“I am the Yew Queen. I will defeat this evil.”
I breathed in the lingering scent of Lucus and the sweet perfume of the unicorn. The Yew Bow pieces clicked together in a quick, jerky movement, and my mouth fell open. It was whole and humming.
Turning, I grinned at the dark unicorn. “Oh, it’s go time now.”
It is. He knelt, and I mounted up like a complete badass. I ducked as we sped through the door and toward the chaos, I summoned every ounce of power I had stashed away during my time with Lucus. His fae magic cooled my blood and gave me a level head while my mage power flashed through my body like lightning.
“First stop: Getting my man back.”
I called up a churning cloud of lightning-washed magic, and the unicorn and I galloped through the air toward the castle’s ramparts. The Mage Duke ignored us, his focus on the demon and the destruction of the town, which he seemed to be controlling with spells and arm movements. When he did turn enough for me to see his face, his eyes were shut and his skin had gone ashen. He was not himself. All the better for Lucus to escape.
Lucus braced himself on his knee to stand. His horns flickered in the storm’s erratic light, and his wings spread wide. He took off beside me, and I couldn’t fight the grin that spread over my lips at the sight of him just as healed as the Yew Bow, humming with his own version of magic and gloriously fierce in the dark sky. The wind tore at my hair, and rain pelted us as we flew into battle.
The dragon had eaten its way through Main Street. My other favorite sweets store, Kilwin’s, was a mess of bricks and crushed copper pots. The sidewalk looked like it had been peeled away by construction equipment.
Our bakery was in complete ruins.
A fire blazed from the area that had once been our kitchen; my baking show trophy glittered gold under what was left of the painted letters of the glass window. Sirens screamed, and red and blue lights fought with the bang and crash of the storm. People were everywhere. Running. Shouting for help. Shooting at the dragon. Throwing freaking rocks. So much for pleasing the Mage Duke in exchange for mercy. The man had lost his mind, and his maniacal laughs echoed supernaturally over the chaos.
Kaippa, Hekla in his arms, landed at the end of Main Street at Five Points. Kaippa rushed from person to person, handing them something.
Hekla cupped her mouth. “Get in a line! Speak the spell and drive the demon toward Coren!”
The people were actually listening, and they were taking what I realized were vials of Hekla’s blood and smearing their hands. I saw Dain, Evan, Titus, and Ami, and even that group of Vandy students who had once ogled Aurelio. My heart surged seeing their courage and the way they protected the kids hiding behind the Civil War cannon in front of the museum.
The moment they began to shout the spell, the demon lurched and roared like he was in pain. His wings failed, and his crash to the earth rocked the broken street and collapsed the Irish pub into yet another pile of rubble.
“Keep it up!” I shouted as the unicorn and my lift spell moved under me, shifting under the direction of my legs. I focused on the space directly behind the demon’s head and pulled the cold magestone from my pocket. The crystalline stone warmed under my touch.
Spreading its fleshy, gray wings, the demon began to take off.
“Louder!” I called to the humans speaking the spell and cloaked in Hekla’s shifter blood. “We can’t lose him!” If he got up high enough or decided flames were in order, we were literally toast.
Lucus shouted in the fae language, his eyes flashing emerald and his bare torso coiled for action. Vines burst from the rubble beneath the demon to snare the creature’s legs and neck.
But the spell wasn’t working nearly as well as we needed it to, not like it had in the casting chamber. I had an idea.
I urged the unicorn and my cloud of power toward the humans, then swooped low as I heard the blast of dragon fire behind me. Heat seared my back. Pain dug at my flesh, burning through my clothing, and we whirled straight up to avoid a second blast of flame.
Hands wrapped in sparkling emerald fae power, Lucus tugged at his vines magically and yanked the demon backward. It whipped around and blew fire directly at him.
I screamed a warning.
The fire caught Lucus’s wing, and he began to fall.
We were going to lose.
“Say the spell together! As one!” I shouted.
Lucus shouted in fae, and the maples planted along the ruined street lifted their black roots and stalked toward the demon.
Drawing the stone back, I called up the arrow. The sparkling line of power crackled and sizzled, ready to fly. The dragon lurched toward Hekla, Kaippa, and our little army. Fire rippled from the beast’s mouth, and its many horns glowed orange with heat. The metallic stench of its great body overpowered me, and my lungs spasmed with coughs, causing my arrow to fizzle away.
With another blast of fire and the demon closing in, the army broke apart, people shrieking and scattering.
Kaippa flew from the chaotic crowd and aimed straight for the demon’s face.
29 Hekla
Hekla’s blood went cold, skin tingling as she pushed past Titus and Ami. “No!”
Ami snagged her sleeve, but Hekla jerked free and dashed toward the demon and Kaippa.
She couldn’t lose him. Not before they’d had a chance to see what might happen, to discover the possibility of them.
The demon raised its head and let out an ear-splitting shriek. Hekla crouched and held her hands to her ears only to realize their
