The Binder and Nora sucked a breath. They hadn’t known I was related to the Mage Duke. But there was no reason for the secret. No reason for any secrets anymore.
But the curse wouldn’t budge. Its dark tentacles wrapped around my combined mage and fae power, and the tingling and electricity began to fade. I needed more from myself and more from Lucus. More from our bond.
“Lucus, our bond must be stronger. I don’t know how. I don’t know why. I feel…” How could I explain the need I felt, the lack? I had to have Lucus fully bound to me, but I had no clue how to make that happen.
“It’s my name,” he whispered. “To complete our bond, you must learn my real name.”
There it was. My magic crackled with the truth of it.
Fear flickered through Lucus’s eyes, and I held his hand more tightly.
“I won’t tell a soul,” I whispered, my power zipping through my veins like I’d downed a keg of espresso. “I’ve been told its important, but how exactly?” My teeth began to chatter. I held the Yew Bow tighter, and strength flowed into me from its ancient castings.
“The one who knows my name may command me. At any time, any place. I must do their bidding.”
“I won’t misuse it. You know that, right?”
He nodded, his eyes half-lidded. He seemed to be waffling though.
“How about I agree to let you lure the hell out of me tomorrow. I will swear on it, and so you’ll have the upper hand tomorrow.”
“You can break my lure.”
“I won’t.”
A naughty grin swept over his fine, fine mouth. For a good guy, he sure looked devilish. “Agreed, Coren Connelly. My true name,” he said, his lips brushing my ear, “is Marattin Raja, King of the Wood.”
I began to make a dirty joke, but his fae power thrust through me, filling me with strength and incredibly clear vision and magic for days. My hands called thunder, and my palms held spheres of amethyst electricity. Lucus’s heart beat three times, and I felt as though it were tucked inside my own. His scent covered all others, pines and night and jasmine drawing me into a sensation of wholeness. I knew not everyone needed a fated mate or even wanted one. But I knew then, I was meant for this fae lord and he for me.
“Show yourself, curse!”
The ground shifted. Everyone but Lucus and me stumbled to their knees. Stones fell from the walls, and one of the courtyard pillars cracked down the middle before tumbling away from the archway. The trees in the center of the space shook their leaves and lost branches as the castle itself swayed and moaned.
Sparkling lines of black and silver appeared on the castle walls, along the cobblestones, and over the archways, pillars, and doors. They slithered one after the other, tangling and slinking like snakes along the cracks and the mortar between the stones. The sight of it reminded me of the night the Mage Duke had cast the curse, the night I’d seen when Lucus had shared his memory.
I raised the Yew Bow high again and focused all my magic at one spot of black and silver lines that covered the entrance, attempting to mimic how focused the Binder had been when he’d broken the unseelie’s barrier. I imagined blasting my golden aura, my lightning, my thunder, and Lucus’s fae power into the shimmering curse.
“Break!”
The power left in a rush that had me gasping and gripping Lucus to stay upright.
The curse’s sparkling lines burst into amethyst flames. The snake-like strands of magic raced into the sky, then blew apart like a firework. I stepped back, the sight nearly blinding me. There was a sound like all the air in the night was being sucked away. The black and silver lines that had exploded appeared again. They morphed into one twitching length of dark power before shooting through the cobblestones and into the earth with a bang.
The ground moaned and lurched, then settled. I wanted to feel like that had worked, but the serpent shape the curse had taken before it had disappeared into the ground pinched at some forgotten detail in the back of my mind.
I took some deep breaths, feeling hollowed out. “Everyone alive? Did I do it?”
Lucus shrugged. “Until the end of the moon’s cycle, we won’t know for certain, but I do think you threw the Mage Duke’s curse away from here.”
“She succeeded,” the Binder said. “That was the most impressive magic I’ve seen.”
Nora clasped her hands, grinning. “Incredible.”
Hekla hugged me, and I was so, so glad this whole damn thing was over.
“Let’s get everyone cleaned up and fed at the bakery, okay?” I said. “I’m going to say we won the day. And I think this win calls for chocolate croissants.”
Hekla laughed. “One hundred percent it does.”
Lucus held up a hand, his lips pulling into a hopeful smile that made his eyes shine. “And pancakes.”
I chuckled and poked his flat stomach. “Better watch that obsession. You might lose those fabulous abs.”
I followed the group away from the castle, down the hill toward downtown where the bakery hopefully still stood with its hidden key under the compressor out back. It was the middle of the night, so no one would notice our motley crew of strangely dressed folks. Lucus, Aurelio, and Corliss had glamoured themselves up, so at least we had no wings or horns in view.
I’d have to use the bakery phone to call Ami and Titus and make sure they hadn’t freaked out when Hekla and I had taken off. With both of us gone, I was fairly certain Ami would think we’d gone climbing and she’d simply forgotten we’d asked her to cover for us. It had happened at least three times in the past.
Lucus took my hand as we walked, and I wondered how many magical queens ended their days with handsome fae lords at their sides and baked goods as dinner. Despite what might be headed our
