Lucifer placed himself between Abigail and the visitor to block his view. “Don’t get any ideas.”
“As a gentleman, I’m sure I have no idea what you could mean.”
“I won’t have you trying to kiss her to wake her up. It won’t work.” He wanted to claw at the man’s face and wipe the smirk off his lips.
Godric held himself taller. “How do you know?”
“Because I’ve already tried.” Lucifer turned his gaze back to Abigail.
He told himself he hadn’t failed. He just needed to learn how to use his magic better, and he would be able to help her. That was why Baba wanted him to go sow his wild oats at night—or one of the reasons. Lucifer hated the idea of being unfaithful to Abigail, but he knew he would have to practice his magic with another person again eventually. He just wasn’t ready for that yet.
“Only princes in fairy tales are capable of breaking curses.” The other man eyed Lucifer with disdain. “You’re hardly a prince.”
“Neither are you. You’re just a son of a duke.”
“Yes, but my title means I have royal blood.” Godric held himself taller. “You do not.”
Lucifer clenched and unclenched his fists, imagining he was extending and retracting claws. “I’m her true love. So if kissing her had been the cure, it would have worked.”
“No, I think not,” Godric said. “If you were her true love, you would have broken her curse.”
Lucifer lunged toward the noble. Godric staggered back.
Kelsie stuck her head out the window. “Baba said to quit dallying. She’s got a balm and a tonic to make and wants assistance.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Besides, if you really wanted to cure Abigail, you’d let me see if I can wake her. She doesn’t need two incompetent princes when what she might really need is a princess.”
Godric jumped back, looking scandalized by the suggestion.
“Did you do this?” Lucifer asked, pointing to Abigail. “Did you remove the ward?”
Kelsie’s eyes went wide, and she looked to Abigail. She ducked back inside the house without answering. Sometimes Lucifer didn’t understand Kelsie at all.
Lucifer erected a new ward, then he returned to the gate where he’d dropped the buckets. He entered the cottage and threw the buckets down on the floor.
Baba scowled at the empty buckets. “Where is water?”
“Someone was dallying,” Kelsie said.
“Who removed the wards I put up to protect Abigail?” Lucifer looked from Baba to Kelsie.
“No one removed them,” Baba said. “That spell is temporary. It needed to be renewed. I told you to check it.”
“No, you did not tell me to check it. Nor did you tell me it was temporary.”
Baba shrugged indifferently. “Perhaps you are correct. I am old woman. My memory isn’t as it used to be, da?”
“How long will it last?” Lucifer snarled.
Kelsie jerked back from the dishes she was washing.
“That depends on you.” Baba didn’t flinch. “Maybe one day. Maybe one week.”
That meant Abigail had gone weeks without being protected from beasts and depraved men who acted like beasts. Loathing simmered within him. He wanted to hiss and strike with claws and teeth.
It was the fear in Kelsie’s eyes that reminded him he was behaving like a feral creature, not a man. He forced himself to breathe slowly, to push his temper back down. “Next time, I would appreciate it if you informed me of all the details when I’m working spells.”
Lucifer stomped out. Godric stepped back from the barrier Lucifer had just constructed. Baba’s patient was still lingering when Lucifer returned with the buckets of water. The ward would keep the pervey gentleman out, but Lucifer didn’t know for how long.
CHAPTER SIX
Unicorn Bait
Lucifer was given the task of getting antibiotics from the Morty Realm while Kelsie was tasked with assisting Baba to make a soothing balm.
“Also, while you are in Morty Realm, go to market and get flour, sugar, lard, and a nice cut of roast,” Baba said.
“Have you any Morty money for me?” Lucifer asked.
He knew better than to try to use glamours and illusions in the Morty Realm. The plastics, cold iron, and chemicals would decrease a Witchkin’s ability to work magic. And those who were caught by Fae could be claimed and taken as a tithe. Though the abundance of electricity would increase his magic and give him a fighting chance against a Fae, he didn’t want to put his magic to the test.
Baba waved a hand toward the door. “Ask our visitor for coin.”
Godric paid him in gold coins. Lucifer might have lived in the Morty Realm as a cat, but he’d observed enough to know how their world worked. People didn’t buy and sell in gold anymore. He’d have to go to a bank to exchange it. Or perhaps a jeweler.
“Make haste, or I take child’s fingers and toes to use in spell,” Baba threatened.
Lucifer had no intention of delaying. The sooner Godric was gone, the better. On the other hand, he didn’t doubt Baba wanted an excuse to cook a child for supper.
Lucifer evicted the child from his cage and took the little boy with him.
* * *
The little boy squirmed in Lucifer’s arms as he carried him down the path of the forest. Now that Lucifer had rescued the child, he had to figure out what to do with him. He was supposed to hurry, but taking the child home would delay him.
And he still needed to figure out how to navigate the forest to the Morty Realm—and to the child’s home.
Lucifer was no stranger to portals or how to find them using his gift of sight. If he observed the places the ley lines of the earth intersected, he was certain to find a circle of mushrooms growing in a fairy ring, a natural vortex, or a tree with a doorway that led to another realm. The problem was finding a portal that led to the Morty Realm, preferably to a country where antibiotics could easily be obtained, and near a forest so that he could find his way back easily.
It would also help if he found a country where they spoke English because his Gaelic, French, and German were rusty.
Unicorns were experts in using portals between worlds. They were also notorious snobs who would only come to the aid of virgins. An incubus would repel them. Lucifer hated to use a child as unicorn bait, but it wasn’t like the boy was going to get hurt.
“Let go of me,” the little boy said, squirming in Lucifer’s arms. He bit Lucifer’s hand.
Lucifer almost dropped the child. “Oi! That isn’t very nice to do to someone who is rescuing you.”
The child kicked at Lucifer. “You aren’t rescuing me. You just want to chop off my fingers.”
Lucifer rearranged his grip on the boy. “Had you been listening more closely, you might have heard that I was not the one who wanted to chop off anyone’s fingers or toes. That was the witch’s idea.”
The child kicked him. “Where are you taking me?”
“Home, if you have one. Do you have a family?”
The boy grew silent, though he didn’t stop thrashing.
“Do you want to go home?” Lucifer asked.
The child’s grunts turned into sobs. “They’re all dead.”
“Oh.” Lucifer tried to think of something to say. “I’m sorry to hear that. My parents are dead too. It isn’t an easy life without kin.” Lucifer found a nurse log crusted over with lichen and sat down. “What’s your name?”
“Jimmy.” The child hid his face against Lucifer’s shoulder and cried. He wasn’t fighting anymore.
Lucifer patted the boy’s back. “What’s your family name?”
The child didn’t answer.
This made things considerably more difficult. Lucifer could bring the boy to the Morty Realm with him. There were places that took in orphans, but he’d heard Abigail talk about the broken system for fostering children, which didn’t always prevent abuse. Plus, there was the boy’s magic to consider
. He was too young to manifest any real amount of power, but Lucifer sensed it alive inside him, an affinity for rocks. He was an Elementia, and he would need a Witchkin home to raise him.
That meant he would need to stay in the Unseen Realm where most other Witchkin lived. Unfortunately, this realm was filled with witches like Baba who would keep children so long as they proved useful. And if they weren’t, she’d use them in her spells like she had with Abigail.
He patted the boy on the back. “Jimmy, where do you want me to take you? Do you have any friends?”
The boy sniffled.
Had Abigail been awake, she would have known what to do with a lost child. She had been a natural fairy godmother for Clarissa and Missy. He didn’t know the first thing about children. More than ever, he wished she were here with him.
“How about I take you to a school where there are other children like you?” Lucifer asked. He didn’t know what other options there were.
The child wiped his eyes. “You mean orphans?”
“Some of them are orphans. All of them can use magic. Witchkin. That’s what you are. Did you know that?” He pushed the boy’s hair aside to see into his face.
“Of course I know that.” The boy lifted his chin. “I’m not stupid.”
Lucifer inclined his head. “I beg your pardon. I must have confused you with a different child I found nibbling at Baba’s cottage.”
The only school Lucifer knew of that might take in a child of this age was the one Vega Bloodmire had talked about starting for children too young to attend Womby’s School for Wayward Witches, but he’d heard most of her students were Red affinities. He didn’t know if she would take in another child, especially not one as filthy and wild as this one.
“Let’s get your face washed at the stream,” Lucifer said. “Then we can see about convincing some unicorns to help us find our way.”
* * *
Years ago, one of Lucifer’s first lessons with Baba was changing his energy to camouflage himself so that he took on the resonance of something he wasn’t. Previously he’d used this technique to avoid being detected by Fae who would want to snatch him for his ability to amplify their powers.
Now he used this skill to attract a unicorn. As the boy washed at the stream, Lucifer centered himself and shifted the pattern of his energy so that his magic tasted clean and pure like freshly fallen snow. He filtered the light thrumming inside him to change tune. The rainbow of light dwelling under his skin became white and unblemished. Changing his resonance was easier to do with a child nearby to sample the essence of his soul and project a similar energy. He imitated the innocence of the boy and embodied that.
Then he magnified it a hundredfold.
It didn’t take long before the bushes rustled next to the stream. Out emerged a magnificent stallion with sable hair and a horn the hue of bone.
“Ahem. Is a virgin in need of a good deed?” a nasally Bronx accent asked.
The unicorn looked from the child to Lucifer, his large brown eyes expressing disappointment. “Are you the only virgins around here?”
Jimmy stared in awe.
“Indeed,” Lucifer said. “Can you help us find the way to Vega Bloodmire’s school for children? Have you heard of it? I believe she’s taken up residence in the Raven Queen’s castle.”
The steed blew air out his lips. “I swear I sensed more virgins. Maybe it was that pretty red-haired sleeping beauty.”
“She’s still asleep.” Lucifer again asked about Vega’s school.
Tentatively, Jimmy stroked the unicorn’s sable fur.
“I think you mean Queen Vega Bloodmire, the new Raven Queen.” The unicorn bent his head for the boy to stroke his nose. All the while, he kept one eye on Lucifer, wariness in his expression.
Lucifer didn’t expect his mirage was going to fool them long.
“Do you know the way?” Lucifer asked.
The unicorn sighed. “I suppose I wasn’t doing anything better. I’ll give the kid a pony ride. But you’re walking.”
Jimmy lifted his arms toward the unicorn, and Lucifer set the child on his back. Jimmy clasped the unicorn’s mane. “Giddyap.”
The steed shook his head. “This is undignified and beneath me. I am not a horse. I am a unicorn.”
The unicorn started down the path, giving Lucifer a long-suffering look. Lucifer started after the unicorn.
“I’m going to name you Rainbow Twinkle.” Jimmy said.
“Do you see rainbows anywhere on me? Or twinkles?” the unicorn asked. “I already have a name, in case you were wondering. It’s Clyde.”
“That doesn’t sound like a unicorn’s name,” Jimmy said. “You need a better name.”
“The things I do for virgins. I should have ignored the call.” Clyde looked Lucifer up and down. He squinted, no doubt appraising Lucifer’s magic—and level of chastity.
“I’ve met you before, haven’t I?” the unicorn asked.
“It’s possible.” Lucifer didn’t dare say he had met the unicorn before—if he was one of the unicorns who had been singing at Abigail’s bed. The moment the unicorn saw through Lucifer’s glamour, he’d ditch them both.
Clyde the unicorn sang eighties love ballads. Lucifer had lived through the eighties in the Morty Realm and suffered through Abigail’s late husband’s choice in music while he’d been alive. Lucifer endured Madonna as Jimmy sang along.
“I like your singing,” Jimmy said.
“Aren’t you sweet?” Clyde tossed his mane back. “I do weddings and bar mitzvas in case you know anyone who needs a singer. Also, I juggle.”
“How can you juggle without hands?” Jimmy asked.
“I am a unicorn. I’m magical.”
Lucifer worked to keep up with Clyde’s quick pace.
“Show me how you can juggle,” Jimmy begged.
“Maybe later,” Lucifer said. “We need to take you someplace safe first.”
Lucifer followed the unicorn through the forest until the ley lines intersected. Clyde slashed his horn through the air, opening up a portal radiating a rainbow of light.
“Walk ahead of me, bro,” Clyde said. “The portal will close right behind me.”
Lucifer didn’t like walking in front of a creature with a pointy horn aimed at his back, but he didn’t have a lot of choices if he didn’t want to be left behind.
It was a simple portal. The only indication that there was a tear in the fabric of space was that on the other side the forest it was late summer rather than spring. The heat and humidity increased as Lucifer stepped through.
Clyde nudged Lucifer out of the way with his horn once they were through, leading them along a path through a lush forest of deciduous trees. Some were dry and starting to turn golden.
Every step of the way, Lucifer worried he was taking too long on this pre-errand trip. That son of a duke might try to break through his wards and kiss Abigail. Or grope her.
When they arrived at the Raven Queen’s palace, it was greatly changed since the time of the former queen. The architecture was the same, but the walls were sparkling quartz rather than a gloomy oil slick rising into the sky. The towers didn’t feel as ominous. Everything about it was more inviting. Even so, Lucifer felt apprehensive about going in.
And more anxious about his ride leaving him when he still needed to go to the Morty Realm after this. Lucifer intensified his fading façade of virginity, hoping it would keep the unicorn enthralled enough that he wouldn’t ditch Lucifer.
Clyde shook his head as if trying to shake off a fly. “What are you doing? Are you trying to use magic on me?”
“Not me,” Lucifer lied.
Clyde blew air threw his lips. “You’re trying to seduce me, aren’t you?”
Jimmy looked to Lucifer in confusion. “What does ‘seduce’ mean?”
Lucifer tried not to laugh. “As a pure, untouched child of the world, I’m sure I have no idea.”
“It�
��s flattering, really,” Clyde said, “But I don’t play for that team.”
Lucifer scratched the unicorn behind his ear, knowing his touch would increase his thrall. “I don’t suppose you’re willing to wait for me as I go inside?”
“Honey, I’ll wait all day and all night for you.” Clyde shook himself. “No, that isn’t what I meant to say. You’d better hurry up. I have better things to do than wait for you to perform errands all day.”
Lucifer considered what unicorns liked best—besides virgins. It was always a matter of knowing someone’s price. “What if there’s a carrot in it for you?”
Clyde pranced around Lucifer. “Make it an apple, and you have a deal.”
Lucifer found a servant working in the garden and hailed him through a wrought-iron fence. “Pardon me,” Lucifer said. “Might the queen be available to speak with me about accepting a new student?”
The man’s smile was friendly enough. “Which queen?” He was an Amni Plandai with leaves growing in his hair.
“The witch queen?” Lucifer asked.
The gardener crossed his arms. “Do you want the Raven Queen or the Red Queen?”
Lucifer supposed Clarissa was the Red Queen now that there was a Red Court. He didn’t particularly want to see her, especially if Vega Bloodmire was the one in charge of the school. More than that, he still resented the way Clarissa had given up hope for curing Abigail.
“I would like to call on Vega Bloodmire,” Lucifer said.
The gardener’s gaze drifted to the unicorn carrying Jimmy on his back. “Who shall I tell her is calling?”
“Lucifer Thatch, apprentice to Baba Nata.”
The Witchkin gardener’s gaze snapped back to Lucifer. “I see. This way, please.”
Lucifer didn’t know if it was his name or Baba’s that commanded attention. Probably Baba’s.
The gardener saw him to the door and whispered to another servant before scurrying off. Lucifer waited in the entryway with Jimmy, keeping his eye on Clyde, who discreetly munched on a patch of pansies in the garden.
Footsteps clicked across the stone floor. Clarissa came to see Lucifer, followed by two guards and a female attendant in a long gray dress. It didn’t surprise Lucifer she would have an entourage now. Clarissa was dressed in a shade of pink that matched her bright hair, the stripes and polka-dots making her look more like a fairy-witch than how he imagined a queen would dress. The stripes did little to hide her swollen belly. It seemed like only a month had passed since he’d seen her last.
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