Yew Queen Trilogy

by Eve A Hunt

  “It’s always your pumpkin muffins,” Lucus said, a smile in his voice.

  23 Coren

  My neighbors and a load of newcomers crowded around the base of the hill, talking and gesturing. Most had circles under their eyes and shirts buttoned wrong. They were obviously stressed and coming to grips with this new reality we’d shown them. But Ami was handing out pumpkin muffins and what might have been cinnamon cookies, so hopefully they’d at least have full stomachs.

  Holding Oliver on his shoulders, Titus lifted a hand in greeting as Lucus and Kaippa landed above the gathering, Hekla and me in their arms. The portcullis was closed behind us, and the October wind whistled in my ears. I saw the moment Titus realized who Kaippa was. He slid Oliver off his shoulders and held him tightly against his legs. Titus’s confused glare pinned my feet to the ground.

  “I have to explain this,” I said. “All of it. I don’t even know where to start.”

  Hekla brushed herself off even though there wasn’t any dirt on her clothing. She glanced back at Kaippa. Both were oddly quiet and couldn’t seem to stand still.

  A mischievous gleam sparkled in Lucus’s eyes. “We could give the humans a little show? If they see our magic, they will surely join our side and stop this nonsensical arguing. Are you certain you don’t want me to kill that bearded human and his minions? They deserve to die for threatening you, my queen.”

  A sick joy stirred in me, something I’d never want to admit feeling. “Thanks for the offer, but let’s put a pin in that. I was thinking…maybe if I gave the crowd a purpose in this fight against the curse, they’d have a focus for their emotions and not freak out as much. Plotting instead of hair pulling.”

  Shuffling his wings, then bringing them in tight behind him, Lucus ran a hand through his hair and looked at me through his thick lashes. “What is your plan?”

  “Fae can do the spell with Hekla’s blood.”

  “Yes.”

  “What about humans? Can they cast the spell with Hekla’s shifter blood?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh! I remember you said that’s what led to our idea of witches, when humans used shapeshifter blood to cast spells.”

  “Exactly.”

  Hekla eyed the crowd, then pointed. “What’s that?”

  A haze of black smoke twisted up from the ground. Raven tugged her dog away, but instead of barking like he usually did, he whined and lowered his belly to the street. Heads turned to see, and the crowd backed away.

  “We have a visitor.” Lucus stepped forward, eyes tight with concern.

  Oh, hell. What was this about?

  Kaippa, who had been unusually silent, sucked a breath. “Please tell me that thing is with us, not against us. I’ve heard stories…”

  The smoke dissipated to show a unicorn as black as pitch. The creature raised its head and focused red eyes on me. Greetings, Yew Queen, he said into my mind.

  Then he galloped up the hill amid the crowd’s shrieks and Oliver’s laugh of delight.

  “You’re here,” I said lamely.

  Indeed. I thought perhaps you needed some help. The Mage Duke has disappeared.

  Hekla’s fingers strayed to the dark unicorn’s mane. “What’s he saying?” She was probably remembering her time jousting on his back in the unseelie kingdom.

  “The Mage Duke is missing, and he is here to help us out.”

  “See?” Raven was saying down in the gathering. “They’re freaking magic as hell.”

  The unicorn turned to stand beside Lucus and me. You should do as your mate suggests and display your power to encourage them.

  I elbowed Lucus. “Unicorn thinks we should do as you said and show off a little.”

  Kaippa rubbed his hands together. “Not a problem.”

  Hekla grabbed his arm. “Hold on, bloodsucker. Fly but don’t bite.”

  Kaippa stared at her fingers and grinned, his lips a blood-red slash in his pale face. “As you wish, foxy.”

  Kaippa took off into the sky, and Lucus joined him while calling up vines from the hillside and releasing swirls of bright emerald magic. I whispered to my power and brought amethyst lightning to my fingers. The magic snapped and crackled as I released it into the air above me where it wouldn’t hurt anyone. Sunlight catching the rainbow flecks in his coat, the unicorn stomped one ebony hoof and tossed his thick mane.

  Hekla had closed her eyes and was shivering. Snow burst from the exposed skin on her arms, face, and neck, then swirled into a small storm. The wind pushed the snow away to show an arctic fox.

  The group at the base of the hill stood with mouths open and eyes staring.

  “Sorry to burst your suburban bubble, but the world isn’t quite as simple as we thought it was.” I threw my lightning from one hand to the other, then began to use the lift spell. A cloud of flashing, purple magic lifted me into the air. “That fellow there is a vampire who we are keeping on a short leash.”

  Kaippa snarled my way, making the crowd gasp.

  “This dude is a fae lord who is dangerous as hell but totally on your side.”

  Lucus’s fingers moved to weave the vines he’d called up into a bower. Sapphire flowers popped up along the creation, bringing ooos and ahhs from the humans. It didn’t hurt that he’d released a dash of his lure. I saw more than one person below biting their lip and breathing a bit too quickly.

  “Hekla here is a shapeshifter, and she is actually going to be key in our battle to slay the demon dragon. And I am a mage who can do shit like this. I have a bow that is meant to kill the beast. We are doing our damnedest to protect y’all, and we’d love to have you on our side during this war.”

  Lucus and Kaippa drifted to the ground and raised their glamours as Hekla shifted back into her human form. I settled onto the muddy ground and let my lightning fade. My heart ticked like a stopwatch, and I reached out for Lucus’s hand. He took my fingers in his and gave me a warm smile. Even if my fellow Franklinites rose up against us, he’d be here for me. No matter what.

  Titus was still glaring at Kaippa, but Raven grinned from ear to ear.

  Ami raised a fist. “We’re going to kick that monster’s ass!”

  The crowd whooped in agreement, and the tension in me drained out like someone had pulled my plug. Lucus’s arms enveloped me, and I gripped him tight before turning back to the gathering.

  “It gets better,” I said, really hoping they’d agree this next bit was a good thing. “You all get to do magic too.” I started to mention using Hekla’s shifter blood and all of that, but a voice stopped me.

  Perhaps you should introduce the specifics gradually, the dark unicorn said.

  He was right. “Ami, can you put everyone in groups, then send one group up here each hour?”

  She snapped her gum so loudly that I could hear it on the hill. “You got it, boss lady!”

  And with that, my army was born.

  24 Coren

  Group by group, we showed the willing how to coat their hands in Hekla’s blood and work the spell that drove the sampling of demon flesh into the wall of the casting chamber. It didn’t work every time. Seemed a matter of will or confidence.

  When Titus’s group walked into the courtyard, Hekla and I were there to greet him. We’d just seen the dark unicorn off. He had business elsewhere, something about ancient bonds and other things we didn’t understand, and he’d informed me that he would be cut off from communication for a time. I assured him we were grateful and had things under control for the time being.

  Hekla and I had also made sure Kaippa was busy in the recesses of the castle so Titus wouldn’t have to see him. It was just Hekla and me running the show for now.

  Leaving Titus, Oliver ran to Hekla, then jumped into her arms and hugged her like he’d known her forever. She wiped tears from her eyes and spun him around like a real Hallmark movie moment. It was awesome. I wished Lucus was here to see it, but he was currently in the large oak at the center of the courtyard’s small forest, taking a break an
d easing his grief.

  Titus brushed a hand over Hekla’s arm kindly, then gave me a quick hug. “Look,” he said, his eyes sincere, “I need to know why you are okay with the vampire and what the”—he glanced at Oliver—“heck is up with allowing him to live. He is a monster as much as the demon.”

  The group Titus had come in with wandered around the courtyard, pointing to the sapphire flowers blooming along the vines that crawled the archways. I needed to take them to the casting chamber and show them what was expected of them when we came up against the demon, but for now, I had to help Titus accept this super-less-than-ideal situation.

  My throat tightened, and I began to pace the cobblestones. The Yew Bow was safely on my back again, and its magical hum fortified me. “Remember that boa constrictor you had back when you expanded your gym into the cleaners’ spot beside you?”

  “Yeah. Where is this going, Coren? I’m trying to wrap my head around the crazy stuff, but I need more than jokes from you right now.”

  “I get it. I do.” I took his wrist and made him look me in the eye. “The boa ate tiny, cute, adorable baby mice, and you were fine with it. Well, Kaippa is a boa and humans are his cute, delicious baby mice.”

  Titus huffed and looked away. “Humans are not on the same level as mice.”

  Hekla looked up from Oliver’s handful of red autumn leaves. “Says the human.”

  “You eat those barbecue potatoes from Stroud’s just as often as I do, so don’t get all high and mighty on me,” he spat back.

  Hekla chuckled. “Oh, those things are divine.”

  “They really are,” Titus agreed.

  “I’m just saying, he can’t help what he was born to enjoy eating,” I said.

  “Was he born that way?”

  “Yes, I think so. But some vampires are created. I’m not sure. We’ll have to ask him, but anyway, he’s trying to alter his diet.”

  “I saw three chicks leave here an hour ago, all with bite marks on their necks.”

  Hekla lowered Oliver to the ground and took a slow, deep breath.

  “Yes,” I said, “but how did they seem to feel about it?”

  Titus shrugged. “They were smiling, but still.”

  “He has been hunting deer. He is weaning himself off human blood. It will take time,” I said.

  “Fine.” Titus’s scowl didn’t match his agreement. “I’ll lay off him, but tell him to stay away from me. I don’t want to turn a corner here and see his pasty-ass face.”

  “Language.” Hekla pointed down at Oliver, who was digging a worm out of the dirt between the cobbles.

  “You seem awfully cozy with the vampire, Hekla? Want to explain that?”

  “I’m an arctic fox sometimes.”

  “That explains nothing.”

  “My life is a circus act.”

  “Still not an explanation.”

  Lucus emerged from the forest, and Hekla whispered to Oliver. The boy walked to Lucus, dragging his little feet a bit but obedient. Lucus knelt and asked him quiet questions about the leaves he still held in his hand.

  Hekla came closer. “Look, Titus. The demon is no joke, and neither is the Mage Duke who will be showing up soon. We can’t be picky about who we allow to fight on our side.”

  “It looks to me like you aren’t just tolerating him.”

  “We fight constantly.”

  “I’ve known you long enough to know that’s how you are when you’re into someone.”

  I shook my head. “Hekla is not getting involved with Kaippa.”

  Hekla opened her mouth and eyed me before focusing again on Titus. “She’s right. I’m not.”

  Yeah, well, she appeared to be trying to convince herself of that truth. “See, Titus? We’re doing what we have to here. And honestly, how Hekla feels about Kaippa isn’t your department.”

  “Normally, it’s not. But right now? How do I know you won’t suddenly switch sides and partner with the vampire against his mice?” Titus’s tone was acid with a capitol A.

  Hekla took his hand. “I promise you. I will never side against you. Never.”

  Titus had the decency to look ashamed. “All right. I don’t have much choice but to believe you anyway.”

  I clapped him on the shoulder. “No, sir, you don’t. That monster will end you. Kaippa only nibbled.”

  Titus squeezed his eyes shut. “Coren.”

  “Sorry.” I hugged him. “But it’s totally true, man.”

  With one more promise from me that we would remain loyal to the humans’ side, Titus followed me as I led him and his group toward the casting chamber.

  Hekla walked beside me, whispering about the vials of blood she’d given up. “It’s weird. I would’ve thought I’d feel like dog shit after, but I feel fine.” She patted her teensy bicep. “And check out my freaking muscles, yo. I’m like jacked now.”

  “Totally.”

  She hauled her fist back and punched my arm.

  “Damn it, Hekla! That actually hurt.”

  “See? I’m legit scary.”

  “I didn’t realize being frightening was your life goal.”

  “Bakery. Volvo. Danger as my middle name.”

  “Seriously, though, what is the deal with you and Kaippa?” I asked, keeping my voice down as the group behind us held five different conversations about everything from ghosts to curses to superstitions they now believed were actually necessary to survival.

  Hekla picked at her nails and stared ahead down the corridor. The sconces flickered as we passed, and the scent of oil and pines lingered in the breeze. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”

  “Good. Because I hate to be a dick, but you cannot go there.”

  “I know.”

  “Keep it that way. Titus was acting pretty worked up about the possibility of you and Kaippa. I wonder if he has a thing for you.”

  “Titus? No way. He’s loved you for ages.”

  I stopped, feeling like I’d hit a brick wall, and several people bumped into the back of me. “I’m sorry, what?”

  “Oh, yeah. Titus loved you, then realized you, hetero as you are, barely registered he was male, then mourned the thing because it was never going to happen.”

  “I had no idea.”

  “This is so weird!”

  The woman who always ran the ticket stand at the corn maze in Gentry’s Farm poked me in the side. “I’m sorry, but you reveal magic to the town and you think a man having a crush on your sweet ass is weird?”

  I blinked. And blinked again.

  Then Lucus was there, like a shadow brought to life. “Please refrain from calling my mate sweet ass.”

  The woman giggled like a teenager. “Whatever you say, hot stuff.”

  Hekla and I mouthed, “Hot stuff?”

  “Okay, we need to focus, people.” We arrived at the casting chamber, and I began shoving people through the doorway. “Time to get witchy. Lucus, you should probably go. Your presence is making everyone…” I faced the group to see them half drooling, men and women both. “Lusty.”

  Lucus bowed. “Apologies.”

  I shook off the remnants of his lure and got down to the business of magic.

  25 Coren

  “This is wrong,” someone’s grandma said as we left the casting chamber.

  I put an arm around her. “It’s bloody spell casting or death, love. You gotta make your choices in life.”

  She laughed nervously and hugged me back.

  I left the group to see if Lucus was in his room while Hekla took the lead on helping the visitors find their way out of the castle’s labyrinth passageways.

  Lucus’s chamber door was open and the scent of summer—flowers and warm green leaves—floated from the room. Shirtless, he stood by the hearth’s flickering fire, and hints of his lure sifted away from him to weaken my knees. I didn’t think he was aware he was doing it.

  “You have a fever or something?” I took the Yew Bow off and set it beside his bed. “Because there’s no way that fire
is necessary in here.” I picked at my shirt and fluffed it to move the air around my chest, trying really hard to ignore my peaked nipples and the feel of his magic sliding across my skin like the tips of a hundred feathers.

  The flames ate the edges of an emerald-colored book.

  “Burning the evidence?”

  Lucus inhaled and turned to face me, looking like he’d just now realized I was here. “It is a journal I kept in my youth.”

  “Why destroy it?” He’d been distant, and I’d reasoned it was because of losing his brothers. But maybe there was more to his struggle.

  “I have to let go of my first life. The specifics of that day-to-day existence. I will keep my memories, but…” His brilliant green gaze lighted on my cheeks, then my chest, and finally my eyes. “I want to be fully committed to my second life. My life with you.” He lifted my hand, flipped my wrist up, then pressed his warm lips against the sensitive skin there. “My family is gone.”

  I touched his head, then slid my hand down to cup the edge of his sharp jaw. “I miss Aurelio.” I wouldn’t lie to him about Baccio.

  Corliss’s face passed through my mind, and I realized I missed her as well. Maybe not her exactly, but the potential of a friendship we had held. And of course, Sebastian… Poor Oliver.

  Kissing Lucus’s cheek and his pointed ear, I treasured the feel of his skin under my mouth. His hair tickled my face, and his horn cast a subtle shadow over us. A brush between our flesh was more than simply a touch; when our bodies met, a unique magic satisfied me and at the same time left me wanting more.

  Pulling away a fraction, Lucus set his intense gaze on me. “I will continue to mourn. But, Coren, I have waited so very long to live. Hundreds of years. Seasons upon seasons lost as I watched the world pass me by. I may be of a world long ago, but I am very much alive, and I wish to enjoy this unexpected blessing of our union.”

  He lifted me, and I wrapped my legs around him as he lay me on the floor. The fire crackled, and citrine sparks drifted into the air. Lucus’s chest muscles and biceps flexed as he supported himself on one elbow before lowering himself fully.