His gaze grew distant, and I guessed he was thinking about his past. How long had he been here? How many loves had been taken from him?
My magic jolted me, maybe my emotions prompting a power surge of sorts. I had been at a solid twelve on the one to ten tension scale of late, so my magic really could be expected to flare at any moment.
I inhaled slowly, visualized the ley lines, and linked my magic to their soothing flow. I had it under control before any pain hit, and I opened my eyes to see the Binder nodding approvingly.
“Ready to practice portalling with all of us?” he asked.
“What if Corliss comes right back out of that forest and sees us?”
“There will always be a risk, right?”
“Truth. Okay. Let’s do it.”
Chapter 16
Hekla screamed as the amethyst lightning of my magic crackled. I knelt and ran a hand over her head to check for injuries.
We had practiced for hours last night, slept fitfully in the mages’ camp on borrowed blankets, then returned to practice again this morning.
“Crap. I’m sorry,” I said to Hekla. “I don’t know what happened. The spell felt like the others.” The tournament was tonight and then the feast. I had to conquer this spell.
Nora leaned over Hekla, then touched my bestie’s arm gently. Hekla sucked a breath between her teeth. “Dislocated shoulder. We can fix it. I’ll just need some of my herbs.”
“What did I do wrong?”
“Your spell didn’t reach through her entire being.”
“How can I make sure I don’t make a repeat performance?”
“Only practice will do the job,” the Binder said.
I’d been using his magestone to focus my energy on the spell I wanted to cast, to center my power. I handed the warm amethyst crystal back to him. “I need a five-minute break.”
The Binder tucked the magestone into his leather pouch. “You have two choices. Envision your magic circling every person you wish to portal, including every part of them and even a bit beyond to catch their aura. Or you can use emotions. But I can’t teach the second. From what I’ve seen of you and your magic, you used emotions when you portalled with the spell book’s help.”
“What if I accidentally portal one of the unseelie?”
“I doubt they would come through in one piece.”
“Gross,” Hekla and I said in unison.
A cutting voice made us all startle. “Isn’t this interesting…” Corliss approached with her guard a step behind. “What spell were you working just now, mage?”
I glanced at the forest beyond, looking for Lucus. Feeling good again after feeding, he’d been keeping an eye out for Corliss. But he was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he’d gone into a tree again.
“I was working on lift.” I remembered the word from our first day here when they’d told me about mages using their power to help them leap impossible distances, a thing that, in Lucus’s memory, looked a lot like flying to me.
Vines erupted from the earth and encircled me, their surfaces grating across my skin and catching on my clothing.
“You lie, mage.”
“She isn’t lying!” Hekla fibbed bravely. Pale with the pain she had to be feeling from that dislocated shoulder, she’d nevertheless picked up a rock to throw.
I shook my head to keep her from getting herself into this.
“No,” I said breathlessly to Corliss as the vines pulled me toward a henge stone. “I can show you, Princess Corliss. I’m not very good yet, mind you.”
“Allow her to try,” the Binder said, Nora at his side blinking pleading eyes.
“Lies,” Corliss whispered as the vines tightened.
My heart hammered in my temples and spots filled my vision. The vines drew me up against a henge stone, and my head bumped the cold rock as the woody arms lashed me down. A cracking sound, like a tree breaking, filled the air, and then Lucus was flying at us, his speed turning him into a blur of motion. He landed in front of Corliss. His wings blew her braids around her youthful face, and the muscles in his exposed forearms rolled like roots under the ground. He looked flushed with health again, and I was happy as hell to see him since the mages didn’t seem like they were going to stand up for me.
“What do you believe she is lying about?” he demanded of Corliss, his tone deadly quiet and sparks flickering around his fingers. The sun caught the strands of green in his black hair, and for a moment he almost looked as though he wore a crown of jade.
“I don’t need to explain myself to you.” Corliss held out a hand, and more vines exploded from the ground, surely aiming to snake around Lucus.
Lucus’s wings beating mightily, and he lifted from the ground before Corliss could capture him. The vines stretched toward him, but he dodged them easily, his movements graceful and quick.
Thankfully, Lucus had distracted Corliss, and her vines had loosened their hold on me.
“Let me show you,” I choked out.
Ignoring the vines that continued halfheartedly snatching for Lucus, Corliss stormed toward me. “The punishment for a mage portalling in this realm is steep. What would you like to pay? An ear? Your arm? How about one fated mate?”
Her vines lowered me so that she could get close, nose to nose. “How are you two even fated? It’s sick. Abhorrent.”
Her lips glittered like she was wearing gloss, but the shine was simply her unseelie beauty—a dark loveliness that showed in her eyes as well. In the shadow of the henge stone, they glowed faintly. The outline of the forest shimmered in their depths. It was mesmerizing.
“Coren!” Lucus shouted from the air above us.
My mind cleared, and I shook my head. She’d been using her lure on me. “Why would I bother with portalling? The other mages have told me
