by Eve A Hunt
The Binder removed a magestone from his pocket and placed it in Nora’s hands. He spread his arms, and lightning cracked across his palms, extending to the mossy, moonlit ground at his feet.
The queen cleared her throat. “I trust this test won’t harm Mage Nora or lessen her ability to participate in the sacrifice as planned.”
“Of course not,” the Binder answered before facing Nora again. “Claim this burst of power for your own. Engulf my energy and claim it, then use it to lift yourself above the canopy.”
The magic snapped across his hands once more, and Nora responded, closing her eyes briefly before turning her own fingers a bright amethyst with power. Gripping the magestone in her right hand, she called up a purple cloud that split into two, advanced on the Binder’s streams of lightning, then swallowed them up. Nora uttered words I couldn’t hear, then the clouds returned to her in a rush to gather at her feet. Suddenly she was rising, her hair streaming behind her and her face uplifted to the stars and moon. The lightning-lit clouds of mage power churned beneath her and around her like a chariot out of some crazy dream.
“Do you see her power?” the Binder shouted. “Do not doubt she is strong!”
Nora had told us herself she wasn’t very powerful, but the Binder sure was convincing.
Sweat slicked my palms as I tried to get a visual and emotional lock on everyone before the Binder ripped open the Yew Bow boundary. If I didn’t have everyone securely in my heart and head, I’d injure them in the portalling like I had with Hekla or lose hold on them entirely and leave them here.
Lucus stood beside his brothers, his long, black tunic making his body nearly invisible in the night. Aurelio was talking to him, his lips moving quickly. Baccio whirled around to get in their faces about something. They were definitely arguing. Had Lucus told them what we were about to do?
Hekla was hiding with Oliver, but I had no trouble holding the essence of who Hekla was. Oliver would be more difficult. I imagined his small, round face and the way he’d stared up at Kaippa like the vampire was a kind, old nanny. I imagined Kaippa trying to entertain a child. A hysterical laugh almost bubbled out of me.
A boom of thunder and a flash of light turned me toward the Binder. Lightning crossed his body like a net of sparks and amethyst fire. He glanced at me, eyes as purple as his power, then he shouted into the night sky.
“Break!”
The sky flashed pure white. Thunder smacked my ears. A jagged circle of amethyst appeared above the clearing—the opening in the Yew Bow boundary.
Shouting erupted as the fae rushed in their attempt to reach the Binder, who had begun lifting himself, heading toward Nora. Corliss and Arleigh shouted from a spot directly beneath him.
Hekla, Kaippa, and Oliver stood at the very back of the fray, peering from the shadows, obviously unable to stand not knowing what was going on.
The Yew Bow began to buzz like a giant, maniacal bee. I tuned it out as I visualized the whole crew and the castle back home. Energy zoomed from the ley lines through my feet, joined with the power inside me, then shot out my palms.
A purple film covered the world; I was seeing through the haze of my spell.
I was going to do it! This portal was going to work! I could feel it in my magic’s song.
But then the sky flashed white again, and the opening disappeared.
Baccio stood beside the Binder, whose body was wrapped in vines.
Shit. Shit. Shit. I let go of my spell. No one had seemed to notice me working it. They’d all been focused on attacking the Binder.
“Traitor!” Aurelio called out, his eyes shining with rage and the veins in his face standing out. Then I realized Aurelio was talking to Baccio, not the Binder. Aurelio was still on our side, on Lucus’s side.
Baccio looked from Lucus to Aurelio. “You are fools. Both of you! This is our home now. You are the traitors, not me.” He waved a hand, and the vines threw the Binder to the ground, where he lay unconscious.
Lucus glanced at me, then at the Yew Bow.
He wanted me to try to break the barrier at the source of the power.
I would probably die trying, but we were going to be put to death in a second anyway.
Hells.
Stepping around my oaken chair and table, I tried not to garner any attention. Though the barrier was whole again, the Yew Bow still seemed ticked off with all that buzzing. I wasn’t going to waste any time worrying about this being the smart step or not. We were so screwed right now. This was the only step.
I increased my energy, expanding my aura and pulling power from the ley lines’ flowing heat far below. In my mind’s eye, I saw the golden hue of my aura pooling around me, shimmering and strong. I reached for the Yew Bow and gripped it hard.
My hand, the one once coated in dark unicorn blood, pulsed once, painfully. A tingling I recognized as Lucus’s fae magic sparked under my skin.
“Break!” I shouted, mimicking the Binder.
The world went quiet. I looked around, my hand on the Bow, to see everyone moving in slow motion. The tingling feel of Lucus’s magic filtered through my fingers and into the Yew Bow until I didn’t feel his power anymore. The amount I’d taken from him was used up. The fae’s angry voices and the sound of the Bow was muffled, as if I were underwater, then a strange fatigue swept over me, taking my breath. I dropped to my knees and tried to let go of the Bow, but my hand was stuck with some invisible bond I didn’t have the first clue how to break. My magic crackled across my back, powerful and unrelenting. At least I still had that. I leaned back to look up, to see if I had broken through the barrier, but the sky was whole, unmarked by any amethyst circle.
A voice echoed through my mind—one of my ancestors—I knew it in my gut. “The Yew Queen must have her fae’s magic. You must take it from him.”
Lucus. I needed more magic from Lucus.
I shouted his name, my voice muddied by whatever horrible shit this thing was doing to me. I wanted to lie down and die. My magic poured through me and into the Yew Bow.
It was draining the life from me.
“Lucus!” I called again, my heart sinking.
He looked up, moving like a video on slow speed, and began to run to me.
Hekla and Kaippa stared at me over Oliver’s head, their faces masks of fear and panic.
Lucus made it to the dais, Corliss turning to face him, her braids whipping in slow motion around her pointed, black-tipped ears. I reached my free hand toward Lucus, and he gripped it.
His magic rushed into me through our joined palms, feeling like pins and needles as it hurried across my skin, into my heart, down my other arm, then out my fingers and into the Yew Bow.
“My mate,” Lucus whispered.
The Yew Bow’s buzzing turned to one solid, lovely note before the Bow dropped from its invisible perch within the boundary its magic created. The weight of the weapon felt familiar, even though it was completely impossible that I’d held the Bow before now.
The sky flashed brightly as the world returned to normal speed. Hundreds of purple lightning bolts cracked across the barrier. And then the sky calmed. A deep purple washed over the stars and moon, the color fading quickly into the night’s black and white.
I had broken the Yew Bow boundary.
Arleigh and her guards shrieked in anger. Emerald fire blazed from their red-veined arms and black fingers as vines blasted from the earth and raced toward Lucus and me.
I stood, the Yew Bow in hand, and immediately began visualizing everyone and the destination for the portal spell.
Hekla. Lucus. Aurelio. Baccio just in case the curse demanded all those involved in the curse be present in the castle. Kaippa. Oliver. Nora. The Binder.
The casting pealed through my brain like a bell.
But an explosion in the center of the feast grounds broke my concentration.
And the man I knew from Lucus’s memories appeared in a cloud of lightning.
The Mage Duke.
Chapter 29<
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I had no words. The Mage Duke, Ludovico Sforza, the mage who had cursed Lucus after Lucus had accidentally killed his daughter, was standing right freaking here in the middle of the chaos. Though he wore the modern black shirt and finely tailored trousers of a businessman and the face of a gaunt, hard-boned man who’d lived far beyond the time he should have, supernatural power and rage emanated from him like flames.
In the hush, Arleigh made a noise that sounded like a moan of both longing and despair.
The Mage Duke strode toward her, his hands fisting and magic sparking in the air around his shoulders and arms. He wore a necklace that showed a snake with horns, or maybe it was another of those wyvern-dragon things that posed on his castle.
“I should have known you would house my greatest enemy,” the Mage Duke hissed at Arleigh. “Only you could do the worst to me. Throwing a feast for the one who slaughtered my darling Lucilla.”
“No, it’s not like that, Ludovico,” Arleigh murmured.
I blinked, shocked. She said his name like a lover.
“You built this now broken boundary to keep me away,” the Mage Duke said to Arleigh. “Such a dark, fiendish mind you fae have. Well, it has all turned out nicely. My enemy escaped the curse he deserved to suffer until he and his kin were dead, but I followed the magic and have not only found my prey but also an opportunity to strike him down. I’ve no more need for you, dark fae.” His fingers flicked outward at Arleigh, and lightning engulfed her. She fell to the ground, eyes closed.
The Mage Duke’s gaze strafed the crowd. “Where is the demon who stole my Lucilla? Lucus, come forth. Don’t cower like the youth you once were.”
No, Lucus, don’t come forth. Stay the hell backeth.
Kaippa walked out of the woods with a swagger like a prize fighter. “I never thought I’d get to thank you for the extended stay in your fine abode, Master.”
Confusion twisted the Mage Duke’s features for a moment before he grimaced. “I had forgotten about you.”
Kaippa put his hands over his heart. “How could you forget your devoted servant who was in the wrong place at the wrong time?” Bitterness slicked its way through every word. “Surely the powerful Mage Duke didn’t simply forget that he ruined a loyal slave’s entire existence.” Kaippa flew at the Mage Duke, bat wings a blur in the night, and latched onto the mage’s neck.
The Duke’s body erupted into a flurry of lightning strikes that threw Kaippa backward. The vampire fell to the ground, unmoving, blood leaking from his ears and mouth.
Lucus strode out of the gathered fae, his horns reflecting the stars and moon. The pain he’d lived through deepened his eyes and pulled his full lips into a grimace. “I am here. And I am not the only one with death on my hands.”
He wasn’t bound anymore, was he? Or had Arleigh put the binding back when I wasn’t here? Could Lucus even defend himself?
The barrier was down. I had to portal us out of here. Now.
“I have begged forgiveness for killing Lucilla time and time again. Your curse took my innocent brother Francesco from this world, and I will see my revenge.” Lucus pulled a fae blade from his belt.
An ugly laugh boomed from the Mage Duke. “And you think you can best me with your dagger, you filthy fae?”
“I will die trying.”
I knew he wasn’t lying. He would strike out at this magical madman, and he would lose. If he was using a knife, he was obviously dealing with the binding again or knew his fae power wouldn’t work in this case.
A voice spoke at my shoulder. I jumped and glanced behind me to see Corliss. When had she crept over here like some fae ninja?
“I will attack. You portal them out.”
What? Was she offering to help?
“My mother will rise up. She will kill you all. Neither she nor my father showed me any kindness. Only cruelty. I see kindness in the Binder. He suffers for his child. The Binder deserves to be free.”
Well, that was unexpected. I opened my mouth, then closed it, scared to mess this up with my accidental assholeness. I settled with a nod.
“Farewell, mage. I go now to kill Ludovico Sforza, my father.”
A thousand thoughts blurred through my mind. Corliss was the daughter of Arleigh, a fae, and the Mage Duke, a match not unlike mine and Lucus’s. Corliss was related to me! Holy shit. I had no time to process the implications because Corliss was slinking up to the Mage Duke. He faced Lucus, their words too fast and too angry to be heard clearly.
Moving more swiftly than I ever could, Corliss whipped out a blade, reached around to the Mage Duke’s neck, and slit his throat.
And everything happened in what felt like one heartbeat.
Keeping the Yew Bow in my hand, I visualized everyone in my posse and then the castle. Magic coursed through me from the earth, from my own heart, and from the Bow. Mage and fae power tingled and sparked over me like live fuses running under my skin and circling my bones. Lightning crackled over my pulsing palms and my shuddering body.
Please let this work. Please, please, please.
Arleigh rose to her feet and screamed as the Mage Duke collapsed, gripping the side of his neck. Corliss’s strike must have been a little off, but still, blood poured down Ludovico’s black shirt, so he was most likely about to die.
Lucus ran toward me, eyes sharp as the blade in his hand.
I shut my eyes as the portal spell worked through me. The last thing I saw was Lucus swathed in jagged light.
Chapter 30
Twinkling stars and the gibbous moon greeted my opening eyes. I sat up fast, head spinning and the Yew Bow still in my hand. Had I done it?
A wall of stone enclosed us, cobblestones damp beneath me. We were back in the cursed castle.
Lucus got to his feet and hurried over to give me a hand up. I took his head in my hands and kissed him hard, loving the secure feel of his powerful body against mine. Then I whirled to check on everyone.
Hekla was sitting up, rubbing her temples. Kaippa lay beside her, his eyes open and blinking. Good, he wasn’t dead. Holding Oliver in his lap, the Binder sang a quiet lullaby, tears streaming down his thin face. The little boy held to his father’s neck, face buried. Nora stood over them, openly weeping. My throat tightened, and I was incredibly grateful for my magic in that moment. Baccio and Aurelio stood slowly, gazes wary.
“Coren.” Lucus touched my elbow, urging me to turn around.
Corliss stood behind us, her eyes glowing their unseelie red. “You…you chose me.”
I supposed I had. I hadn’t consciously portalled her here, but her act of desperation and pain had pinged something deep inside me. “You seemed like you maybe belonged with us. Hope that’s cool.” I set the Yew Bow against one of the pillars that surrounded the courtyard. I had no idea what I was supposed to do with it.
Corliss bent and touched the ground, possibly strengthening the language magic Lucus had built for those who visited this place to carry with them. Straightening, she spoke quietly. “I will never fit in this world.”
The Binder and Nora eyed her like she was a snake, and I was reminded of the wyvern on the Mage Duke’s necklace.
“It’s better than back there though, right?” I asked. “I can try to put you back if you wish.”
Kaippa snorted and wiped blood from his lip. One of his broken fangs showed, white as the moon. “This is adorable. We’ve adopted a repentant unseelie. I don’t see any ways in which this can go wrong.”
“Hush it, vamp,” I snapped. “You’ve turned yourself around, haven’t you? Why not give Corliss a chance?”
Kaippa sauntered closer, his movements almost feline in their grace. His wings shuffled behind him before disappearing under a glamour. “I am the same vampire I was when we first met, Mage Coren,” he said sharply. “You only think I’ve changed because we happen to be working on the same side of late. You haven’t seen what it’s like to be on my bad side.”
“Quiet, Kaippa.” Lucus’s fingers twitched, and two vine
s slid toward the vampire.
Kaippa held up his hands. “Fine. Fine. Don’t throttle me, my lord. I’ve had enough for one night. I’m feeling hungry.” He jumped, his wings burst into view, and then he flew at an impossible speed away until I couldn’t see him anymore.
“That’s not good,” Hekla muttered. “Watch out, Williamson County.”
I shut my eyes, wanting to deny what I knew would happen. Kaippa would enthrall some unsuspecting mortal and feed on them. “He won’t kill anyone, will he?” I asked Lucus.
“There is no way to know.”
“I would suggest going after the psycho, but I’m guessing tracking a vampire is not a simple chore.”
“You can’t follow a vampire who doesn’t want to be found,” Aurelio said, his voice quiet. Anger seethed just under the surface of his calm demeanor. I just hoped he was furious with Baccio and not me for taking him away from his unseelie fae happy place.
I turned to Corliss. “So do you want me to try to return you?” I couldn’t imagine choosing to live with someone like Arleigh. Plus, there was no guarantee the whole kingdom wasn’t dead. We hadn’t actually seen the Mage Duke die. He might have rallied and ended them all.
Corliss held up her black-tipped fingers. “No. Thank you. I will do my best here. Will you help me?”
Hekla coughed and stood. Her hair was one big tangle, and she still had dried blood on her from all the crap we’d dealt with. “First we should see if you all can leave the castle like Kaippa did. Who knows what Coren did to the curse?”
Agreeing and showing signs of a temporary truce, the group went one by one out the castle door, first with a hand on me, then on their own. Since the Mage Duke hadn’t intended to curse the vampire and had set up certain protections for Kaippa—the cursed fae weren’t permitted to severely harm him or the curse would take Lucus and his brothers—we weren’t sure if the curse would also permit the fae of the group to leave.