by Eve A Hunt
“Just help me practice it. I can do it.”
“We have to hope,” Nora whispered to his back, but he didn’t seem to hear her.
Hope was the only thing we could truly control here.
And so my portalling practice began.
While Hekla and Lucus kept an eye out for guards and suspicious plant life, the Binder and Nora coached me on increasing my power and channeling it into a vision of where I wanted to be and who I wanted to have with me.
“I’m getting this single portalling down pretty well.” I stood and brushed dry grass from my tunic top thing. I had just landed in a heap inside the henge, completing my journey from the tree line where the Binder and Nora waited.
Hekla smiled. “You really are.” Then she whipped around as a voice tumbled through the air. She swallowed hard and gripped my sleeve.
Two fae approached, their silhouettes ethereal in the sunset’s hazy light.
“It’s Corliss,” Lucus said, his eyes flashing and his body tensing. Dude was so ready for a fight. Well, he was ready in spirit, but not in body. His cheeks had sunk a bit again. He probably needed to feed on a tree soon to keep up with the curse’s increasingly dangerous effects. Would the curse kill him slowly and give me some time to fix this? Or would it suddenly snatch his life when I wasn’t looking?
“It’s just them checking up on us,” I said of Corliss and her guard. “It’s a good thing. They weren’t close enough to see when I portalled, and now we’re just standing here. Once they see us doing nothing interesting, they’ll move on.” I wished I felt as optimistic as I sounded.
Corliss and her flunky strode into the henge, their wings casting shadows in the dying light. “How is the training coming along, mage?” Her eyes were full of murder. I could almost hear my own screaming and see the Binder magically linking me to a blood tree, the branches turning a deep red.
“I’m pretty badass, honestly.”
“Good.” She swept by us, cold as January. “You’ll need it for the feasting tournament,” she said over her shoulder. The two walked past the Binder and Nora, then disappeared into the forest just as the last of the sun’s glow faded into darkness.
“Where are they going?” Hekla asked.
“They’re off to the human world to find auras.” Lucus watched the forest with unmistakable longing. It was a keen reminder he had inborn traits I’d never be fully comfortable with. “Did she say tournament?” he asked.
“She did. Please tell me that means we’re going to play a mean game of canasta before the feast.”
“Sadly, a simple game of cards has never been a part of a fae tournament.”
“For fuck’s sake. We can’t catch a break. As if a prison escape and a super dangerous portal spell weren’t enough. Now we have to entertain Mistress Evil Face in a twisted bunch of games that will definitely involve pain.”
“I am over pain. And magical surprises, honestly.” Hekla rubbed her temples.
“All right, Lucus. Spill it. We need to know what we’re going to see at this tournament of awfulness.”
Chapter 15
The Binder and Nora joined us, confusion wrinkling their brows.
Removing a magestone from his pouch, the Binder said, “Corliss mentioned something about a tournament. Lucus, can you tell us what she is talking about? I’ve never seen the fae host anything that would fit my idea of a game.”
“I haven’t been a part of a fae tournament in perhaps three hundred fifty years. I was a young one then, but I still remember the thrill of the danger and the complexity of the power used during the competition. The tournament consists of three parts: a game involving a large group of those who will attend the feast, jousting between two champions chosen by the alpha, and a one-on-one duel between two high-ranking fae as determined by the alpha.”
Seriously? “So it turns out my childhood trip to Medieval Times in Atlanta won’t have been a waste.”
Hekla pinched the bridge of her nose.
“What type of game did the group play?” I asked Lucus, who had leaned against one of the henge stones, his color fading. “I can only assume we’ll be dragged into this nightmare.”
His eyes searched my face, and I wondered what he was looking for there. “All participants were given a weapon. The type varied and the players had to refrain from using anything but that single weapon. No magic. No flying. No other tools. Our alpha had her guards give out blunt objects such as sticks, rocks, and dulled fae knives. She set up a goal for the players. They had to reach a box filled with gold. Whoever arrived first won the treasure. It was a brutal game, but none were seriously injured.”
“If we have to play, we’ll just agree not to destroy one another, right?” Hekla picked at her cuticles.
“I doubt it’s going to be that easy,” Nora muttered. “Arleigh loves bloodshed.”
“Awesome. Okay, Lucus. Don’t hold back,” I said. “What was the deal with the second event?”
“Our high hunter sought two dark unicorns. Then two fae with bound wings rode against one another in the joust. Both were outfitted with thin lances that broke upon contact. The unseelie won’t do it that way though, I wouldn’t think. Our seelie fae jousting was challenging, but there was a clear point system. A touch was one point, breaking a lance was—”
Hekla smacked my arm. “Did he just say unicorn?”
“Yeppers. There was a skull of one at the cursed castle.”
She clicked her tongue and nodded quickly. “Sure. Right. Carry on while I once again freak out quietly over here.”
“What exactly is a dark unicorn? I suppose it’s a bit scarier than the pearly magical ones they have in human faerie tales.”
Neither the Binder nor Nora seemed to have any idea. This whole thing was new to them as well. Mages must not have been invited to fae parties, plus, from what Lucus had said, the events were few and far between.
Lucus coughed. “I need to feed. Forgive me.” He left the henge and headed for the woods.
The Binder watched him go, an odd look on his face. “Is he dying? I’ve seen fae wither—from what, I don’t know—but some fade after a traumatic experience or from poisoning.”
I swallowed a big lump in my throat. “The curse that held him in the Mage Duke’s castle is hurting him somehow. That’s why we have to find his brothers and get them all back. I have to find a way to break this curse.”
“I have seen fated mate bonds, but never between a fae and a mage. How does it feel? I’ve never spoken to anyone about them.”
Grateful for a break from talking about the horrors of the upcoming tournament, I answered as honestly as I could considering the bond was new. “It’s like I have no choice on the subject of caring about him. I just love everything about him. The way he walks with a bit of a list to one side. How his upper lip curls when he talks about things he doesn’t approve of. His grouchiness even. It’s insane. I feel our connection like another element of my magic. When the bond is alert, for lack of a better word, his words seem to echo inside me. I feel safe with him when I probably shouldn’t.” I shook my head, smirking at myself. “I know better than to believe the bad guy’s dark backstory, but my heart doesn’t care much for being logical when it comes to Lucus.”
The Binder had gone very still while we were talking, Nora and Hekla discussing the tournament behind us. “I’m glad you have one another. If only for a short time. Love is horrible, but it’s also the only thing that wakes a sleeping heart.”
His gaze grew distant, and I guessed he was thinking about his past. How long had he been here? How many loves had been taken from him?
My magic jolted me, maybe my emotions prompting a power surge of sorts. I had been at a solid twelve on the one to ten tension scale of late, so my magic really could be expected to flare at any moment.
I inhaled slowly, visualized the ley lines, and linked my magic to their soothing flow. I had it under control before any pain hit, and I opened my eyes to see the Binder nodding appro
vingly.
“Ready to practice portalling with all of us?” he asked.
“What if Corliss comes right back out of that forest and sees us?”
“There will always be a risk, right?”
“Truth. Okay. Let’s do it.”
Chapter 16
Hekla screamed as the amethyst lightning of my magic crackled. I knelt and ran a hand over her head to check for injuries.
We had practiced for hours last night, slept fitfully in the mages’ camp on borrowed blankets, then returned to practice again this morning.
“Crap. I’m sorry,” I said to Hekla. “I don’t know what happened. The spell felt like the others.” The tournament was tonight and then the feast. I had to conquer this spell.
Nora leaned over Hekla, then touched my bestie’s arm gently. Hekla sucked a breath between her teeth. “Dislocated shoulder. We can fix it. I’ll just need some of my herbs.”
“What did I do wrong?”
“Your spell didn’t reach through her entire being.”
“How can I make sure I don’t make a repeat performance?”
“Only practice will do the job,” the Binder said.
I’d been using his magestone to focus my energy on the spell I wanted to cast, to center my power. I handed the warm amethyst crystal back to him. “I need a five-minute break.”
The Binder tucked the magestone into his leather pouch. “You have two choices. Envision your magic circling every person you wish to portal, including every part of them and even a bit beyond to catch their aura. Or you can use emotions. But I can’t teach the second. From what I’ve seen of you and your magic, you used emotions when you portalled with the spell book’s help.”
“What if I accidentally portal one of the unseelie?”
“I doubt they would come through in one piece.”
“Gross,” Hekla and I said in unison.
A cutting voice made us all startle. “Isn’t this interesting…” Corliss approached with her guard a step behind. “What spell were you working just now, mage?”
I glanced at the forest beyond, looking for Lucus. Feeling good again after feeding, he’d been keeping an eye out for Corliss. But he was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he’d gone into a tree again.
“I was working on lift.” I remembered the word from our first day here when they’d told me about mages using their power to help them leap impossible distances, a thing that, in Lucus’s memory, looked a lot like flying to me.
Vines erupted from the earth and encircled me, their surfaces grating across my skin and catching on my clothing.
“You lie, mage.”
“She isn’t lying!” Hekla fibbed bravely. Pale with the pain she had to be feeling from that dislocated shoulder, she’d nevertheless picked up a rock to throw.
I shook my head to keep her from getting herself into this.
“No,” I said breathlessly to Corliss as the vines pulled me toward a henge stone. “I can show you, Princess Corliss. I’m not very good yet, mind you.”
“Allow her to try,” the Binder said, Nora at his side blinking pleading eyes.
“Lies,” Corliss whispered as the vines tightened.
My heart hammered in my temples and spots filled my vision. The vines drew me up against a henge stone, and my head bumped the cold rock as the woody arms lashed me down. A cracking sound, like a tree breaking, filled the air, and then Lucus was flying at us, his speed turning him into a blur of motion. He landed in front of Corliss. His wings blew her braids around her youthful face, and the muscles in his exposed forearms rolled like roots under the ground. He looked flushed with health again, and I was happy as hell to see him since the mages didn’t seem like they were going to stand up for me.
“What do you believe she is lying about?” he demanded of Corliss, his tone deadly quiet and sparks flickering around his fingers. The sun caught the strands of green in his black hair, and for a moment he almost looked as though he wore a crown of jade.
“I don’t need to explain myself to you.” Corliss held out a hand, and more vines exploded from the ground, surely aiming to snake around Lucus.
Lucus’s wings beating mightily, and he lifted from the ground before Corliss could capture him. The vines stretched toward him, but he dodged them easily, his movements graceful and quick.
Thankfully, Lucus had distracted Corliss, and her vines had loosened their hold on me.
“Let me show you,” I choked out.
Ignoring the vines that continued halfheartedly snatching for Lucus, Corliss stormed toward me. “The punishment for a mage portalling in this realm is steep. What would you like to pay? An ear? Your arm? How about one fated mate?”
Her vines lowered me so that she could get close, nose to nose. “How are you two even fated? It’s sick. Abhorrent.”
Her lips glittered like she was wearing gloss, but the shine was simply her unseelie beauty—a dark loveliness that showed in her eyes as well. In the shadow of the henge stone, they glowed faintly. The outline of the forest shimmered in their depths. It was mesmerizing.
“Coren!” Lucus shouted from the air above us.
My mind cleared, and I shook my head. She’d been using her lure on me. “Why would I bother with portalling? The other mages have told me it doesn’t work here and screws your brain if you try.”
“I’m sure they have plans. I can see it in their faces. My mother may wish to toy with you, to enjoy you for her entertainment. But I don’t trust you. If it were up to me, you’d already be sacrificed with your human and your fae lord dead beside you.”
“What do you have against mages? You weren’t involved in the war, were you?”
Rage flared in her eyes, and the vines squeezed hard. “You don’t know anything about me.”
She flung a hand, and the vines uncurled like giant fingers before tossing me across the clearing. My head smacked the ground, and dizziness twisted my view of Corliss, Lucus, and the rest.
Corliss marched toward me. “Mages lie. They are born for it. They excel at it. I have seen enough of them to know.” A vicious smile slanted across her otherworldly lips. “I know just the punishment for you.”
Chapter 17
Vines grew in a dome around us as she whipped a fae blade from her belt. In a flash of movement, she sliced toward the side of my head. Pain blazed across my ear, and as the vines released me, I touched the injury.
“You cut off the top of my ear!” I couldn’t believe it. It hurt like a bitch.
“In honor of your bond with one of our kind,” Corliss said acidly, flicking her fingers toward her own pointed ear.
Her dome of vines retreated. As the other vines gradually relented their attack on Lucus, she and her guard flew out of the henge and into the distance toward the silver pool.
“I will see her dead before I breathe my last,” Lucus said, his voice dark as midnight as he rushed to my side.
Wild-eyed, Nora hurried to Hekla, herbs spilling from a second bag she’d brought. Magic flashed from Nora’s herb-dusted fingers to Hekla’s shoulder. My best friend shouted in pain as her shoulder went back into place. Seeing Nora use her magic like that just showed me how much I had to learn.
My ear throbbed like mad. “Damn it, this hurts.” Blood ran down my neck and pooled along my collarbone before spilling down my tunic. Corliss had taken a good freaking chunk from what I could tell. I didn’t know for sure because I couldn’t properly feel the thing.
Lucus touched my jawline, fury bright in his eyes as he studied my injured ear. He whispered words in the fae language, slowly moving his fingers up my neck, closer to the wound.
“Are you healing me?” I asked. “Is that possible here? I thought they bound you.”
A smile tipped his full lips. “Arleigh didn’t fully bind all my powers. Just the ones I can use to fight. That said, my healing abilities are greatly lessened due to the binding.”
It felt better already. “Thanks. Think you can give my ear a nice little point like
yours?”
He laughed then, full and deep, and my heart thrilled to hear it. “You already have plenty of sharp edges, lovely.”
I gave him a jab in the stomach, my hand immediately regretting bumping into those washboard abs of his. He stroked the underside of my chin with a thumb, then turned to face the Binder, who was talking in agitated tones with Hekla and Nora about the coming tournament.
Wiping my bloodied hand on my trousers, I stood with Lucus’s help. “Let’s practice again. She isn’t going to stop us,” I said. If anything, her actions spurred me to work harder toward defeating her.
Lucus nodded. “The fae tournament I attended took place in the late afternoon,” Lucus said to the group. “I’d say we have four hours before this one begins. Who would like to work on fighting skills until then? I know Coren and Hekla already train regularly, so that’s helpful.”
“You think Arleigh will insist on all of us participating in the group game?” Hekla’s shoulders sagged.
“It wouldn’t surprise me,” Lucus said.
“Fine. Sparring time, Coren,” Hekla said, shoving her sleeves up.
I nodded, and the others seemed to agree, so they lined up to practice pushing punches away, sliding in at an angle, and driving the heel of their palms into their opponents’ jaws. We sparred in turns, trying different strikes, blocks, and sweeps. Hekla was doing pretty well. Nora was terrible. I was pretty sure Lucus and the Binder were going to begin actually fighting soon.
When it was my turn to rest, I decided instead to practice portalling while they were all moving. I wanted to attempt portalling us to the tree line without the Binder’s magestone. Who knew if I’d be able to keep the magestone with me at the tournament and feast? I wanted to be prepared to cast the portal without it.
By the time the sun was directly overhead, I was sweating and fully worn out. I’d successfully portalled the group three times. It was no easy task. I had to really lock onto each person emotionally—visualizing them even when they weren’t in view—all the while picturing where I wanted us to end up.