A scream of agony tore from Bindy. Within seconds tears rolled down her cheeks. I’d never ever seen her cry.
My heart thundered. “No! My magic is average. That wasn’t a lie.”
Bindy stopped screaming but her chest heaved up and down at an alarming rate.
“Ah, now that wasn’t a lie. But now I know the lie is in your ability. Why are you hiding it?” His eyes drifted away from me. “Perhaps you care for the handsome boy more than the woman or maybe the tattooed brute?”
I blurted out questions to distract him. “What do you want? Why is your kind here?” Zyacus wasn’t wearing his crown. This man might not know who he was and since he seemed interested in my status it seemed Zyacus would be safer as a nobody. One of my guards like the others.
The Fae prince clicked his tongue. “It astonishes me how ignorant everyone is in this realm.”
I cringed at the insult.
A cruel smile pulled at his lips. “I can’t give away the best part but I will tell you that the fun is just beginning.” He began a slow walk in a circle around me. His fingernail dragged along my back as he went. Bumps erupted on my skin and a cool shiver rolled over me.
His dark gaze slid to my friends. “Now, where were we? Ah, you.” He pointed a finger at Zyacus.
Arching his back he grunted through clenched teeth. His face twisted in pain.
“Stop! Stop!” I screeched.
“Your ability? We have a prophecy in my lands about a human princess. I need to know if it’s you.”
Zyacus bent forward now, shaking, pressing his hands to his temples as if his head might explode if he didn’t.
“I see when people will die. If I touch them and their death will be soon, I’ll see it.”
Zyacus dropped to his knees, the anguish gone from his face. His eyes found mine and he pulled a half smile. He was alright.
The Fae prince’s dark blue brows furrowed as he looked me over. “Interesting but not what I expected. It must not be you.”
What must not be me? What was the prophecy?
His mist grew and began to swirl around him but suddenly it stopped, frozen in place and he stepped out of it. His eyes lifted to the barely visible red moon and then back to me. “I wonder…”
He stretched a hand toward Zyacus. Zyacus lifted into the air and arched in pain again.
“Aren’t you going to try to stop me?”
Tears welled in my eyes at the agony on Zyacus’s face. “I told you what you wanted to know!”
“Maybe I should snap his neck,” the Winter Prince crooned. “Your healing potions can’t bring back the dead.”
Zyacus screamed and the horrible sound tore through me. My magic flared, swelling inside me like a geyser ready to blow. “No!” I roared, pulling my sword. I sprang at him and magic exploded out like a tidal wave, blasting everyone and thing around me at least twenty feet back. Sagebrush and dirt had ripped away as if a tornado had torn through here.
I panted at the sheer rush of power that had—unlocked within me? I’d heard of my mother doing this but I’d never been capable before. I glanced down at the two-foot hole I stood in. Panic shooting through me,I spun around in search of Zyacus and the others. If I’d hurt them...
The Fae prince slow clapped. He’d been blown back too but clearly not injured. Bindy struggled to her knees and Mateo rolled onto his stomach and pushed up off the ground. But Zyacus didn’t move. A sharp pain stabbed my chest. Zyacus…
Chapter 13
I watched in horror as Zyacus lay unmoving. Bile rose up in my throat as Mateo shook him and he still didn’t move.
“Interesting what the blood moon brings out in people. Maybe you are her.” The Fae prince drew out the word like it brought him great joy. Then the blackness grew to a cloud around him. “See you soon.” When it cleared, he was gone.
I dashed to Zyacus, dropping to my knees beside him. “Is he breathing? Is he alive?”
Mateo pushed his prince over onto his back. Zyacus’s face scrunched at the brightness of the sun and he mumbled, “That bastard needs to die.”
I practically dove on him, pulling him into a vice-like embrace. “You’re alive!”
He winced painfully and said, “I am but not without injury.”
“Oh, sorry,” I loosened my hold, “where are you hurt?”
Ignoring my question he pushed up onto his elbows. “Was that you—that blast of power? Or him?” He looked me up and down with—appreciation? Awe? Maybe a touch of fear?
I swallowed to wet my suddenly dry throat. My eyes flitted to Bindy who watched me silently. I almost couldn’t believe it was but that attack had been from me. Not only had everyone been blown away and I was left in a two-foot weathered hole, but the strength that coursed through me at that very moment affirmed it. I had seemingly endless energy and the thrum of magic intensified so much from before, I felt I could run a hundred miles and not tire.
“It was me.” I stood and tried to hide my excitement but how could I? Had I inherited my mother’s gift after all? I’d never heard of someone having two gifts or curses, whatever one called them. My visions of death had manifested itself long ago. Had the blood moon released this ability?
“You have the gift?” Bindy asked in awe. “Like your mother…” her voice trailed off then her eyes snapped back to mine. “Open a portal. That is the ultimate test.”
For everyone but my mother or the use of combined powers it was impossible. “I don’t know the spell.”
“Heal Zyacus,” Mateo said, with an arm around Zyacus’s back, helping the prince to his feet.
“I can heal
