Yew Queen Trilogy, стр. 11

His cloak rippled with deep green oak leaves, his spicy pine scent twisted in the wind, and tiny leaves sprouted from the tips of his lashes like some crazy-ass winged eyeliner. His vine wings snapped from his back, expanding behind us in a rustling of ivy. Tingling warmth caressed my torso, then spread over my entire body, prickling my flesh and making me gasp. He didn’t seem to notice he was tempting me with his power. He was too busy staring around like he might be deciding where to go next with his newfound freedom.

I swallowed, doing my best to stop staring at his throat and his lips and his— “So normally what happens when you leave the castle?”

“One century after the Mage Duke cursed us, our castle appeared on a ley line far from home. Ley lines are seams, so to speak. The earth’s energy radiates through them. I tried to leave the castle, only stepping one foot beyond the barrier, and I nearly lost what little life I have left. So in answer to your question, we don’t leave.” He pointed to the clock. A waxing crescent glittered with an eerie light. “But when the moon goes dark again, we must make a sacrifice. To keep the castle whole, to retain what life we do have, we must throw a sacred item into the night at the moon’s last glow. Now we have no more items. The last time we appeared, we had to sacrifice one of our own. To save the rest of us, he left the castle and turned to ash. He fulfilled the Mage Duke’s demand and allowed us another one-hundred-year sleep and one more appearance in the living world.” Lucus touched the red silk hanging from his belt.

That one who had died had been Francesco, the brother Baccio didn’t want Lucus talking about. Damn. This guy was a horror movie come to life, but losing a brother right in front of your eyes? No one deserved that.

I touched Hekla’s friendship bracelet. She was the closest thing to a sibling I had, and if she went out like that, I’d die. “I’m sorry for your loss,” I whispered.

Lucus broke from his study of the night sky to stare at me. “You are?”

“Of course. That is rough.”

I scowled, torn between being scared to death and feeling empathy for a freak that wanted to feed off me. Also, I had a million more questions. Ley line? Mage Duke? Who would die at the end of this month? Mentally, I waved the questions away. This was not my problem. In fact, these monsters wanted to use me to possibly help them break a curse that I had nothing to do with and then snack on my aura and blood. No matter how sad his story was, I wasn’t going down like this. I had to focus on escape.

If he required me to stay alive outside the castle, then if I pried his fingers off me, even for a second, he would die, right?

One way to find out.

I dropped to my knees, and his fingers slipped from my arm. He sucked a breath.

But nothing happened.

He cocked his head. “I don’t think I have to be in contact with you physically for this to work. I only need to be within the pull of your powerful aura.”

“And just how far does my fancy aura reach?” I wanted to try to run again, but he would catch me. If he didn’t lure me back with his magic, he’d simply outrun me in the dark. I couldn’t try it. Yet.

I began to ask questions about this Mage Duke, but he didn’t give me time to ask. He spun me around and grabbed me with both arms, pressing his body against my back.

And then we were in the air.

The. Air.

“We are freaking flying!” I opened and closed my mouth like a sad and dying fish on land.

“Isn’t it marvelous?” A laugh rumbled from his chest, buzzing against my ribcage.

I couldn’t form words. The ground below was a blur of silvery trees and curving, empty roads. Lucus flew higher as we soared over the square, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and the old city hall where they used to hang people. My stomach dipped like we were on a roller coaster, and I dug my fingers into Lucus’s arms to hang on. The wind was relentless on my bare legs, and I began shivering hard. He held me firmly, but gently too, his muscles tensing in my grip.

Lucus veered right, then headed back toward the castle, the wind ruffling his black and emerald hair. “I am sorry for all of your discomfort, but you must understand this is the first time I’ve been able to fly since your year of 1519. Tell me where you live, and we’ll head there so you can find warmer clothing.”

What had he just said?

“Don’t worry about explaining. I will simply look,” he said.

The shocks just kept on coming. And my brain had taken enough for one night. I felt a twinge of something at the base of my neck. With the scent of some ancient forest swirling around me and the world whirring past my feet, I blacked out.