“I’m sure they have plans. I can see it in their faces. My mother may wish to toy with you, to enjoy you for her entertainment. But I don’t trust you. If it were up to me, you’d already be sacrificed with your human and your fae lord dead beside you.”
“What do you have against mages? You weren’t involved in the war, were you?”
Rage flared in her eyes, and the vines squeezed hard. “You don’t know anything about me.”
She flung a hand, and the vines uncurled like giant fingers before tossing me across the clearing. My head smacked the ground, and dizziness twisted my view of Corliss, Lucus, and the rest.
Corliss marched toward me. “Mages lie. They are born for it. They excel at it. I have seen enough of them to know.” A vicious smile slanted across her otherworldly lips. “I know just the punishment for you.”
Chapter 17
Vines grew in a dome around us as she whipped a fae blade from her belt. In a flash of movement, she sliced toward the side of my head. Pain blazed across my ear, and as the vines released me, I touched the injury.
“You cut off the top of my ear!” I couldn’t believe it. It hurt like a bitch.
“In honor of your bond with one of our kind,” Corliss said acidly, flicking her fingers toward her own pointed ear.
Her dome of vines retreated. As the other vines gradually relented their attack on Lucus, she and her guard flew out of the henge and into the distance toward the silver pool.
“I will see her dead before I breathe my last,” Lucus said, his voice dark as midnight as he rushed to my side.
Wild-eyed, Nora hurried to Hekla, herbs spilling from a second bag she’d brought. Magic flashed from Nora’s herb-dusted fingers to Hekla’s shoulder. My best friend shouted in pain as her shoulder went back into place. Seeing Nora use her magic like that just showed me how much I had to learn.
My ear throbbed like mad. “Damn it, this hurts.” Blood ran down my neck and pooled along my collarbone before spilling down my tunic. Corliss had taken a good freaking chunk from what I could tell. I didn’t know for sure because I couldn’t properly feel the thing.
Lucus touched my jawline, fury bright in his eyes as he studied my injured ear. He whispered words in the fae language, slowly moving his fingers up my neck, closer to the wound.
“Are you healing me?” I asked. “Is that possible here? I thought they bound you.”
A smile tipped his full lips. “Arleigh didn’t fully bind all my powers. Just the ones I can use to fight. That said, my healing abilities are greatly lessened due to the binding.”
It felt better already. “Thanks. Think you can give my ear a nice little point like yours?”
He laughed then, full and deep, and my heart thrilled to hear it. “You already have plenty of sharp edges, lovely.”
I gave him a jab in the stomach, my hand immediately regretting bumping into those washboard abs of his. He stroked the underside of my chin with a thumb, then turned to face the Binder, who was talking in agitated tones with Hekla and Nora about the coming tournament.
Wiping my bloodied hand on my trousers, I stood with Lucus’s help. “Let’s practice again. She isn’t going to stop us,” I said. If anything, her actions spurred me to work harder toward defeating her.
Lucus nodded. “The fae tournament I attended took place in the late afternoon,” Lucus said to the group. “I’d say we have four hours before this one begins. Who would like to work on fighting skills until then? I know Coren and Hekla already train regularly, so that’s helpful.”
“You think Arleigh will insist on all of us participating in the group game?” Hekla’s shoulders sagged.
“It wouldn’t surprise me,” Lucus said.
“Fine. Sparring time, Coren,” Hekla said, shoving her sleeves up.
I nodded, and the others seemed to agree, so they lined up to practice pushing punches away, sliding in at an angle, and driving the heel of their palms into their opponents’ jaws. We sparred in turns, trying different strikes, blocks, and sweeps. Hekla was doing pretty well. Nora was terrible. I was pretty sure Lucus and the Binder were going to begin actually fighting soon.
When it was my turn to rest, I decided instead to practice portalling while they were all moving. I wanted to attempt portalling us to the tree line without the Binder’s magestone. Who knew if I’d be able to keep the magestone with me at the tournament and feast? I wanted to be prepared to cast the portal without it.
By the time the sun was directly overhead, I was sweating and fully worn out. I’d successfully portalled the group three times. It was no easy task. I had to really lock onto each person emotionally—visualizing them even when they weren’t in view—all the while picturing where I wanted us to end up.
I was about to try once more, but Lucus held up a fisted hand, our signal for someone approaching.
Ten fae guards filled the henge. The one at the front pushed silver hair away from his high forehead and addressed the group.
“Queen Arleigh demands your presence at the feast day tournament. All will participate in the game for the gold. For the jousting, the human will compete against a wing-bound fae. Lord Lucus, you will face Queen Arleigh in an alpha duel.”
My knees nearly gave out. Silence roared in my ears.
The guard continued, “We will lead you from the mage camp to your preparation rooms when the sun is two fingers from the horizon. Do not be late.”
Numb, I walked over to Hekla and gripped her hand as the guards left. “You grew up with horses, right?”
She glanced at me, her chin trembling a little. “Yeah,” she said faintly.
“You’ll be able to handle your mount, then. As for jousting, it’s just pointing a
