Yew Queen Trilogy

by Eve A Hunt

  “What happened out there?” Hekla wiped a damp cloth over Titus’s face.

  We told her about the exchange.

  “I don’t think you could’ve sold them on a dragon they can’t see.”

  “Why not? They think I’m a witch and the rest of you all are demons. I can’t see a dragon being a big stretch.”

  But Hekla didn’t seem to be paying attention to what I was saying. She kept muttering, “I hate myself,” over and over.

  I sat beside Titus and patted his knee through his jogging pants. “Lucus is going to fix you up a little more, all right?”

  Lucus placed his hands over the bite mark on Titus’s pale neck. He had partially healed the wound already, but the skin remained swollen and red. Titus’s eyes opened, and he let out a sigh.

  “Thanks, man,” he said, his voice a croak. “Thanks to all of you. I can’t even process what I saw there. What happened. It’s kind of foggy, honestly. Did someone really drink my blood?”

  “It’s totally acceptable to pass out even thinking about it,” Hekla said. “I hate myself.”

  I hit her arm. “Stop saying that. It’s not your fault.” The guys would think we were talking about Titus being taken, but I knew Hekla was actually beating herself up for crushing on Kaippa.

  Baccio stood by the windows, his shadow crossing the living room like a dark ghost. “Vampires are a plague on the world. Don’t blame yourself for his actions, Hekla.”

  Lucus, Hekla, Aurelio, and I did a double take.

  “Whoa. Did you just say something nice?” Maybe I was still high from Lucus’s lure.

  Baccio turned and raised an eyebrow. “I only speak the truth. We should kill Kaippa.”

  “We still don’t know what the repercussions of such a death would be,” Lucus said, taking his hands from Titus’s neck. The skin at the site of the wound was nearly perfect. “If we kill Kaippa, the demon dragon may shift into something even more difficult to battle because Kaippa was included in the original casting of the curse.”

  “Coren?” Hekla handed me a cup of tea.

  I realized I was staring at the carpet and shook myself before accepting the hot mug. “I have no idea how we’re going to slay this demon wyvern thing. No. Idea.”

  Lucus sat on the table with his knees touching mine. His earnest gaze calmed my heart. “You will use your Bow and your magic. You will strike the demon dragon’s heart with an arrow of your power.”

  I sat back with a huff. “Okay. But first, I can’t seem to make the arrow thing happen, and second, I don’t know where a demon’s heart is.”

  Baccio leaned against the overstuffed chair and tugged at the collar of his dark gray sweater, obviously not happy with the neckline. “A demon has no…mind, no brain, I think would be the correct word. He moves in accordance with his dark spirit, his heart, and that organ resides in his head.”

  Hekla’s entire face bunched. “Ugh.”

  Aurelio went to the kitchen and began searching through my cabinets.

  Leaning forward, I set my forehead on Lucus’s knee. “Nancy’s nephews will be back. And next time, we’ll have to get rough. The police will come. And we’ll be stuck unless we’re ready to kill a bunch of fairly innocent folks.”

  “We must work quickly, then.” Lucus’s deep voice rolled over me. “Titus, I can’t replace the blood you lost, so you’ll need to rest here for a few days. I wonder…Coren says you operate a facility meant for physical training.”

  “Yeah.” Titus grunted as he sat up. I turned my head to watch him. I hoped he wouldn’t pass out. “You’re welcome to use the place to work on whatever Coren needs to work on.”

  Hekla raised a hand briefly. “I told him about magic.”

  I wiggled my eyebrows at Titus. “Crazy, huh?”

  “Completely.”

  Baccio’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t appear shocked.”

  Aurelio walked out of the kitchen with a glass of water, which he handed to me. “You look fatigued, my brother’s mate.”

  I gave him a weak smile, accepted the water, then set it beside my tea. I guessed giving tired people drinks was a thing we all did no matter what type of creature we were. “Thanks.”

  Titus cracked his knuckles, took a sip of his tea, then looked up. “Okay. Well, I saw something once that helped me swallow this magic thing Hekla told me about.”

  “Please tell me you’re just a regular, wonderful human,” Hekla said. “I cannot deal with more supernatural beings in my life. There just isn’t enough dough and sugar and butter.”

  Lucus’s lips twitched, and Aurelio huffed a laugh.

  “When I was nine and my parents took me to Paris, we got lost,” Titus said. “We ended up on a side street at three in the morning, and I swear I saw a dog stand up and become a man.”

  “A shapeshifter,” Baccio murmured.

  “Yeah, I suppose so.” Titus sipped his tea. “So anyway. No one ever believed me.”

  “Lucus, I thought you said there weren’t really any shifters anymore?”

  He lifted a shoulder and rubbed his thumb over my knee. The simple touch was enough to send delicious shivers over my leg, making my toes curl inside my boots as I remembered what that thumb had been doing earlier today.

  “Shifters were rare when I was last active in the world,” Lucus said. “They may have increased in number in the last centuries.” He ran a hand through his tousled hair. Now that I knew horns hid there, I could see how he moved around them.

  “Certainly, Paris has always been a dynamic magical center,” Baccio said.

  “Titus, if you don’t mind,” I said, “I’m going to take you up on the offer to use the gym tonight. You stay here and rest up.”

  He dug the keys from his pocket and tossed them to me. “I’d ask you to remember to keep your shoes off the mats, but I’m going to bet magic is harder on the flooring than your boots.”

  I stood and leaned over to drop a kiss on top of his head. “Thanks, friend.”

  “No worries. But please tell me I’m good here. That the vampire won’t come back.” He laughed off his comment, but the fear lancing through his eyes was real.

  “I can’t promise anyone is safe right now.”

  “But Baccio and Aurelio will remain here and keep an eye on you, won’t you, brothers?” Lucus asked.

  Even though Baccio had sworn his allegiance, this still wasn’t my favorite set up, but it would have to do. At least Baccio could take Kaippa if it came down to a fight, and Aurelio might keep him honest.

  Hekla, Lucus, and I gathered some snacks and water and headed out, leaving one of my dearest friends with one of my greatest enemies.

  10 Coren

  Titus’s gym reeked of eucalyptus.

  Lucus inhaled as Hekla, the Binder, Oliver, Corliss, and I led him inside.

  “I would’ve thought a place of training would smell more earthy,” Lucus said.

  “Titus is obsessed with essential oils.” I pointed to each corner of the room where diffusers sat, now quiet.

  The Binder gently pushed a heavy bag and lifted Oliver up so the boy could grab it like a koala and take a swing. I smiled, glad he wasn’t brooding at Hekla’s and had agreed to join us and help me figure out this Yew Bow and my power. “Your warrior friend does indeed understand more about magic than I would’ve believed. You said he once saw a shifter?”

  Hekla drank from the water fountain while Corliss walked across the mats barefoot, her eyes wide with wonder.

  “Yeah, in Paris.”

  The Binder nodded. “Interesting.” He helped Oliver down from the heavy bag, and the kid ran at Corliss.

  Hekla grabbed for him and missed as Oliver shouted, “Princess!”

  Corliss whirled and dropped her glamour. Her wings unfurled with a snap and her horns shimmered into view amidst her blonde braids.

  The Binder had gone very still.

  Oliver reached his hands toward Corliss, who crouched, then gathered him up. “Greetings, little one
.” Her eyes reddened, not with unseelie light but with the struggle of unshed tears. She touched the tip of his nose. “We are to be friends, then?”

  Oliver hugged her neck. “Yes, please. But you must buy me a chocolate croissant from Mistress Coren.”

  “Well, that kid has life figured out.” I grinned, releasing a breath.

  Hekla walked over and gave the kid a fist bump. “Want to play a game while the boring adults train?”

  The corners of Corliss’s mouth lifted as she handed Oliver over to Hekla. “This okay?” Hekla asked the Binder.

  “You aren’t leaving the premises.”

  “Nope. Just going to pop him with some pool noodles and let him practice blocks.”

  Lucus frowned, shedding his glamour and stretching his leaf-and-vine wings. “Pool noodles? Is that a dish Titus serves the fighters here?”

  I laughed. “No, it’s a toy. Just…don’t worry about it. It’s totally safe.”

  Hekla picked up a green pool noodle that Titus had cut in half and began gently lowering them one by one, over and over, toward Oliver’s head. She tucked one under her arm, then lifted his forearm, showing him how to block.

  With them busy, I met Corliss, the Binder, and Lucus in the center of the mats.

  Though it was the middle of the night, I was glad the shades were down. If Nancy or her relatives wandered past, I didn’t want them peeking in on us and causing trouble.

  The Binder handed me the magestone from the castle. “My name is Sebastian.”

  My jaw dropped, the magestone warming my fingers. I quickly closed my mouth and traded a glance with Lucus, who raised his eyebrows, likewise surprised. “Well, it’s nice to finally meet you, Sebastian.”

  Sebastian gave a half bow, and I took a minute of gratitude for the weight he’d put on. He didn’t look as much like a skeleton anymore, though his eyes remained shadowed and bloodshot.

  He extended a hand to Corliss. “I will do my best to trust you. We must band together now more than ever,” Sebastian said. Corliss gripped his forearm, and Sebastian curled his fingers around hers in an antiquated handshake.

  “I agree. To defeat this demon,” Corliss said, “we must release our own ghosts for a time and fight side by side.” Corliss’s voice sounded no less harsh than ever, but there was a pleased gleam in her light eyes. Her red-tinged ivy wings shuffled, nearly touching Lucus’s.

  “What’s our first step?” I looked to Sebastian because he was the other mage here, and since he’d nabbed the magestone for me, I supposed he had some sort of plan.

  “Take fae magic from Lucus like you did after the unicorn blessed you.”

  Blessed me?

  I did, the dark unicorn said inside my mind.

  “He just spoke to me,” I explained.

  Corliss shook her head and huffed a laugh. “I still can’t believe I’m standing next to the Yew Queen and that one of our dark beasts, the most ancient of them all, chooses to speak to you.”

  “I can’t believe it either.”

  The others stepped back, and I placed my hands on Lucus’s broad chest. His heart beat strongly under my fingertips, and I inhaled his scent, my body lighting up with want. I swallowed, trying to focus on the task at hand. The edge of Lucus’s mouth twitched.

  “You aren’t helping me focus.”

  “I can’t help how much you adore me, Yew Queen.”

  I punched his stomach lightly, making him chuckle before I closed my eyes. You here for this? I asked the unicorn.

  Yes. This is how you will fight the beast. But know that the outcome is hazy.

  You don’t think we’ll win.

  I do not. But I hope I’m wrong.

  Me too.

  Blood-red light flowed over the tips of my fingers, the dark unicorn’s blood still active in me. Lucus’s nose brushed across my throat as he fed on my aura. He sighed, and I felt his body tighten against mine. I pushed the fact that we were being watched out of my mind. This was hot as hell, but it was necessary too. We weren’t merely being ridiculous exhibitionists. Lucus’s fae magic rose to meet my palms, tingling and heavy and bright emerald as it passed into my body, feeling like a wave of cool creek water. The fae magic, combined with my own, made my blood spark in my veins. I fisted my hands, ready to take on the world.

  Corliss looked me up and down as I took a step back from Lucus. “Do you feel our magic inside you? Like fresh air?”

  “It feels like cool water to me.”

  A smile ghosted over her face, more happiness than I’d seen since I’d met her. “I’m glad you have it to save your people.”

  I grinned. Now I had to hug her. And so I did. She huffed out a surprised laugh.

  “Since you’re going to hang out in the American South for the foreseeable future,” I said, “you’ll need to get prepped for a load of hugging.”

  “You aren’t as hard-edged as you appear from the outside, mage.” Corliss glanced toward the door, then back at us. “Someone is here.”

  We froze. Had Nancy learned we were here? Or her nephews? But no one shook the locked door.

  Shrugging, I took the Yew Bow from my back. “Maybe it was one of Titus’s students.”

  Sebastian gestured to the magestone I held. “See if you can draw an arrow with that.”

  I held the Bow up, aiming at a heavy bag, then pulled the string back all while keeping the magestone palmed in that same hand. Sweat beaded on my forehead, and I tried to imagine the amethyst arrow we all hoped would be powerful enough to slay the demon. Magic zipped along my arm, and a line of crackling light burst along the path of the magestone.

  “Hey, hey, hey! It’s working!”

  Lucus beamed. “Of course it is. We knew you could manage it.”

  But as I focused on the target, the lightning arrow fizzled. I dropped my arms. “Damn.”

  “Try again,” Hekla called out from the far corner where she was now batting Oliver gently with a square punching pad as he rolled on the floor giggling. “If I can create the details on laufabraud with this thing,” she waved her Frankenfinger—the finger that hadn’t been set right after breaking during one of our climbing trips, “then you can do this.”

  “What is laufabraud?” Lucus asked.

  I raised the Bow. “Icelandic leaf bread. Very detailed dough work.” This time, as I drew the magestone back, the arrow appeared immediately. I was still sweating like a whore in church, but I was doing this thing.

  Magic hummed, drowning out Oliver’s ooos and ahhs.

  “Should I release it?” I shouted over the snap and pop of the lightning arrow.

  “We do need to see what it will accomplish. Hold on.” Emerald light burst from Lucus’s hands. Vines shot from the gym’s floor amid the powerful scent of pine forests and rain-wet moss. The plant life tangled around the heavy bag to create a thicket. A lighter green bloomed around Corliss’s fingertips and wrists, and then vines of what looked like English ivy, tipped in white, rose from the cracks in the flooring. Her vines curled around Lucus’s like snakes, thickening the bracken that would, I guessed, absorb some of my arrow’s blast. The thicket glowed and cast green light over the pulled shades on the windows and the ripped mats on the floor.

  Sebastian motioned to Hekla to keep Oliver around the corner where the restrooms were. “When you’re ready!” he said to me.

  I loosed the arrow, magic ringing through my bones.

  11 Hekla

  Hekla gasped as the point of Coren’s arrow stabbed the thicket. The lights in the gym flickered and went dark. Lightning erupted from the thicket and branched out, amethyst and blinding, as dense smoke poured from the fae vines.

  Smoke choked the air out of the room, and Lucus ran for the door, flipping the lock with a loud click and shoving it open.

  Hekla’s skin went icy cold, and the world grew hazy.

  Oliver shrieked and ran to Coren. He clutched her leg and stared back at Hekla like she was the monster here.

  Her body quaked.


  “What’s wrong?” Coren called from inside the dark cloud.

  The smoke spun around the incoming draft from the door, but the haze around Hekla went white, and there she was, surrounded by…

  “Snowflakes?” Coren waved at the black plumes, eyes wide.

  It was snow. What in the…

  Hekla’s skin buzzed like Coren had shot her with magic instead of the target. She held out her arm only to see the flesh become transparent and crystalline. She was becoming the miniature snowstorm. Heart rapping against the base of her throat, she called out for help.

  The snow whirled around her, and the sound of the wind swallowed the others’ voices.

  “Hekla!” Oliver and Coren shouted as one.

  The snow disappeared and all was…not okay. The room was huge, Coren a giant above Hekla. The open door called to Hekla with the promise of fresh air, free of smoke and whatever the magical snow was.

  She ran.

  Her feet weren’t feet. Paws. White paws. Her mind raced, unable to sort out what was happening. Fear pushing her, she ran, moving faster than ever. She was on Main Street before she realized she’d made it out the door. Tires screeched behind her, and she turned to see a large black SUV roaring through the light at five points. Hekla tried to scream, but the sound didn’t come out like it should have. Her throat was tight, her teeth needle-sharp against her tongue. The SUV was going to roll right over her. This was it, and her brain couldn’t even wrap its way around anything.

  A blur of movement flashed across the intersection, and then strong arms lifted her. In a matter of seconds, Kaippa had her in his grasp and safely out of the road on the sidewalk. The SUV sped into the night, tires squealing.

  Gulping air, mind a riot of confusion, she set her now small and furry head against Kaippa’s chest and let him stroke her back.

  Sebastian’s voice rumbled over her head. “She is a shapeshifter.”

  Someone tugged at her back leg. She peeked and saw Oliver’s massive child face. “A fox! Hekla is a fox!”

  “An Arctic fox,” Coren said. “Oh my God.” She stumbled, and Lucus caught her. “Please tell me I’m hallucinating.”