Anastasia (The Bolton Series Book 1) Read Free

always kept my manners in check.
    “I’ll be in my room,” I retorted leaving the table.
                  After I was back in the safety of my room I brought out the book of spells my brother had me reading. At first, I did not want to read anything out of it. I’m not sure why, I just had a bad feeling about it. Maybe it was the whole idea of a spell book. When I told Simon that he laughed at me and told me to stop being such a baby, therefore, I did what any sister would do and hid his favorite book from him until he apologized. Once he did, I got up the courage to open the book. The first page had one spell on how to grow a garden. When I saw that, I laughed at myself. How could I be so scared to read something so innocent? After that, I tried to memorize one spell a week. Which was not hard since most were in Latin but there are also a few with a list of ingredients and how to perform them.
    This week’s spell was a binding one. It causes the person or animal to stop moving instantly. However, if one word was pronounced incorrectly it could cause the person’s heart to stop and kill them. I paid extra attention to this spell. If I ever had to use it, I would not want to kill the person. I wasn’t a killer.
    It was not long after that Simon walked through my door with a small book in his hands. He looked over at me lying on my bed with my spell book and smiled a little. It always made him happy to see me reading.
    “Put that away if you want to learn more about the sword of Ustrina.”
    “You’re not going to lecture me?” I asked sitting up from my bed.
    “Why would I? You said what you wanted to say out there. Now put the book away.”
    I quickly did what I was told and sat at the head of my bed. Simon sat cross-legged at the end with his shoes still on. I was about to say something when I remembered that he might leave if I did, and I really wanted to learn more about this sword, so I kept quiet.
    “The sword was formed two hundred years ago by the head of each coven,” he started. “Each coven gave the sword a power in which they specialize in. The Strega gave it the power to heal the holder, the Sirens gave it the power to burn objects, the Lamia gave it the power to kill, the Cailleach gave it the power to stay hidden from non-witches and the Bandraoi fused them all together. It was the first and last time the covens have done something together peacefully.
    “It was then decided that the Bandraoi should keep it, seeing as they were, and still are, the most powerful coven to live. Soon after though, the sword was stolen. No one knew who did it, even to this day. Many say it was one of the covens who wanted its power all to themselves; others say the Conriocht took it.”
    “How could they take it when no one but the covens could see where it was? Aren’t Conriocht like werewolves?” My mind went back to the lesson we had on the Conriocht. They are very much related to the werewolves from human folklore, in fact it stems from them. They can take on the form of a human when not in their true form. The only difference between the Conriocht and a werewolf is that the Conriocht completely turns into a wolf. Their senses are then heightened but they tend to lose most of their humanity in the change to let their wolf instincts take over.
    “Yes. It is said that someone with both Conriocht blood and coven blood found the sword and took it. But they wouldn’t have been able to activate it. Only a full blooded witch could harness the power of the covens through it.”
    “Is that even possible,” I asked still wondering about the possibility of a wolf and witch having a child together. “I’ve never heard of different species crossing.”
    “And you thought you knew everything,” He scoffed. “Each symbol on the blade represents a coven.” Ignoring my question, he pointed to his book at a picture of the sword. “This one is for the Strega,” his finger made contact with the seal closest