He chuckled quietly, a bitter tone leaking into the noise. “If I saw any other way to do this, I would explore it.”
“But you trust me, right? Even though I am who I am?” As a fae, he couldn’t lie, and I needed to know when push came to shove that he’d have my back. Or not.
He gave me a smile that was half frown. “I don’t fully trust you.”
A feeling close to fear slithered down my spine, but I smoothed my features of that and the pinch of disappointment. “It’s not a surprise, but I was hoping I was wrong. I don’t blame you. We’ve only known one another for a week or so, and I am your greatest enemy’s descendant.”
“But you are also Lucilla’s kin.”
“Oh, wow. I didn’t process that before now.” He’d slept with my great-great-great-whatever. Okay. Trying to let that one go. He was immortal, after all. Living forever threw some ideas of right and wrong out the window.
Lucus’s eyebrows bunched. “I want to trust you completely. It will come in time.”
“If we get the time. Hey, do you find it odd Arleigh and company encourage us mages to train when they obviously are not big fans?”
“Given what Nora explained earlier, I assume the most accessible and controlled your power, the better a sacrifice you are to the Yew Bow.”
“Oh, that’s right. Got it. Like feeding a cow all the nice things before you steakify it.”
“Steakify?”
“Are you going to come back with me to watch me train? Might be a good peek into how your enemy mages operate?”
“I have plenty of experience with that, thank you,” he said, his tone cold as a gravestone. I grimaced. Guess I’d said the wrong thing. “I’ll stay here, searching,” he added more softly. “Call out when you are finished for the day.”
I nodded. “I hope you find your brothers.”
His eyes grew distant, burning with intensity. “Oh, I will.”
I left him in the trees and headed for the Binder. It was time to level up, bitches.
Chapter 13
Hoping we truly were far enough away from the fae’s main hangouts, I threw my hands wide at the Binder’s shouted directions and inhaled the honey scent of crushed linden flowers and the musky aroma of roses currently rising around me like a beautiful storm cloud.
“Bring the mage lightning out of the center of your power! Do you sense it? Can you feel the fire of your magic below your sternum?” He was like a yoga instructor gone wild.
“I do!” I shouted back, trying to be a good student.
And really, I did.
The power inside me blazed in pulses, and I almost felt like I was fighting a fever. My cheeks were flushed, but I didn’t have the dragging fatigue that came with illness. Instead, my limbs surged with strength, and my mind was incredibly alert. I sensed every thread of my magic as it danced through me and in the world around me, felt the thrum of the bond with Lucus—though I had my eyes closed, I knew he had returned—and I was acutely aware of every person standing around me, their level of energy and their general attitude of passiveness or aggressiveness.
“Cast the spell!” The Binder’s face had flushed, and his hair jutted up in places as if the energy inside him were reacting to my own.
I recited the recipe—ur, spell—he’d taught me. “Rise, light. Rise and break and burn!”
My lips, palms, and forehead tingled as I mentally sparked the magic inside me and urged it to roll down my arms. The crackling electricity scratched a burning trail through my shoulders, over my biceps, and along my forearms before I threw it at the sky so as not to fry anyone.
The sky exploded into a tree made of amethyst branches of lightning, and there was a collective gasp at the echoing thunderclap.
Hekla’s mouth hung open, the bag of herbs she’d been holding dropped beside her woolen clogs.
Lucus’s gaze felt as hot as my magic. “Well done, Coren.” The pride in his voice was unmistakable.
I tried to be ticked that he thought he could be proud of me, wanted to remind him that he didn’t own me in any way no matter what this fated magic bond demanded. But honestly, the heat in his eyes and the way his fingers flexed like he was imagining his hands on my body had me biting my lip like a lusty tavern wench. Whatever, man. I tried. He was just so damn delicious and such a good guy behind all of his scary awesomeness.
The corner of his mouth lifted like he knew what I was thinking.
The Binder rushed forward and gripped my arm.
Lucus was there in a second, a growl building in his throat. “Coren, do you need me?”
I shook my arm free. “I do not. But thank you. What is your problem?” I said to the Binder. “I thought I did pretty well.”
“Pretty well?” The Binder laughed. “That was…you are incredibly gifted. I can’t think about what this might mean.” He whirled and walked off muttering.
Nora took his spot. “Coren! Do you realize how powerful you are? You only tried that three times, right? Never before you came here?”
“No, just the three times.”
Hekla was clapping, apparently recovered from my freaky storm skills. “Kickass.”
Nora put her hands on her head and exhaled in a gust. “We have to use this. Now. Before they ruin you.”
“And before they kill you,” I added, glancing at Lucus and Hekla to see if they also thought it was odd Nora wasn’t overly worried about that bit. Hekla didn’t seem to notice, but Lucus looked at the ground and shook his head. Maybe during his war with the Mage Duke, he’d seen prisoners act like this, as if their lives were already lost and there was no use in
