“Who are you, and why do you know anything about mages?” Nora’s hands sparked.
“I worked for the Mage Duke, the same fantastically horrid man who cursed this fae lord and his brothers. Unfortunately, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and I suffered the curse alongside them.”
“They told me about what occurred, but they hadn’t mentioned you.”
“Saving the best for last, I’m sure.” Kaippa winked at Lucus and me.
Hekla snorted. “Boy, you’re something, aren’t you?”
“That I am. Care to enjoy a little one-on-one time with me? I would bet you taste delicious.”
Hekla flipped him off. “Try it, jerk. I’m done freaking out over supernatural stuff and have moved on to being overwhelmed and tired. I’m a strange mix of apathy and rage, so I might just surprise y’all with a win against your ass. Fatigue and shock can make a gal crazy.” She bent her fingers to look like claws and bared her human—and sadly very tame—teeth.
“I can see why you befriended this one, infant mage,” he said to me before giving Hekla an appraising look. “Well, I’m around if you change your mind, wheat girl. When a vampire drinks, a singular euphoria sweeps over the…donor, for lack of a better word. Isn’t that right, Coren?”
Hekla’s eyes widened. “Please say you have no idea what he’s talking about. Making out with pointy-eared tree hotness is one thing, but cozying up to someone who drinks blood—”
“She had little choice in the matter.” Lucus walked over and stood beside me. The tip of his ear was still dirty, and a smear of earth stained his temple.
“There are more important things we need to deal with here,” I said. “Sorry, Hekla. Yeah, I went there, but it sucked. Literally.”
Hekla stared at Kaippa’s mouth, and he showed his fangs. “I could set you up with a set of these, dear. Just say the word.”
Ugh. “Kaippa! Shut up and quit trying to eat my friend and/or turn her into a vampire. Now, we have three problems here, right?”
“Oh, I love it when she gets like this.” Hekla rubbed her hands together, her shock seemingly put to the side for the time being. “I haven’t seen her this worked up since my Volvo died on our way to our Yosemite climbing trip.”
I waved at her to get her to shut it. “I can’t seem to access the ley lines to keep myself from dying. Nora and the other mage are trapped here due to psychotic fae who also seem to hate Lucus. And lastly, something, maybe a curse layered in the original curse, is slowly killing Lucus and Kaippa.”
Kaippa held up a hand. “May I?”
“Careful,” Hekla whispered.
“Go on,” I said.
“Baccio and Aurelio are most likely not feeling lovely either. Wherever they may be.”
Lucus did that lip bunching and closed eyes thing again. “They’re feeding beyond the henge,” he said to Nora. “Are we permitted to go back there, beyond the silver pool?”
“The boundary extends past the henge about ten miles or so. Do you think they tried to venture farther than ten miles in their search for proper feeding trees?”
“I doubt it. They’re most likely still sleeping inside the two they entered upon our arrival.”
“Then I can get you there. We’ll claim we need some space to fully train Coren. I’ve been there before to work on lift.”
I frowned. “Lift?” Like an elevator?
Kaippa flapped his wings, and Hekla and Nora grimaced at the hooked claws on the tops of them. “Flying, Coren. Well, not flying exactly.”
“It’s like jumping.” Lucus’s voice was tight, as if he were remembering a past battle.
Then I recalled Lucus’ memory of the attack and how the mages had leapt through the storm clouds they’d stirred up with their magic. “Whoa.”
Nora didn’t notice my trepidation. She was pacing back and forth, tapping her chin with a finger. “Arleigh will want you properly trained so the magic she drains from you will prove stronger and more adaptable to the boundary’s specifications. The moon will be full in six sleeps. That will be beneficial as well,” Nora mumbled mostly to herself. “She will be in a hurry since I am the last. Arleigh encourages us to train before the Binder takes us to the Yew Bow.”
“Before they sacrifice you to their magical boundary that protects them from the outside world,” I said, clarifying for Kaippa, who had missed all that fun.
Nora looked up from her plotting, the life we’d stirred up in her going dead again. “Yes. I’m to die at the full moon.”
Kaippa whistled.
“Wait,” I said, not sure I’d heard her right. “You’re going to be bound at the full moon? In six days, Arleigh will kill you.”
“With the Binder at my side, yes.”
“Nora, I’m so sorry.” Crap, this all sucked so bad. Everyone was in the process of dying or would be soon. What a shit storm.
Hekla offered something to Nora.
“Did you just give her one of my pumpkin muffins?” She’d been holding out at the fire.
“She needs it.” Hekla pushed the pumpkin muffin into Nora’s hand.
“Agreed.” I nodded.
Lucus eyed the pumpkin muffin with more interest than he should’ve had. I slapped his arm. “We are focused on plotting, fae lord. If you keep me alive, and I keep you alive, I can make you a bucket of those babies.”
His brow furrowed. Damn, he was handsome. “I understand roughly half of what you just said, but I think you are attempting to reward me with your famed pumpkin muffins. I approve.”
Kaippa turned the Mage Duke’s ring around on his finger. “Why are the fae here so obsessed with keeping the outside world away? What do they fear? The fae obviously venture out to capture mages and wake their magic to use for their own benefit, so they aren’t afraid of mages in general. Are they hiding from the Mage Duke? No, surely not. It was so long ago.
