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Chapter 1
Fat lot of good magic was. Sure, I’d portalled us out of the cursed castle, but I’d only landed us at the feet of a fae who seemed to think we were the enemy. I needed to find some mages to help me harness my newfound power. One would think my magic would give me a hand with that, but alas. Here we were with no helpful mages in the vicinity and death just one magical jolt away.
Trapped in vines controlled by a fae who looked like a cross between a Viking and a runway model, I rolled to my side to see Lucus talking and gesturing. It seemed the fae had released Lucus while I’d been knocked out, but more leafy vines held Hekla beside me. She was staring at the sky.
I scooted closer, feeling raw inside and out. Now nothing would ever be the same because Hekla knew about this world. We’d never be in the bakery, working and laughing, without anything more to care about than making rent and finding a new place to go climbing.
A chilly fog swirled through the golden light of early morning as I realized we were in a sort of outdoor room. Massive oaks like the ones Baccio and Aurelio had disappeared into made up three walls, and the ground was carpeted with yellow and green moss.
“You okay?” I asked Hekla.
“Not really, but thanks for asking. What happened to you just now? The jerking and pain you were in?” A tear slipped from her eye as she studied my face.
I swallowed, hating that she’d been pulled into this madness. “I can do magic. Bizarre. Insane. But true. You saw it in the lightning that brought us here.”
Hekla squeezed her eyes shut and took a slow breath as I continued. The vines slithered over her shoulders and anger welled over my fear. I’d brought us here. This was my fault.
“I’m a mage, and I need to learn how to work with the earth’s energy lines, or I’m probably going to have some major health issues soon.”
“Your magic was hurting you?”
“Yeah. The portal I cast was supposed to bring me to a mage who could help me learn to diffuse some of my magic into the ley lines. Obviously I still suck at this whole casting thing because I see zero mages up in here.”
The blonde fae hissed something quick and quiet to Lucus.
Hair tousled messily around his horns, he looked from the henge to the winged fae female. He straightened his cloak. “I thought we were the last,” he whispered.
My chest ached. When he’d first seen the fae, a desperate joy had softened his fierce features, but now that she’d proven to be less than welcoming, his shining eyes had gone hard. It had to be tough to think he was going to have a great time with his kind again only to realize they saw him as an enemy.
The blonde fae snorted and rolled her eyes, her braids shifting to show tiny, jagged horns that I hadn’t noticed earlier. “Obviously, you’re not the last of the fae.” Her words trickled from fae into English, Lucus’s magic working with the tree roots underground to cast understanding through everyone present. "We are the last. I don't know who you are or how you arrived.”
Lucus glanced at us, his jaw tightening with what I guessed was worry.
I looked at the blonde. “My portal was supposed to take us to a mage. Where are we?”
The blonde eyed me like I was a cut of beef and she was deciding on whether or not I was good enough for the grill. “You are a mage. But you lie. Portals do not work here. We are our own country, our own kingdom. But if you ask with regard to where we are in the human world, we are in the northern region of England.”
“Holy shit,” Hekla and I said in unison. That was some amazing magic that could chuck us all the way from Tennessee to northern England.
“I need to find a mage to train with, please.” I wished Hekla still had her shotgun.
The blonde fae’s glare cut me. “We have mages.” Pursing her Botox-looking, rosy pink lips, she adjusted one of the many rings glinting from her long fingers. The ring on her thumb looked like a claw. Like a real claw torn from a bear. “They are safe from the outer world.” Her half-slitted gaze told me she wasn't telling the whole story. These non-lying fae sure were great at deceit.
I quirked an eyebrow at her, steeling myself against her impressive presence. “So you and the mages have a nice little relationship? Unlike the ones who used to fight with my boy Lucus here and his brothers?”
“Perhaps the relationship is not what you would consider nice.” She pushed one of her many icy-hued braids over her shoulder where blue swirls of paint covered the skin exposed by the slits in the top of her tunic. “But the mages are indeed safe from the outer world.”
I leaned toward Hekla. “I realize I have years’ worth of explaining to do, but know this: Fae can't lie, but they are simultaneously the craftiest bunch of fuckers I've ever met. Keep that in mind.”
The blonde whirled, her belted tunic whipping around her knees. The golden embroidery on her hem sparkled. “Did you say brothers?” Her gaze darted to Lucus.
Aurelio, Baccio, and Kaippa had been smart to get while the getting was good.
Lucus extended his wings like he was stretching, but I wondered if maybe he was showing off his wingspan in some sort of power display. “Release them, and I will tell you everything.”
The blonde crossed her arms, her gaze lighting on Lucus’s wings, chest, and face. A pang of jealousy thrust its way through my heart, and I remembered something I wished to forget.
Lucus was my fated mate.
Whatever that meant. Well, I suppose it meant I would feel super pissy when another gal had
