Chapter 1 Prologue

Book 1

They would burn her to ash, Amèliä knew that. Her twin would die a horrible death. She would feel the flames melting her skin. The heat would cause her to cough up blood. The ropes holding her to the stake would rub her skin raw. Her love didn’t know that it wasn’t her standing on that wood, it was her twin. They had switched places because her sister was sick. Magnusson had offered to turn her, but Elizabeta had refused on the grounds that she was human and would die a human. It was the way of the world the twins lived in. Amèliä had only been helping those who needed herbs to feel better. Nothing that would be called witchcraft. The town folk thought differently, and when a mob starts chanting, witch she knew she was screwed.

Amèliä had told her sister that it was stupid to die when she could live on forever. To see the world as it changed, see how things evolved around them. It didn’t change her mind, however. The town had decided that Amèliä was a witch. Sentenced her to death by fire the royals didn't even think twice about what the local lords had done.

“I will die for you. It is my gift to you. Live for me,” Elizabeta had told her that morning.

“No, it is my problem.” Amèliä wanted to scream at her sister, but the look on her face told her it wasn't worth her time.

“Live for me” Elizabeta had let the men drag her out of the house. Letting the town's people throw rotten food at her.

When they had tied her to the stake, her long black hair had been shaved off. Blood was running down her face where they had craved chunks out of her scalp. When the fire started to spread, Elizabeta didn’t scream. She looked at her twin, letting her see that the fire didn’t bite, soon after she did scream. Her skin peeling away to show muscle and bone. The crowd started to scream in horror, the shock when an arrow piercing her chest. It was a small gift to give her sister, but she was thankful that someone had done it.

Amèliä didn’t leave until her sister was ash. Watching as the towns people moved away long after the arrow had killed her. They didn’t want to see what they had done to a good woman. No one knew that it was really Amèliä. One woman came to her and whispered a, I’m so sorry for your loss.

Two months after the fire, a strange woman came to her door.

“Amèliä I must speak to you.” The woman spoke in a rushed whisper.

“Sorry, I’m Elizabeta.” She tried to say it and mean it, but she still hurt from seeing her twin die.

“You can tell everyone else on this island that, but I know who you really are.” She spoke as she pushed into the house.

“Who are you?” Amèliä narrowed her eyes at the woman as she closed the door.

“Someone who knows things. Listen to me carefully. Your sister is gone in body, but no soul. She will return, her soul that is. Be alert and watch those men. They will fight over her. Magnusson was always meant to marry her.” She didn’t stay long. “Five hundred years.”

The woman didn't give her a name, nor did she give her a chance to say anything else. Amèliä didn't understand what was happening with this no name woman. She closed the door after her, pondering what to do with what she had said. It wasn't like she could tell anyone about this. It would sound insane, and she might end up being called a witch as well. That woman she had seen around the island, but she didn't normally take to others. All she knew was if she was meant to come back in soul, Amèliä would have to watch out for her. The plan that Elizabeta had come up with had been insane the day she suggested it. Now it was even worse because Amèliä would have to act like her sister. They had looked alike but didn't act the same.

Amèliä had always been more of a tom boy, while Elizabeta was more the girly girl type. All the clothes that she had worn before had been packed away so she would wear Elizabeta's clothes. Tears slipped down her face as she pulled her hair into a braid that hung down her back. Looking around the small house they had owned, she wondered what she would do with all the herbs and things that her sister had used. The thought of tossing them made her heart hurt.