Yew Queen Trilogy, стр. 21
“But you sure as hell are masters at deception.”
“True.”
“What good is that little evolutionary development?” I started up the hill. If I had to do this whole blood and magestone thing, I was going to do it under the power of my own two legs. “It doesn’t protect us prey from you if you can deceive with everything but words.”
“I am no god. I did not create our conditions.”
“So you’re telling me that a woman could refuse you?”
“You did. You broke the lure when you first met me. If you had been willing, you would have continued to feel my power thrusting through your body.”
I swallowed at that wording, feeling way too hot as I hurried toward the castle. Once we passed through the archway, Lucus waved a hand. Vines gripped the portcullis, and the metal barrier clanged down, blocking my way out.
The trees in the courtyard nearly glowed in the sunlight, emerald as the sparks of Lucus’s magic and impossibly tall, their branches tickling the blue sky.
Aurelio stumbled out of the shadow of a maple, and Lucus grabbed him. “Brother?” Lucus took Aurelio’s face between his hands and looked him over. Aurelio’s eyes had gone milky white. “No.”
What did that mean—the whole white eyes thing?
“Lucus. I’m sorry that I am not stronger. You subsist on so much less than me. I wish I had your fortitude. But this solves one of our problems, yes?”
Lucus turned and spat on the cobblestones, apparently rejecting his brother’s vague suggestion. “You will not be the one we give up for the curse. I will go.”
“But if I’m going to die anyway, that makes no sense.” Aurelio broke away and faced the sky, soaking in the sun like Lucus had in my backyard. “I appreciate your dedication to our family, Lucus, but you must see the truth that stands before you.” He spread his arms wide and splayed his fingers. His skin had gone translucent. Green veins in his palms and exposed forearms flickered like light bulbs do when they’re about to go out.
Lucus hissed and touched his brother’s shoulder. “No. Not yet.” The pleading in his voice made my heart ache. Lucus turned to face me, his eyes shining. “Would you offer your aura for him if I make an oath to remain here and restrain him to the extent I am able?”
My stomach dropped. Of course he wanted to save his brother. He’d lost so much. But Lucus’s offer didn’t exactly comfort me. “Can you keep him, and yourself, from killing me if I let him…if I allow him to take some of my aura?”
Lucus’s eyes shuttered. “Perhaps I should try another source.” He looked at me again as his horns shimmered into view and his wings unfurled from his back. “That would be wiser considering you might have fae blood, or shifter blood we can use. But I do believe I’m strong enough to prevent any deaths. I truly do, or I wouldn’t risk it.”
“What source? Wait.”
Aurelio frowned. “What are you talking about, brother?”
“Coren’s aura affected the curse once more while we were away, and I now have another human in my sphere of influence,” Lucus said.
Hekla.
Chapter 15
I pulled my phone out and texted faster than anyone has ever texted.
Hekla. Do not leave the bakery for any reason. Not a joke.
She was already texting back as I lowered my hand to see Lucus approaching the portcullis.
My phone buzzed in my hand, but I couldn’t tear my gaze away from Lucus and the way his fingers danced in the air, the emerald sparks flying. His wings snapped from his back, and his horns shimmered into view, black and vicious.
Baccio—horns like Lucus’s and vine-wings spread wide—flew from an alcove on the far side of the courtyard. “Lucus! How can you lure another? I approve, but how is this possible? Another stroke of luck, or is this also Coren’s doing?”
Baccio landed beside Lucus as I stood there, panicking and unsure on what else I could do.
Lucus glared at his lean brother. “I have no need for your approval.”
“Oh, I know. You’ve shown what you think of our opinions time and time again. So worried about the humans in question.”
Sparks flared over Lucus’s hands, and anger flickered in his eyes as I sidled my way up behind them. “You used to care about the loss of life too, Baccio.”
Baccio glanced at me and bared his teeth like a wolf. They were as white as his horns were black. “That was before we had to give up Francesco.”
I glared. “I thought you didn’t want anyone to talk about him in front of terrible me. Look, this isn’t our fault, us humans. We didn’t cast a curse on you and yours. And I’m here so you can test my blood and see if I can help. Doesn’t that mean anything to you, the fact that I am here, endangering my life, in order to try to help you?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Lucus watching our interaction, his body tensed and ready for action.
Baccio whirled on me and put his face near mine. His skin had the smooth appearance of porcelain, and I found myself staring at his lips, lips that were so much like Lucus’s. “Don’t act as if you have a choice in the matter. If you tried to flee, we would lure you back. Your presence here, the testing of your blood, has nothing to do with your kindness,” he said, his voice mocking. “Despite what might run through your veins, you were raised by humans, and I have seen the way humans behave, their selfishness, the way they drag their designs over the earth as if they were the ones to own it.”
He was right about humans sometimes being pretty terrible, but I wasn’t about to agree with him. On anything. “But when one of us takes the life of another, we put that human in prison. We appreciate the value of a