WHEN WIZARDS RULE An Ellora’s Cave Publication, August 2005 Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc. 1056 Home Avenue Akron, OH 44310 ISBN MS Reader (LIT) ISBN # 1-4199-0335-7 Other available formats (no ISBNs are assigned): Adobe (PDF), Rocketbook (RB), Mobipocket (PRC) & HTML WHEN WIZARDS RULE Copyright © 2005 LORA LEIGH ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part without permission. This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. They are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously. Edited by Sue-Ellen Gower. Cover art by Syneca . Warning: The following material contains graphic sexual content meant for mature readers. When Wizards Rule has been rated E–rotic by a minimum of three independent reviewers. Ellora’s Cave Publishing offers three levels of Romantica™ reading entertainment: S (S-ensuous), E (E-rotic), and X (X-treme). S- ensuouslove scenes are explicit and leave nothing to the imagination. E- roticlove scenes are explicit, leave nothing to the imagination, and are high in volume per the overall word count. In addition, some E-rated titles might contain fantasy material that some readers find objectionable, such as bondage, submission, same sex encounters, forced seductions, and so forth. E-rated titles are the most graphic titles we carry; it is common, for instance, for an author to use words such as “fucking”, “cock”, “pussy”, and such within their work of literature. X- tremetitles differ from E-rated titles only in plot premise and storyline execution. Unlike E-rated titles, stories designated with the letter X tend to contain controversial subject matter not for the faint of heart. WHEN WIZARDS RULE Lora Leigh Prologue Once, so very long ago, there was peace in the lands of Sentmar. A time when Cauldaran and Covenan did not exist. A time when it was only the land of Magick, ruled by the Wizard Twins and their Consorts. But in the forgetfulness of the ages, and a search for power and standing, Wizard Twins and Sorceress Consorts forgot the first and foremost role of their hierarchy and that of their Joinings. That love must conquer the heart, that power meets and tender hearts mold, and in the joining, a union is born. Power cannot be decided by the minds of men. Even men who hold all power at their fingertips. Power will dim and eventually cease when love does not heat the embers of lust and create a fire of endurance and compassion. And so did this day come. A day when Joinings were decided by the depth of power gauged. Wizard Twins to Sorceress Consort, alliances built not on the tender emotions or the compassionate hearts, but on the less merciful basis of what can and must be gained. And what had once been pleasure became pain. What had once been seen as a mating of hearts, souls and minds became but endurance, a basis for hatred and the chill of ice. And so this time continued, until both Wizards and Sorceresses no longer remembered why they strived to live within the same lands, or that their disharmony flowed from within. Sorceresses whispered of love. Wizards dreamed of power. Daughters were contracted into Joining before birth, sons ordered to choose on basis of the material rather than of the heart. And the magick began to falter, violence began to fill the castles. In one last desperate effort to force those who were blind to see, the Sentinel Select separated their children. To the land of Covenan, the Sorceress Select drew her daughters, women of great intuitive magick, of compassion and strength. Bequeathed to the Wizard Twins by the Wizard Select were the lands of Cauldaran, those lands which once held harmony, but were now torn with strife. For the Select believed their children to be wise, compassionate and would in time see the errors of their ways. Instead the Cauldaran warred against Covenan, further dividing their races until finally there was no hope, no chance to realign the magick of their kinds. And the land settled, weeping for its lost children, as the humans of Secular grew in abundance. And it was said the magick of the twin moons of the Select would weaken. That discord would result. That death and war would come to the lands as magick gave way beneath the hands of a darker alliance. The alliance of Secular and the building tendrils of dark hatred. And so this time has come. Violence builds as the humans strike. Betrayal, death and blood began to fill the lands that once knew only peace, only compassion. The time has come to reunite. Wizard Twins to Sorceress Consort. Mercy, compassion and love to that of arrogance, power and strength. A gentling. A building of the foundations of harmony. But the Seculars have found also an alliance of power. A dark strength that had built as the strength of Twins and Consort waned. And now shall it strike… Chapter One There was such magick on Sentmar. The twin moons blazed overhead, the rings of power surrounding them casting a perfect illusion of serenity and peace above the land Marina so cherished. She leaned against the window, her hands pressed against the warm glass, her gaze trained on the rings, wondering if they appeared brighter, stronger than they had in the past. For so many years they had seemed so dim, just as the magick that flowed rich and hot in her veins had felt further out of reach than she knew it should have been. Was it true that the magick increased from the bondings of Wizards and Sorceresses? That the mating of Wizard Twins to one magick female could truly heal the ills of their land? If this were true, then her own future would be far more precarious than she had ever imagined it to be. Already the Priestess Select, the elders of feminine magick and truth were gathering together to discuss this matter. Her mother had been called away just this past night to attend yet another meeting called by the austere wise women. Marina clenched her teeth in anger at the thought of such meetings. That so few would make decisions which would so affect so many of the sorceresses within their land. Already word had gone out that no bondings of Covenan Sorceresses and Sorcerers could be performed, that any promises of such pairing would be withheld until the meetings of the Coven were completed. Her fists clenched as she pushed herself from the window, stomping across her bedchamber in a fit of pique. “’Tis not fair,” she charged, her fury rising swift and hot inside her as she pushed her fingers restlessly through the red-gold curls that fell about her face. “I will not heed their demands. My future is my own.” She snarled the words, but in her soul she feared there was no chance of such an outcome. She was being waylaid at every turn, pushed back, hemmed in by the very fact that she was a sorceress, a daughter of the Ruling House of Sellane, and as such, possessing the promise of great power. Power which could be harnessed, could be used to strengthen the land against those who would destroy the magick forever. Even now, within her home Wizards gathered, paying court to both her and her sister, Serena. Serena she could well understand. The heir to the throne of Sellane possessed great power. The strength of her magick, even in its immaturity, was often remarked upon. She was considered not just the heiress to the throne, but also the heiress of a power prophesied for centuries. Marina’s lip curled at the thought of the procession, which met her sister within the receiving rooms on a nightly basis. Wizard Twins by the dozens, declaring their suit, eager to test their powers to those of the regal princess, to see if they, through Rite of Reception, or Courtship, could claim her for their own. It was said Wizards and Consorts were chosen by the gods themselves, but Wizards had learned centuries ago, that alignments could be forced, no matter the will of the gods. They weren’t as powerful, nor were the matches ones that the Sorceresses found harmony within. But those earlier Wizards had disregarded such warnings, just as they would now, Marina feared. There had been no such gathering for her, though, and she knew well the reason why. Caise and Kai’el Sashtain. Damn their magick and their arrogance, they followed at her heels like great stalking beasts, growling and snarling at any other male who would dare to come to near her. They gave her no peace. They gave her no chance to still the fears rising inside her, merely running over her objections, determined in their male superiority to claim her. And she could do nothing to fight them. That irked at her greatly. That there was nothing, no way to counter their suit for her body. And her magick had betrayed her the moment they had stepped forth. Even now she could feel the crystalline spores of power surging through her blood, heating her body, and this was only at the thought of them. ‘Twas worse when they were near, she could feel the heat pooling in her lower stomach, attempting to steal her breath as the harsh spasms tore through her abdomen. ‘Twasn’t painful, though the uncomfortable sensations were highly irritating. What truly enraged her was that only when those hateful Sashtain Twins were near, did this occur. On the basis of this reaction, the Queen Mother and the Matriarch’s Priestess assigned to the castle had suggested, rather forcibly, that she give the Wizards a chance to prove their suit, to determine if their male and her female magick could meld. “I will not.” She fought to push the heavi...
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