It was draining the life from me.
“Lucus!” I called again, my heart sinking.
He looked up, moving like a video on slow speed, and began to run to me.
Hekla and Kaippa stared at me over Oliver’s head, their faces masks of fear and panic.
Lucus made it to the dais, Corliss turning to face him, her braids whipping in slow motion around her pointed, black-tipped ears. I reached my free hand toward Lucus, and he gripped it.
His magic rushed into me through our joined palms, feeling like pins and needles as it hurried across my skin, into my heart, down my other arm, then out my fingers and into the Yew Bow.
“My mate,” Lucus whispered.
The Yew Bow’s buzzing turned to one solid, lovely note before the Bow dropped from its invisible perch within the boundary its magic created. The weight of the weapon felt familiar, even though it was completely impossible that I’d held the Bow before now.
The sky flashed brightly as the world returned to normal speed. Hundreds of purple lightning bolts cracked across the barrier. And then the sky calmed. A deep purple washed over the stars and moon, the color fading quickly into the night’s black and white.
I had broken the Yew Bow boundary.
Arleigh and her guards shrieked in anger. Emerald fire blazed from their red-veined arms and black fingers as vines blasted from the earth and raced toward Lucus and me.
I stood, the Yew Bow in hand, and immediately began visualizing everyone and the destination for the portal spell.
Hekla. Lucus. Aurelio. Baccio just in case the curse demanded all those involved in the curse be present in the castle. Kaippa. Oliver. Nora. The Binder.
The casting pealed through my brain like a bell.
But an explosion in the center of the feast grounds broke my concentration.
And the man I knew from Lucus’s memories appeared in a cloud of lightning.
The Mage Duke.
Chapter 29
I had no words. The Mage Duke, Ludovico Sforza, the mage who had cursed Lucus after Lucus had accidentally killed his daughter, was standing right freaking here in the middle of the chaos. Though he wore the modern black shirt and finely tailored trousers of a businessman and the face of a gaunt, hard-boned man who’d lived far beyond the time he should have, supernatural power and rage emanated from him like flames.
In the hush, Arleigh made a noise that sounded like a moan of both longing and despair.
The Mage Duke strode toward her, his hands fisting and magic sparking in the air around his shoulders and arms. He wore a necklace that showed a snake with horns, or maybe it was another of those wyvern-dragon things that posed on his castle.
“I should have known you would house my greatest enemy,” the Mage Duke hissed at Arleigh. “Only you could do the worst to me. Throwing a feast for the one who slaughtered my darling Lucilla.”
“No, it’s not like that, Ludovico,” Arleigh murmured.
I blinked, shocked. She said his name like a lover.
“You built this now broken boundary to keep me away,” the Mage Duke said to Arleigh. “Such a dark, fiendish mind you fae have. Well, it has all turned out nicely. My enemy escaped the curse he deserved to suffer until he and his kin were dead, but I followed the magic and have not only found my prey but also an opportunity to strike him down. I’ve no more need for you, dark fae.” His fingers flicked outward at Arleigh, and lightning engulfed her. She fell to the ground, eyes closed.
The Mage Duke’s gaze strafed the crowd. “Where is the demon who stole my Lucilla? Lucus, come forth. Don’t cower like the youth you once were.”
No, Lucus, don’t come forth. Stay the hell backeth.
Kaippa walked out of the woods with a swagger like a prize fighter. “I never thought I’d get to thank you for the extended stay in your fine abode, Master.”
Confusion twisted the Mage Duke’s features for a moment before he grimaced. “I had forgotten about you.”
Kaippa put his hands over his heart. “How could you forget your devoted servant who was in the wrong place at the wrong time?” Bitterness slicked its way through every word. “Surely the powerful Mage Duke didn’t simply forget that he ruined a loyal slave’s entire existence.” Kaippa flew at the Mage Duke, bat wings a blur in the night, and latched onto the mage’s neck.
The Duke’s body erupted into a flurry of lightning strikes that threw Kaippa backward. The vampire fell to the ground, unmoving, blood leaking from his ears and mouth.
Lucus strode out of the gathered fae, his horns reflecting the stars and moon. The pain he’d lived through deepened his eyes and pulled his full lips into a grimace. “I am here. And I am not the only one with death on my hands.”
He wasn’t bound anymore, was he? Or had Arleigh put the binding back when I wasn’t here? Could Lucus even defend himself?
The barrier was down. I had to portal us out of here. Now.
“I have begged forgiveness for killing Lucilla time and time again. Your curse took my innocent brother Francesco from this world, and I will see my revenge.” Lucus pulled a fae blade from his belt.
An ugly laugh boomed from the Mage Duke. “And you think you can best me with your dagger, you filthy fae?”
“I will die trying.”
I knew he wasn’t lying. He would strike out at this magical madman, and he would lose. If he was using a knife, he was obviously dealing with the binding again or knew his fae power wouldn’t work in this case.
A voice spoke at my shoulder. I jumped and glanced behind me to see Corliss. When had she crept over here like some fae ninja?
“I will attack. You portal them out.”
What? Was she offering to help?
“My mother will rise up. She will kill you all. Neither she nor my father showed me any kindness. Only cruelty. I see kindness in the Binder.
