Spell Bound (Darkly Enchanted)
Read Spell Bound (Darkly Enchanted) Online
Authors: Stephanie Julian
Spell Boun
d
By Stephanie Julian
Spell Bound
Stephanie Julian
Published by Stephanie Julian
Copyright 2011. Stephanie Julian.
Cover by Kimberly Killion
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All characters in this book are fiction and figments of the author’s imagination.
Dedication
To my guys, with love always
Acknowledgements
My thanks to my agent, Elaine English, who believes in this book and in me
To Judi and Deb and April and Daria and Adele and Marilyn and every single one of my writer friends who read and reread and listened to me bemoan the fact that this book that I love would never get published
Author’s Note
SPELL BOUND is part of the Etruscan Magic books, including the Magical Seduction,
Lucani
Lovers and Forgotten Goddesses series, but takes place before the events in SEDUCED BY MAGIC, the first book in the Magical Seduction series.
Contents
Aitás – Underworld
Arus
– magical power inherent in the races of Etruscan descent
Attonitum – looks like a cross between a revolver and an inoculation gun and would be useless in the hand of an
eteri
, a regular human. The iron grip warms to the touch, while the quartz crystal concentration chamber pulses with a pale pink light. The solid copper barrel focuses the magic.
Blood Bound – An ancient tradition tying two souls and their fates together for all eternity by mingling blood during sex.
Boschetta
– a group of thirteen
streghe
Enu
– humans of magical Etruscan descent
Eteri
– Etruscan for foreigner, used to describe regular humans
Fata
– mythical beings of magical Etruscan descent such as
folletti
(fairies) and
linchetti
(night elves)
Goddess Gift – magical abilities including but not restricted to scrying, healing, far-seeing, affinities to herbs and crystals
Grigorio
– a male born with enhanced senses and strength and an affinity to metal; in ancient times, the
grigori
were warrior priests and guardians of the Etruscan race; they were thought to have died out
Involuti
– Founding gods of the Etruscans, those from whom all other Etruscan deities are descended
Lucani
– Etruscan werewolves; they form the Etruscan army, based on the ancient Roman Legion
Priestesses of Menrva’s – originally a group of thirteen unmarried women who pledged their lives to the Etruscan Menrva, Goddess of Wisdom, and kept safe her most sacred gift to the Etruscans, the twelve Nails of the Ages; through the centuries, they handed down their duties to their nearest living female relatives
Strega
– (plural
streghe
) Female of Etruscan descent endowed with Goddess Gifts
Stregone
– Male of Etruscan descent endowed with Goddess Gifts
Salvanelli
– one of the races of the Etruscan Fata, thought to be extinct
Versipellis
– literally “skin shifter,” shapeshifters including Etruscan
lucani
, Norse
berkserkir
(bears) and French
loup garou
(wolves)
Tuscany
1495
“You bitches.” Brown eyes red-rimmed and blazing, Fabrizio Paganelli shook with grief and fury. “You killed him.”
“No.” Dafne, the
boschetta
’s leader, bowed her head, sorrow etched in every line of her normally placid expression. “We could do nothing for him. His illness was too advanced.”
“You lie.” Paganelli clutched his youngest son’s body in his arms, Christo’s beautiful face finally peaceful in death. Such a stark contrast to his father’s madness. “I came to you for help.”
From her position in the circle around the bed, Celeste’s heart hurt for the grief in the man’s voice. But her skin crawled at the evil underlying his tone.
Could the other twelve members of her
boschetta
not hear it? Or did they hear only their soft prayer to the Etruscan Great Goddess Uni for Christo’s safe journey to Aitás? Celeste mouthed the words but watched the distraught father with wary eyes.