
I glare into her bright jade eyes.
“I’m up, Prue. No need to bruise my breastbone.”
She lazily lifts a fluffy little paw to her mouth for a good cleaning.
“Today’s your big day. There’s much to do and not enough time to do it yet here you are lazing about.”
“Ugh!” I’m being overly dramatic for my familiar’s benefit. She’s the helicopter mom my mother never was. “I’m up. Now if you get off of me, I’ll go take a shower.”
“No time.” She yawns showing off a ferocious set of sharp little teeth that do nothing to take away from her preciousness.
I let my head flop back onto my pillow in frustration.
“Do I at least have time to dress, your highness?”
Her intense gaze narrows. “Sarcasm is the lowest form…”
“Yeah, yeah, the lowest form of wit but I’m not winning any scholarly awards. Now, get off!”
I shove her away, making her squawk and hiss. “I may be your servant, but manhandle me again and I’ll claw your eyeballs out while you’re sleeping.”
I bark out a guffaw. “I’ll believe you’re my servant when my sisters find their mates, or a vampire becomes a vegetarian.”
She gives a little humorous twitter. “I’m certain vampires will swear off blood before those sisters of yours find their mates.”
It’s sad but true but I push the thought aside as I throw on a pair of worn jeans and a t-shirt that reads ‘We are the granddaughters of the witches you couldn’t burn.’ A little gift my sister, Theo, got me on one of her many excursions to the human world.
As I’m lacing up my holie black chucks, Prue sighs dramatically. “It’s a very special day and that’s what you’re wearing?”
I eye my outfit. No it’s not haute couture, but it’s comfy. I’ve never been the kind of girl into fashion or makeup. Give me sneakers and sweatpants any day.
“These are my nicest jeans,” I offer jovially.
Another huff. “Whatever will I do with you?”
I shrug. “Beats the hell out of me.”
“Watch your mouth, little witch,” she chides, her sweet little paw swiping at me in retribution. I sidestep her as I leave the room, the little familiar hot on my trail.
As the youngest, it’s no surprise that I still live in my mother’s house. We may come together as a coven, but witches tend to prefer their privacy, but I’m in no hurry to leave the comfort of a home I’ve always known and loved.
Plus, my mom makes the best French toast, and I can’t even boil water.
As I enter the kitchen, I’m inundated with smells that titillate the senses. The small round kitchen table is filled with all my favorites, from the pre-mentioned French toast to perfectly crisp bacon, and a bowl of fruit salad bursting with a rainbow of berries and mango. There’s a pitcher of freshly squeezed orange juice, and a steaming pot of black tea to finish waking me up.
