Yew Queen Trilogy

by Eve A Hunt

  The mage locked her gaze on him, her body stiffening. She was obviously not a fan of the fae. “It is one and the same.”

  “Let’s not be stingy with details, folks,” I said. “What is the legend?”

  Nora looked at the sky, seemingly lost in thought. I wondered if she was having a mental breakdown—I wouldn’t have blamed her one tiny bit—but then she began to speak.

  “The first mage, born of lightning, lived beneath the first yew tree in these lands. As the mage’s power matured, so did the tree. They spoke to one another, the mage and the tree, in soft voices and in the spaces between thoughts.

  “When the mage had lived one hundred years, a town of humans sprang up like beggar’s grass a stone’s throw from the yew. The humans began to mutter and curse the mage every time a crop died from drought or a baby was lost to the fever rashes. On the first night of the first month of the last quarter of the year, the mage asked the yew for a weapon. The mage feared her magic would not be enough. She had never used it for fighting, for the defense of her body.

  “The yew consented to this plan and dropped one long stretch of fine wood, which the mage used to fashion a bow. The mage used not wood nor stone to craft the bow’s arrows, but magic, amethyst bright and drawn from the world’s veins.

  “When the humans attacked, the mage fought back and defended the yew. Countless arrows shot into the dark hearts of men. Eyes shut forever, the taste of their fiery hate the last sensation of their short lives. The mage was victorious. But success bred a sadness so deep that the mage’s magic began to fade alongside the bodies of those humans who had seen fit to murder that which they didn’t understand.

  “Death touched the mage, but before the end, the mage asked the yew to receive the bow and the magic. The mage begged the yew to keep the weapon protected until another mage, a mage who would wake the world from slumber, came to claim it. The tree asked the mage the name of this claimant. ‘I do not know the name,’ the mage said, ‘but that she will be drawn to your bow and given the title of Yew Queen.’”

  Hekla and I traded twin looks of awe.

  Lucus’s lips parted, and he studied the fire like it might have answers. “The Bow is a mage weapon. How does Arleigh use it to trap you?”

  “The first three mages she brought here helped her create a magical boundary using the Yew Bow’s power. She claims it was done willingly at first, to protect not just the fae from the outer world, but the mages too. I know fae cannot lie, but that seems impossible to me. There is some twisting of her story.”

  “I’d count on that.” I moved closer to the fire. The day was growing chillier instead of warmer as the sun climbed.

  Nora made a noise of agreement, pressing her lips into a line as she used her sharp stick to turn the log Lucus had placed on the fire. “Now the Yew Bow is tainted with fae magic and damaged, splinters from it used to plant blood trees and create the boundary. It’s forever polluted, and we mages can’t control it.”

  I swallowed. Blood trees. That did not sound good.

  Still shaking, Hekla set her bowl down and warmed her hands over the fire. “What is the Yew Bow boundary exactly? I don’t understand. Not that I get any of this…”

  Nora gathered our bowls and spoons, her movements robotic. “The fae combine the magic from mages with their own magic and feed the blood trees born of the Yew Bow’s wood. Mages who feed the blood trees eventually run out of power. The last thing the magicked trees take is mage blood. That’s what gives them their name,” she said flatly, the emotion gone from her voice. This was obviously so painful to talk about that she had to do it in a cold way, pulling her emotions into herself. I knew the tactic. I’d used it at work when Mom died. “For every blood tree, there is at least one dead mage. I haven’t been bound to a blood tree yet.”

  “What about him?” I pointed toward the dark chamber where the other mage hid.

  “He is the Binder.”

  Lucus flexed his arms, and I knew he was thinking of the vines Arleigh had hidden inside him. “What does that mean for him?”

  Nora eyed Lucus warily. “For what it’s worth, I’m only telling you all of this because Arleigh bound you,” she said to him. “Any enemy of that woman is a friend of mine. As for the Binder, he is the one who joins the magic when a new mage is linked to a blood tree.”

  My stomach lurched. “He helps Arleigh kill his own kind?”

  Nora’s eyes flashed. “They have his son.”

  Lucus’s jaw worked, and my memory of him standing between war and his baby brother, Francesco, washed over me, chilling my heart. He’d understand the mage’s choice to protect the child at the cost of others’ lives.

  Hekla’s hands fisted, and she glanced from me to Lucus to Nora. “But those dead mages, they were daughters and sons too.”

  Lucus studied Hekla’s face, his eyes softening. “When you brought that weapon into the castle to defend Coren, did you care if you killed me or my brothers?”

  He was talking about how she’d threatened everyone with a shotgun. I touched his sleeve. “I get what you’re saying, but it’s not the same thing. You were keeping me prisoner. Sort of. Those mages who were killed to save the Binder’s son were innocent.”

  Nora’s throat moved in a swallow, her eyes shining with unshed tears. Somehow we’d broken through her wall. I wasn’t sure that was good or bad in a place like this.

  “They were,” Nora said, “but when you’re put to the choice between spilling the blood of strangers and the blood of your own family… Would you be able to watch Arleigh’s daughter Corliss slit your family member’s throat? I doubt it. It’s not as if the Binder relishes his role.” Her eyes went dead. “You can see for yourself when the moon rises.”

  I didn’t want to see. I wanted to get us the hell out of here as quickly as possible.

  Chapter 6

  The fire crackled and sent sparks into the breeze as Nora seemed to shake her mind free.

  “The magical boundary created by the Yew Bow keeps this kingdom hidden. No one can see us here. Not humans. Not other mages. There are no other fae we know of. Well, that’s what we’d thought. Of course, you’ve proven our assumption wrong.”

  She cast a puzzled look at Lucus, then continued, eyeing me now, “Your portal spell must have been incredibly powerful. We’ve all tried to portal out of here, and none of us has been successful. Two mages have died in the attempt since I have lived here. If we simply attempt to walk through the invisible boundary, we are struck down, our memories damaged and sometimes our bodies as well. Arleigh has done something to the land as well because the vines they use to bind us now and again don’t react to my magic as nature does outside of this kingdom.”

  With shaking hands, I dusted scone crumbs from my shirt then helped Nora wash the bowls and spoons in a trough of silvery water while Lucus spoke quietly to Hekla. She stared at him with the eyes of a gal who knows hotness when she sees it, but she kept her body angled away from him, her distrust apparent in the set of her shoulders.

  I caught snippets of their conversation, bits about how auras worked and vague mentions of how my power functioned. It seemed as though he wasn’t going to tell her I was a descendant of Mage Duke Ludovico Sforza. If my crazy ancestor still lived like these folks thought he did, she probably needed to know. What if he chased Lucus down? Could he find us?

  We had so much bad shit stacking up on us, how would we ever deal with all of it?

  Like my thoughts had conjured evil, Lucus gripped his chest and slipped from his seat on the fallen tree. I ran to him, Nora on my heels. His face was slicked with sweat, and his eyelids fluttered like he was having trouble staying conscious.

  “What is it? Do you need a tree or me or something?” I asked.

  Nora frowned at me, but I ignored her obvious disdain at my offer to allow Lucus to feed from my aura.

  “Maybe.” Lucus huffed, trying to breathe as we helped him stand. “Perhaps there?” He pointed to the oak whose roots made
up the mages’ chambers.

  Nora nodded, her mouth in a tight line like she just barely approved of this.

  Past the other mage’s chamber, we helped Lucus put his back against the rough bark of the trunk. We stepped away, and he faded into the tree. A faint, shimmering line of pale green outlined the silhouette of his broad shoulders, the muscles of his arms, the vicious slant of his jaw, and the curve of his horns. His lure poured off him for a brief moment, and all three of us gals sighed deeply. The power he exuded seemed to light a fire under my skin, and I reached out to touch the tree, to run my fingers over the shape of Lucus, to feel his magic thrum through my body again. My hands ached to explore the planes of his chest and to lean into the scent of him, the heat, the—

  Hekla gripped my arm with fingers like daggers and yanked me back a step. “I’ll never get used to any of this. Especially those devil horns. You really think he’s a good guy, hmm?”

  We walked back to the fire. “Are any of us actual good guys? His life hasn’t been cupcakes and rainbows like most of mine. He had to make rough decisions that meant someone was getting hurt either way. It’s more than you probably need to know at this point, but I saw a few of his memories, and, friend, I tell you, he’s as good as anyone could be in his situation.”

  Hekla was nodding as she pulled her frumptastic, knee-length cardigan more tightly around her small frame. “Right. I get that. I just wish I could unsee the horns.”

  “Not the wings?”

  She grinned shakily. “They’re pretty.”

  Though my blood went cold as I thought about the challenge we had going on here, I wiggled my eyebrows. “But the horns are hot.”

  Hekla chuckled, though her eyes were still dark with worry and fear. “You would think that.”

  Nora joined us, but she kept looking back at the spot where Lucus had disappeared. “Before we train, I need to know about your relationship with the alpha fae. Did you know they can access your mind and show you images? He could control you with lust if he chose. Do you realize how dangerous he is even to one as powerful as you?”

  Hekla pushed her straight bangs out of her eyes, then poked me. “Powerful Coren, my pal.”

  “Nora, I do know. When we first met, he tried that crap on me, but I broke through it. Since then, through the vine-to-the-skull thing, he’s shown me some of his memories of why the Mage Duke cursed him in the first place, and Lucus feels true regret for killing the man’s daughter. I felt his feelings.”

  “Vine to the skull…” Hekla shivered hard, her narrow shoulders quaking. “Couldn’t it have been a trick?”

  Nora shook her head. “I agree they would try to trick us, but their memories don’t create false feelings. If Coren experienced regret and remorse while in Lucus’s memories, those emotions were true. And it surprises me. I’ve not met a fae with such a moral compass as his. The ones here…” She trailed off, but the wide and mournful gaze she turned toward the guards who remained at the path where we’d come in told the rest of the story.

  The fae here were bad news. Big time. They wouldn’t be regretting the day they offed anyone. Least of all a mage like me.

  “Could we train now?” I asked.

  Hekla took a shaky breath. “Aren’t you freaked out about being trapped here?”

  Nora looked at me like she had been about to ask the same question.

  I rubbed my hands together to warm them. “Of course, but what good does flipping out do? Might as well get my shit together as best I can, and then maybe we mages can turn this thing around. I managed to portal us in. Maybe I can get us out.”

  “I wish I had your optimism,” Nora said.

  I couldn’t tell her I was scared of frying myself. That would only ruin the little bit of hope I’d given her. Regardless, I had to try portalling. If I didn’t succeed, we’d be doomed to die in the mysterious manner the other mages had, sacrificed to the Yew Bow and its trees of blood.

  Chapter 7

  Nora stood, regarding me with cutting eyes. “Call up your energy.”

  Geez. It was like a dare. I’d thought we were on the same team, and I did not need extra attitude from her. I was coming apart, my magic jolting the hell out of me every other hour. We’d already tried this six times with no success. I felt like shit, and I was pretty sure Lucus did, too. He’d finished feeding from the oak, but honestly, he still looked pale.

  “Do you need more henbane?” He searched an inner pocket of his emerald cloak. “I did bring some herbs,” he said, holding out a bunch of dried leaves.

  In my damp palms, the leaves crumbled easily as they released their rotted scent, a sticky odor that clung to my nose. I smeared the henbane down my neck and over my collarbones like I’d done back at the cursed castle. I closed my eyes to imagine my aura, my energy, and a golden shimmer appeared in my thoughts. It was probably not my actual aura and only my imagination, but it looked pretty badass, all blingy and shit. A humming melody filled me, and a slow beat reverberated from my chest and through my limbs. I recognized it as the song I’d heard the first time I’d reached for my aura.

  Lucus whispered something to Nora, and though the words were too quiet to hear, the sound of them were drums in my ears, the bond between us strong and undeniable. I could smell him. I wanted him. A warmth bloomed between my thighs, and my breath came in quick gasps, but I covered it by clearing my throat. Now was not the time to slide into the dark woods with my delicious fae lord. It was too bad, but I had to focus on my magic to keep myself alive and then get us out of here.

  The song of my aura grew louder, and I imagined the golden shimmer of it expanding to fill the space beyond me. With willpower and thought, I pushed the energy above my head, toward the gnarled tree limbs, and then urged my aura to grow into the ground like sparkling roots from my feet.

  “Yes! That is quite good.” Nora was grinning when I opened my eyes. The great smile didn’t match the circles under her eyes, but it did hint at what she must have looked like before she’d been trapped here and subjected to such horror. “Now all you need to do is push your aura toward the energy lines in the earth. Can you feel them?”

  Hekla had closed her eyes and was standing in a starfish shape like she was trying to do what I was doing. I appreciated the camaraderie, and who knew? Maybe she’d surprise us all. She’d surprised me enough over the years of our friendship.

  “Feel anything, Hekla? Because I don’t.”

  Nora deflated. “Nothing at all? The ley lines feel like magic to me. But softer and stronger at the same time. More of a flow than a strike.”

  Shutting my eyes again, I tried to sense the lines, but as I pushed my aura beyond me, into the leaf-strewn ground, a deadening or a lack enveloped all the energy there. Gritting my teeth, focusing on the song of my own presence, I pushed harder, reaching further. A crackle of magic snapped across my mind, loud and hot. But there it was! I felt it! A flow like a river of power, slim and never-ending—a loop stretching around the globe. Straining to touch it with my aura, head pounding, my magic sparked again, and my aura shrank back.

  I opened my eyes and sighed. “It’s like the flow you’re talking about is dodging me for some reason, or maybe my magic is keeping me from it.”

  “Give me a moment. I’ll get some more henbane. Maybe that’ll help…” Nora walked back toward her chamber, Hekla on her heels asking questions.

  Lucus came closer, and the bond between us sizzled, a feeling so strong I was surprised it wasn’t a visible thing. He leaned close as his glamour shifted away to show his ebony horns and vine-tangled wings. “Perhaps we need to motivate your magic to show us its power?” Glancing at me with serious eyes, he lifted one black eyebrow. “It would be dangerous, but if you’re willing, I could help.”

  Heat rose inside me, and I brushed my lips across the hollow of his throat. He made a low sound deep in his chest, and tingles spread over my back and down my thighs. I ran a hand across his flat stomach and around to his hip.

  I gripp
ed him where his hipbone rose over the waistline of his trousers, catching a bit of hot flesh in my fingers, and pulled him close. “I do love a risky venture.”

  He sucked a breath and whispered something sharp in fae, words that refused to be translated. “Coren, you will be the death of me.”

  “I promise your demise will be glorious.”

  Grinning against my neck, he whispered, “I have no doubt, witch.”

  I pulled him toward me. The length of him against my body made my pulse pound in my ears before rocketing through my core.

  I really hoped Hekla and Nora would stay gone for a while.

  Lucus took my face between his large hands and kissed me slowly, softly, his breath warm and his scent rising like we’d been dropped into a pine forest laced in his own special brand of ancient magic. His tongue swept over mine, and my chest rose and fell against his, my nipples peaking as his palm dragged its way up my torso to cup my breast. He smoothed a thumb over my shirt, and a quiet moan poured from my lips. Lucus’s kiss moved lower, his teeth nipping at my throat, his tongue glancing across my skin as his lure rose at once, all consuming, turning me into a flame of want and need.

  Waving a hand over the earth, Lucus called up vines that twisted around us, giving us privacy as we kissed again, this time with more urgency. Spinning me around, he raised a hand covered in emerald sparks, and more vines snaked from the ground to create a second wall for us. His body was tense against mine, his want apparent and his skin sticky with heat.

  Lucus lurched and fell away. I grabbed for him as the vines he’d drawn from the earth turned on him, wrapping him tightly and dragging him into the earth. The ground churned with more vines as he shouted.

  I turned. “Nora! Help! Guards! What is this?”

  But the guards either didn’t hear me from their spot down the pathway, or they were ignoring the fact that the ground was eating my man. Nora and Hekla ran over as I attempted to grab Lucus’s hand. His body was already partially underground.