A few minutes later, the spiky-haired Ruis walked to the top of the hill and spoke down to the crowd at the foot of the rise. “The rules for this tournament event are as follows: The younger alpha, Queen Arleigh, will strike first. The elder may defend. They will take striking in turns until one is well blooded or disabled. The loser will serve the winner for one cycle of the moon.”
Hekla snagged my hand, and I gripped her fingers, willing my panic away. Lucus was so screwed. Not only was he weak because of the curse, but this was Arleigh’s home. There was no way her people would keep Lucus alive if he lost. Would Arleigh even play fair? I seriously doubted it.
Ruis’s voice rose. “Our alphas are preparing themselves for battle. Mage Coren, Lord Lucus requests your aid.” Turning in the air, he sped away.
Hekla kept a strong grip on my hand. “I’ll be right here.”
I hugged her and gave the Binder and Nora an encouraging smile over her shoulder. “I know, friend, and I am endlessly grateful.”
Ruis led me into the forest where the ruins of a medieval-looking manor house sat eerie and quiet. Curtains of ivy draped across what had once been a large front entrance. Ruis and I passed through the thick growth and into a room whose stone walls were covered in yellow and green moss. The unseelie seemed to have some way of making the place warmer than it should’ve been in northern England this time of year. The mulled wine scent suffused the air, and golden specks floated along a column of moonlight that pierced the broken timbers of the ceiling and the cracked slate of the roof.
Lucus was standing shirtless, wearing a new pair of trousers. Ruis murmured something and left, but I didn’t have any attention to spare. I was busy enjoying the lines of Lucus’s back muscles. They looked like they had been shaped by a master sculptor, smooth and powerfully crafted. His torso tapered into his trim waist. I had a really tough time remembering lives were on the line instead of very basely picturing how nicely his hips would serve as good grips for my hands.
He turned as I entered the room. “Coren.” His voice was a plea.
The circles around his eyes had grown darker, and his cheeks were hollowed out again. All my lustiness dissipated.
“Didn’t they let you feed from a tree? You look terrible. No offense.”
“Would you consider permitting me to feed from your aura?”
The question felt incredibly intimate—somehow even more intimate than it would have been if he’d asked for sex. I recalled the last time he’d taken my energy. We hadn’t been a couple then, and it had taken everything in me not to give myself to him. Now with the start of the duel only moments away and Ruis most likely returning at any second, we would have to stick to the aura thing for sure. But it made sense to help Lucus out by giving him my energy. If he failed in his duel with Arleigh, there was a good chance he would be killed. I didn't trust any of these unseelie. Even if he lived through the duel, if he was too injured and I couldn't manage to portal him out …
“Of course you can feed from my aura, Lucus. I don't know why I didn't offer before.”
“I know why you didn't offer,” he said. “It is a great thing to ask of a human. I didn't realize that before I met you. Before I knew you and Hekla.”
“But I'm a mage.”
He nods. “There are two sides of you. Please correct me if I'm wrong. You have lived your entire life as a human, and that part of you reigns supreme. The mage side of you is new, and your habits and emotions aren’t tangled in the rumination of that element of your existence quite yet. In you and in Hekla, in you humans, I see a fierce independence, courage, a thirst for being your own, owned and ruled by none. Humans do not seek an alpha with the passion that fae do. Humans don’t seek a master with the fervor that mages do. Humans long to become the master, to become the alpha. And so I don’t ask this lightly. I won’t do it unless you feel at ease.”
He was right about there being two sides of me. I felt it keenly. I wanted to allow him to access my aura because I cared for him as a person, I loved how he took care of my friend, I respected how loyal he was to his family. And I could not deny allowing him to feed from me was pleasurable. Saying yes to this was complicated, and there was a tiny voice inside me that wasn’t a fan. But the little voice was outvoted by the heat his touch sent through my body and the love for him building in my heart.
“You’re one of the good guys,” I said. “I want you to win.”
His eyes held the question repeated. Did I permit him to feed on my energy?
“Take me, Lucus,” I said, my words steady.
The scent of forests lost in time rose as he wrapped his arms around me and kissed his way down the side of my neck. Gently, he nipped at a spot near the base of my throat. Heat raged through my body, and I gripped those hips of his and drew him close. The strong feel of him against me pulled a moan from my throat.
His mouth near my ear, he inhaled like he
