Legacy & Spellbound

Legacy & Spellbound

Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguié

If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware
that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and
destroyed” to the publisher,
and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events,
real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names,
characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author'
imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or
persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

SIMON PULSE

An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children' Publishing Division 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com

Legacy
copyright © 2003 by Nancy Holder

Spellbound
copyright © 2003 by Nancy Holder

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction
in whole or in part in any form.

SIMON PULSE and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon &
Schuster, Inc.

Designed by Ann Zeak

The text of this book was set in Aldine 401BT.

Manufactured in the United States of America

This Simon Pulse edition January 2009

10 9 8

Library of Congress Control Numbers:

Legacy: 2002115623

Spellbound: 2003106083

ISBN-13: 978-1-4169-7117-7

ISBN-10: 1-4169-7117-3

eISBN-13: 978-1-4169-8989-9

These titles were originally published
individually by Simon Pulse.

Legacy

Spellbound

Legacy

To the holder of our family legacy, Elise Jones, who is a true heroine

—Nancy Holder

To my dad, Richard Reynolds, who has always been there for me and is my truest fan

—Debbie Viguié

Thanks first to Debbie, an awesome coauthor and fantastic friend. And thanks to her husband, Scott, who is the best of the best. Big, big thanks to Lisa Clancy, Lisa Gribbin, and Micol Ostow. To my agent, Howard Morhaim, and his assistant, Ryan Blitstein, my deepest gratitude. Thanks to Art and Lydia; J&M'e; Melanie and Steve; Del and Sue; AngelaBAH Rienstra and Patmom; Allie Costa; my never-husband Bill Wu; Liz Engstrom Cratty and Al Cratty; big bro Steve Perry; Kym; Karen Hackett, Lisa Bayorek, and Linda Wilcox.

—N. H.

Thanks to the two Lisas at Simon & Schuster for all your hard work and support. Thanks to Mimi Viguié for all her support and love. Thank you David and Eunice Naples for your friendship. Thanks to Ted Rallis for always listening. Thank you also to Brian Liotta for your enthusiasm and being part of my extended family. As always I could not have done any of this without the love and support of my husband, Scott.

—D. V.

When the Yule Log burns bright
Witches come out to play at night
But once the year has finally turned
Witches will drown, and witches will burn

Seek and destroy, hunt and find
We will kill all their kind
They will beg and they will plead
As we drink their blood with mead

Protect us, Goddess, hear our cry
Cahors call out to the sky
Shelter us beneath thy arms
And help us to escape all harm

The Cathers Coven: London, December

The Coven was on the run.

Holly Cathers, her cousin, Amanda, and their friends were witches of the light trying to hide in the dark, in a land controlled by the Supreme Coven, war-locks who worshiped the horned god. As they trudged through the growing darkness Holly consulted her directions, frequently, desperately hoping they were nearing their destination and safety.

If there is any such thing as safety,
she thought bitterly. A year and a half ago she had been a happy, normal teenager. In a horrible twist of fate her parents had been killed in an accident, the victims of a curse that all who loved a Cathers witch would die by drowning. She had gone to live with her estranged aunt and her twin cousins. It was then that all hell broke loose.

She had known for only a few short months of her true heritage as the latest in a long line of witches, a descendant of the ancient House of Cahors. Her family was involved in a centuries' old feud with another witchly house, the Deveraux. Now Michael Deveraux was hunting her and hers. Still, they had had to come here, to London, the seat of the Supreme Coven, to find Holly's missing cousin, Nicole.

After that first terrible year, in which Michael had killed Amanda and Nicole's mother, Nicole had left, too freaked out by the magic and the death to stay in Seattle any longer. She had called once, months later, to warn them of danger and to tell them she was going to try to come home. She had never made it, kidnapped instead by the Supreme Coven.

The Coven kept on going, too tired to move at much more than a crawl. Holly's nerves were frayed, worn down by months of endless fighting. The stress
was taking its toll on her, and she was beginning to act in ways that would have once been abhorrent to her.

Now, as they raced to put themselves as far from danger as they could, the others moved at a distance from Holly, leaving her alone in the midst of the busy London afternoon. Just as passersby on the street instinctively avoided the cloaked witches, so the rest of the Coven instinctively avoided getting too close to her.

They're afraid of me,
Holly Cathers thought as she and the members of her coven hurried down Oxford Street.
Afraid of my power, afraid I'll lose my temper again.

They're right to be afraid.

I'm not sure I can control myself anymore. Isabeau is stirring inside, and she's driving me to disobey, and to go to Jer. Because her husband, Jean, can manifest in him, and she wants him …

… wants both to love him and to kill him, so she can rest… .

Bide your time, kinswoman. Let me do what I said I would.

Holly could almost hear Isabeau reply,
Then help me do what
I
said
I
would: kill my only love, my only hate.