Yew Queen Trilogy Read online

  “She is a mage.” The female fae raised one fair eyebrow, her grin ringing alarm bells in my head before vines exploded from the ground and swallowed me whole.

  Fae World

  Yew Queen Book Two

  Preface

  Thanks for starting book two of the Yew Queen series! I’m having such a blast writing Coren and Lucus’s story. It’s been fun to create a fantasy set in my own hometown of Franklin, a little spot south of Nashville. I get to imagine the cursed castle on the road I take home after teaching my MMA classes, and I write at Frothy Monkey, a coffeehouse near where Coren and Hekla’s bakery would be if it were real. As I walk to my car, I can almost hear them talking about chocolate croissants and how hot Lucus’s horns are. ;)

  I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did writing it!

  I’d like to take a second to thank my editor Laura Josephson, my Typo Hunters and ARC readers, the Noble Order for online support and so much more, my lovely friends who motivate me in real life, my sister for reading the naughty bits, and my amazing family near and far.

  May you find your very own unicorn of darkness,

  Eve

  Copyright © 2020 by Eve A. Hunt

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Chapter 1

  Fat lot of good magic was. Sure, I’d portalled us out of the cursed castle, but I’d only landed us at the feet of a fae who seemed to think we were the enemy. I needed to find some mages to help me harness my newfound power. One would think my magic would give me a hand with that, but alas. Here we were with no helpful mages in the vicinity and death just one magical jolt away.

  Trapped in vines controlled by a fae who looked like a cross between a Viking and a runway model, I rolled to my side to see Lucus talking and gesturing. It seemed the fae had released Lucus while I’d been knocked out, but more leafy vines held Hekla beside me. She was staring at the sky.

  I scooted closer, feeling raw inside and out. Now nothing would ever be the same because Hekla knew about this world. We’d never be in the bakery, working and laughing, without anything more to care about than making rent and finding a new place to go climbing.

  A chilly fog swirled through the golden light of early morning as I realized we were in a sort of outdoor room. Massive oaks like the ones Baccio and Aurelio had disappeared into made up three walls, and the ground was carpeted with yellow and green moss.

  “You okay?” I asked Hekla.

  “Not really, but thanks for asking. What happened to you just now? The jerking and pain you were in?” A tear slipped from her eye as she studied my face.

  I swallowed, hating that she’d been pulled into this madness. “I can do magic. Bizarre. Insane. But true. You saw it in the lightning that brought us here.”

  Hekla squeezed her eyes shut and took a slow breath as I continued. The vines slithered over her shoulders and anger welled over my fear. I’d brought us here. This was my fault.

  “I’m a mage, and I need to learn how to work with the earth’s energy lines, or I’m probably going to have some major health issues soon.”

  “Your magic was hurting you?”

  “Yeah. The portal I cast was supposed to bring me to a mage who could help me learn to diffuse some of my magic into the ley lines. Obviously I still suck at this whole casting thing because I see zero mages up in here.”

  The blonde fae hissed something quick and quiet to Lucus.

  Hair tousled messily around his horns, he looked from the henge to the winged fae female. He straightened his cloak. “I thought we were the last,” he whispered.

  My chest ached. When he’d first seen the fae, a desperate joy had softened his fierce features, but now that she’d proven to be less than welcoming, his shining eyes had gone hard. It had to be tough to think he was going to have a great time with his kind again only to realize they saw him as an enemy.

  The blonde fae snorted and rolled her eyes, her braids shifting to show tiny, jagged horns that I hadn’t noticed earlier. “Obviously, you’re not the last of the fae.” Her words trickled from fae into English, Lucus’s magic working with the tree roots underground to cast understanding through everyone present. "We are the last. I don't know who you are or how you arrived.”

  Lucus glanced at us, his jaw tightening with what I guessed was worry.

  I looked at the blonde. “My portal was supposed to take us to a mage. Where are we?”

  The blonde eyed me like I was a cut of beef and she was deciding on whether or not I was good enough for the grill. “You are a mage. But you lie. Portals do not work here. We are our own country, our own kingdom. But if you ask with regard to where we are in the human world, we are in the northern region of England.”

  “Holy shit,” Hekla and I said in unison. That was some amazing magic that could chuck us all the way from Tennessee to northern England.

  “I need to find a mage to train with, please.” I wished Hekla still had her shotgun.

  The blonde fae’s glare cut me. “We have mages.” Pursing her Botox-looking, rosy pink lips, she adjusted one of the many rings glinting from her long fingers. The ring on her thumb looked like a claw. Like a real claw torn from a bear. “They are safe from the outer world.” Her half-slitted gaze told me she wasn't telling the whole story. These non-lying fae sure were great at deceit.

  I quirked an eyebrow at her, steeling myself against her impressive presence. “So you and the mages have a nice little relationship? Unlike the ones who used to fight with my boy Lucus here and his brothers?”

  “Perhaps the relationship is not what you would consider nice.” She pushed one of her many icy-hued braids over her shoulder where blue swirls of paint covered the skin exposed by the slits in the top of her tunic. “But the mages are indeed safe from the outer world.”

  I leaned toward Hekla. “I realize I have years’ worth of explaining to do, but know this: Fae can't lie, but they are simultaneously the craftiest bunch of fuckers I've ever met. Keep that in mind.”

  The blonde whirled, her belted tunic whipping around her knees. The golden embroidery on her hem sparkled. “Did you say brothers?” Her gaze darted to Lucus.

  Aurelio, Baccio, and Kaippa had been smart to get while the getting was good.

  Lucus extended his wings like he was stretching, but I wondered if maybe he was showing off his wingspan in some sort of power display. “Release them, and I will tell you everything.”

  The blonde crossed her arms, her gaze lighting on Lucus’s wings, chest, and face. A pang of jealousy thrust its way through my heart, and I remembered something I wished to forget.

  Lucus was my fated mate.

  Whatever that meant. Well, I suppose it meant I would feel super pissy when another gal had elevator eyes for him.

  “I will if you swear to keep your mage and human by your side and under control,” the blonde fae said.

  “Agreed.”

  Gritting my teeth, I kept my retort to myself. I wanted out of these body-lock vines more than I wanted to tell blondie to F off. She nodded, and the vines fell away, allowing Hekla and me to take a real breath.

  I straightened my dirty white shirt and tugged my ripped jeans back into place. I was super glad I’d donned my trusty black motorcycle boots before I’d worked that last spell in the cursed castle with Lucus. This was no time to be barefoot. Situations like this called for some good shit kickers.

  “Come. You can explain all to my mother using those fine manners of yours.” Blondie led us down a path lined in ferns that were populated by snails as big as my fist.

  Lucus dropped back to walk with us. “Are you well, Coren? Hekla?”

  I redid my messy bun to keep my hair out of my face. “I think Hekla is tired of that question.”<
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  Hekla removed an errant dark blonde hair from my shirt, then stared straight ahead. “Yup.”

  I shrugged at Lucus, masking the tremor of fear and anger running through me with forced nonchalance. “Maybe try it again after I find a mage who can keep me from electrocuting myself with magic and when Hekla is safely back in our bakery’s kitchen.”

  Hekla pointed at me. “What she said.”

  Lucus’s gaze strafed the surrounding trees and the dark shadows that housed pools of night even though the rest of the world had embraced the day. “I don’t know what the woman meant about portals not working here. Stay close. Baccio and Aurelio will be keeping an eye on us. They are here if we need them.”

  “You sure about that? Baccio isn’t my biggest fan. Now that he knows you were helping me, a mage, he might decide he’s better off without us both.”

  “He is my brother. He will not fail me.”

  I shrugged. I didn’t share his optimism.

  “Where did the others go anyway?” Hekla tripped over a tree root, and I caught her elbow.

  “They disappear into trees to feed on energy. I know. It’s super strange.”

  “Cool though.” She stared straight ahead, her cheeks pale.

  “Yeah. And the vampire—”

  “That guy who attacked us at the theater was a vampire, right?” Hekla picked at her cuticles, a nervous habit I hadn’t seen her do since we’d opened the bakery.

  “You’re doing great absorbing all of this.”

  Hekla flashed a nervous smile and pushed her hair away from her wide cheeks. “I honestly thought your Aunt Viv was pretty smart for a nutcase.”

  My mouth popped open. “You believed her all this time?”

  “No, but I didn’t not believe her.”

  I frowned. “That makes no sense.”

  “Yes, it does. I held off on judgment.” Hekla tugged her sweater’s sleeves over her hands.

  “Ah. Okay. Well, to answer you, yes, Kaippa is a vampire. He isn’t all bad, I guess. He kind of helped me here and there.”

  Hekla shot me a glare. “In between attacking you and me.”

  “Yes.”

  “You need to set your standard a touch higher on the What Is Bad scale.”

  “It’s been a long week.”

  In a line, we snaked through a forest with more oaks as tall as skyscrapers. A scent that reminded me of that mulled wine stuff Aunt Viv used to make suffused the air. Weird. Not bad weird, but still.

  We came to a silver pond that reflected the oaks, ferns, and the sunrise-painted clouds barely visible between the branches.

  At a flat rock covered in bright yellow moss, the fae stopped and turned. “As you enter the inner realms of our court, you will feel as though you are drowning. The sensation only lasts a few moments.”

  “Delightful.” I rolled my eyes, wanting Hekla to join in on the mood-lifting sarcasm, but she still looked like a cat tossed in a bath.

  “How did you manage this?” Lucus asked the blonde. He bent at the surface of the water and touched the rippling silver with one finger.

  “As I said, we have a ... relationship with mages. They prepared a haven for us in exchange for community here because they were ostracized by their own and by humans.” Without another word, she walked forward into the water and slowly disappeared beneath the gentle, lapping waves.

  Hekla tugged my sleeve, ripping the seam a bit. “I'm not doing this, dude.”

  “Look. I'm not a fan of letting the magical water eat us either, but I don't think we have a lot of choice here.”

  Chapter 2

  “Why can't we just stay? Find a train to Edinburgh and flirt with cute Scotsmen and eat toffee pudding?”

  “That sounds amazing, but I have to see the mages they have here. I’ll actually die if I don’t. And I don’t want you to go because Kaippa and Baccio are out there somewhere and they know you. They might hurt you.”

  Hekla picked at her cuticles and took a shuddering breath. “Good points.”

  “Once we figure some stuff out, and I'm not afraid I might die in the next second, we’ll make some plans.”

  Hekla opened her mouth to say something but shut it again. She was staring at Lucus, and I knew exactly where her thoughts were. She could tell we were a thing.

  I made a face. “I don’t know where to start. Look, Lucus and I…”

  She shook her head again; this time she did it so hard that her thick black bangs went askew. “He’s hot and all,” she whispered, “but, Coren, promise me we’ll go back to our normal life at some point.”

  My stomach clenched. “I can’t make that promise.”

  Hekla leaned her head on my shoulder and uttered a little whine. “I was afraid you’d say that. Lie to me, friend. Just lie so I can keep on.”

  “We’ll be back at our bakery by tomorrow morning, cursing our struggling refrigerator and mixing jelly for the weekend doughnuts.”

  “I love that lie.”

  “Me too.”

  I wondered how long it would take Ami to call Titus and alert the police. At some point, this whole thing was going to come out no matter how many excuses I made. I had a strong feeling we would learn the true meaning of opening Pandora’s Box.

  Hekla glanced nervously at the immortals, but she followed me to the pond.

  The water chilled my toes through my boots as I trailed Lucus. Hekla had a vicious grip on my arm, her fingers trembling. I hated that she was involved in this, but I'd had to bring her through the portal. I couldn't have left her there when I hadn't known if Aurelio’s hold on her would do something weird like murder her when I took him with the spell or if the curse would’ve kept Hekla trapped in the castle like it had Lucus and the others.

  Silver water lapped against my knees, and I plunged forward, wanting to get this show on the road. My face submerged, and I held my breath, but the blonde's voice echoed through the water that wasn't really water.

  “Take it in. You will certainly die if you don't accept it.”

  I tried to see Hekla beside me in the pond, but my vision was too blurred. Everything had a hazy, greenish cast, and only indiscriminate shadows crowded the space around me. I opened my mouth, and the magical liquid rushed over my tongue tasting like mulled wine. I coughed, but of course, that didn't clear my mouth. The water coursed down my throat and into my lungs, and I jerked hard, pulling away from Hekla as I stumbled, then floated. The pain was a brand on both sides of my chest, and I longed to scream, to beg for help.

  The blonde's voice reverberated through the water. “Accept it. Take it in. If you don't listen, you will die in a moment, mage. Even with the power you possess, this spell will swallow your aura whole, and you will be a husk. You will be done.”

  Easier said than done! I shouted silently, my body fighting the pain and my spine feeling like it was about to crack in two. I couldn't control this. I couldn't take it in and accept it. What the hell? How was I supposed to relax when I was dying?

  Then a hand covered mine, strong fingers warming my tender skin.

  Lucus.

  He brushed my knuckles, then drew me close. I couldn't open my eyes to see him, but the heat of him there and the touch of his lips against my forehead eased my struggle. The fight went out of me, and I relaxed into his arms. The burning pain in my lungs faded, and suddenly he was carrying me out of the pond and into a world of sparkling golden light.

  I breathed in, heart still pounding and my body warming against Lucus’s powerful arms, hard stomach, and chest. His scent wafted over me, pines and spice, as he whispered something in fae, the drumming of his voice echoing the beat of my heart. I wanted to stay here forever, in his arms, protected and—

  My eyes flew open. The blonde glared at us, but I ignored her, searching instead for any sign of Hekla. Had she gone through? Where was she?

  Lucus set me down, and I belatedly noticed our clothes weren't wet.

  “What was that?” I straightened my shirt. “What happened?�
�

  “She is there.” Lucus pointed toward a shape in a blanket, tucked between the knobby roots of an oak.

  Hekla's face appeared out of the striped folds. “Coren?”

  I ran to her and hugged her hard. “You okay?”

  “You were in there for an hour.” She looked seriously pissed off.

  “Really?”

  “Yup. Listen. You’re not allowed to perish. Don’t bail on me, woman. This is beyond what I can deal with.”

  I hugged her again. “My bad, pal. I’ll try my best not to die in a magical pool of water. Pinkie swear.”

  She chortled and wiped her nose. Her eyes were red like she'd been crying. “No, no. You swear on chocolate croissants. I'm not settling for a mere decorative digit on this one.”

  I put a hand over my heart. “I swear it.”

  The blonde strode off toward a cluster of thick and woody vines. “My mother awaits. You will need to bow to her and give up your alpha role.”

  Lucus traded a look with me that said Yeah no. I walked closer to him. “Thanks for the save.”

  He touched my arm briefly, his gaze on the back of the blonde. “Do you have any idea why your portal spell brought us here? Did you somehow know there were other fae?”

  “The portal was supposed to bring me to where mages were safe. At least, that’s what I was going for.”

  “Perhaps this is the only place where mages still live,” Lucus said. “I am thoroughly surprised there are more of my kind.”

  I touched his chest, the bond between us pulled taut and humming. “I know. I’m glad for you.”

  I hoped it would end up being a good thing. So far, the blonde wasn’t getting me too pumped for the existence of more fae. I wrapped an arm around Hekla as we passed under a rocky overhang jutting from the side of the path. “Are you glad or worried they might not be as excited to see you as you are to see them?” I asked Lucus.

  “She is certainly not warm.” Lucus raised an eyebrow at the female fae. “But hopefully the rest of her kingdom isn’t so…”