Broken Magic Read online

  Grayson leaned toward me and his smiling lips pressed onto mine. I opened my mouth, my tongue forcing its way past that smile and tasting how spicy he was from the inside. The heat rose the deeper we kissed, inflaming my face and every inch of my skin. His hand wrapped around the back of my neck as he held me closer. He tasted like fire and hard liquor. I couldn’t get enough of it, of him. I burrowed into that kiss, wanting that heat more than I wanted to breathe.

  “If I may,” Madden said from right beside us, his face so close, I could feel his breath on my cheek. Despite my wanting to stay within the warmth of Grayson’s possessive embrace, Madden took me by the hand and pulled me to my feet. He was at least as tall as Grayson, but his bowler hat made him appear even taller. When he brought me in close to him, he smelled cool, like peppermint and clean, clear water.

  “Magic is best kept to oneself in this realm,” he said, gray eyes fixed on mine, his smile flashing in the stuttering light. “The castle is no place for a foreigner such as yourself.”

  “Where is my place?” I whispered, swaying on my feet.

  “Around this table, with friends.” His gaze was suddenly intense. “Simply say you belong, and you can stay.”

  The words were in my mouth, itching to come out, but suddenly Grayson was pulling me away from Madden’s hypnotic gaze. His arms wrapped around my shoulders, reclaiming me. The words that had been close to spilling from my lips were now locked behind clenched teeth.

  “You can’t stay here,” Grayson said, his blue eyes flashing with a message I couldn’t quite read.

  I suddenly wanted to lie down. My head thudded in time with my heart, which was blazing like a race car on an open track. The sweet aftertaste of the moonshine tea was turning my stomach. Something was happening here, in this clearing. I couldn’t get the warmth invading my skull to sit still long enough for me to figure out what that was. I was sure Grayson felt it too, but he was drinking more of that damned brown liquor. Dammit, so was I.

  Shaking myself free from the fogginess that crowded my mind, I threw down the newly filled teacup Madden had pressed into my hand, and turned back to Grayson.

  “What the hell’s happening?” I cried, but my words were lost in the sound of music that had erupted from the table. I spun around to see that Trystan was playing an unusual looking instrument, the expression on his round face determined. The timbre of the notes wrapped themselves around me, and I felt as though I suddenly had no control over my body or the rhythm in which it moved. I found myself swaying to the music as Grayson watched me through sleepy eyes, his golden-brown hair disheveled like someone had run their hands through it.

  I spun in another circle, the forest smearing before my eyes, and came face to face with Madden who grabbed my hand and spun me again. I was burning up, the sweat dripping from my skin. Grayson tugged at my hand, taking over where Madden left off, turning me in circle after circle. The giggles came up, seemingly from the ground beneath my feet. And then, suddenly, I was in Madden’s arms again, pressed against him, his peppermint smell clearing my head a little, shuffling out some of that clingy warmth.

  “It’s safe in the clearing, Alicia,” he whispered. “We’ll keep you here as long as we can.” He pulled me even closer, his fresh smell rolling my eyes back in my head, but my feet kept moving with his. His lips pressed to my ear, the words whispered against my skin. “You won’t remember much of this in the morning, but try to remember this. The Queen has a long memory. If you let her know who you are and where you’re from, she will never forget.” He spun me in a series of circles before I could answer. I threw my head back and laughed as though I was going mad. The sound soared up to the trees.

  CHAPTER 6

  ~

  I WOKE UP IN A ball on the ground. Sitting up slowly, I groaned as every joint popped when I stretched my arms and legs. My muscles were in knots, my stomach felt scraped raw—like I’d spent the night vomiting—and my head was stuffed full of cotton. I had a nasty aftertaste in my mouth too—I envisioned guzzling a bottle of thick cough syrup and wanted desperately to throw up until the cloying stickiness was washed completely off my tongue.

  The previous night came back to me in blurry patches of memories—a party with strange woodland folk, drinking endless cups of tea that wasn’t tea at all, conversation that I couldn’t quite put the grasping fingers of my memory on. Something about the Queen. And magic. My eyes widened, and a little more life came back into my sore, struggling limbs.

  Grayson’s unmoving body was spread out next to mine in the dirt and leaves, one arm over his face, his chest rising and falling with his lightly snoring breaths. I watched him for a moment, strongly considering just crawling to my feet and running back in the direction of the portal. Or I could find the clearing again, where I’d be welcomed and protected by the magical beings there. Madden made it clear I wouldn’t be welcomed with open arms in the castle. But I couldn’t just leave Grayson alone here in the dirt, even if he did work for the Queen.

  I slapped his arm, hard, and his eyes sprang open, the blue in them panicked before he realized where he was. His face pressed into a deep frown as he brought a hand to his head. He rolled onto his side and lurched up into a sitting position.

  “My head,” he moaned. “How much did we drink last night?”

  I had no idea, but a killer hangover was the least of our worries if Madden was to be believed. “I want to go back to the portal,” I said.

  He squinted at me, his eyes blue slits in his grimacing face. “Why?”

  “I need to see if I can open it. The faeries said…” but what had they said exactly? I forced my groggy, shriveled thoughts into some sort of coherent order. I remembered: the party and slamming back drinks, Blossom’s strange sleep riddling, Trystan screaming every word he spoke, and Madden’s kind gray eyes and crushed bowler hat. Madden had shared something with me when he whispered into my ear. But I could only remember the moaning branches over our heads and the sound of all those teacups and saucers clinking together on the table.

  “I can’t go back.” Grayson rubbed his neck and shoulders, causing his face to press into a tighter scowl, as though he was in severe pain. Despite the dark circles around his pretty eyes, the paleness of his cheeks, and the disaster that was his hair—which was full of leaves and sticking up in the back—he still looked as handsome as ever. “I need to report to the Queen before I do anything else.”

  “Magic,” I said, suddenly recalling the worst of the warnings. Magic and time, both frozen—one by the Queen and the other by the faeries themselves. “The faeries said the Queen put magic on lockdown in this realm. Why?”

  Grayson shrugged, his face still twisted, like waves of discomfort were washing over him. “Probably to keep the realm safe. It makes sense.” His cerulean eyes narrowed again. It was shadowy where we were crouched on the forest floor, even with the sun shining above the leafy canopy. But I could still see the dark flash of irritation in his gaze. “I mean, we all know how supernaturals can be. They get power hungry when they start using their magic.” He smirked, which rubbed me the wrong way. “Unless someone stops them.”

  “Not every supernatural is like that, you know?” I replied in a stony tone. “Just like, not every shifter makes a sport of attacking humans and stripping the flesh from their bones.”

  His little smirk turned down at the corners and tugged the rest of his face down with it. “That’s disgusting. I’ve never met a single shifter who would ever eat a human being. Or a supernatural. You all look so stringy. I bet you all taste bitter too.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh at that, even if my head felt like it was going to explode. I must’ve drank more than I remembered last night, and I remembered drinking a lot.

  “I don’t like not being able to use my magic,” I said. “Doesn’t being blocked from shifting into your dragon form bother you?”

  Grayson stood up slowly, bracing himself against the trunk of a nearby tree. He looked down at me, seeming very tal
l and broad in the shoulders. “I trust that the Queen has her reasons. Minding the wellbeing of an entire world can’t be an easy task. Just because some forest faeries got us drunk and told us some riddles, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t give her the benefit of the doubt.”

  I stared up at him as the sluggish thoughts in my head slowly made their connections. My skin was so dry, it felt ready to split open. I wanted to lie down in some cool water and just let it soak into every parched crack and crevasse. I needed a clear head so I could decide what to do.

  Grayson worked for the Queen and had his own reasons for wanting to return to the castle. Trusting him might not be the smartest move. We’d both been stripped of our powers, but only I seemed to care about that. If I could only recall exactly what Madden had said last night about the Queen and the magic situation, I might be able to make my decision more easily, but that part of last night was locked up tightly behind a wall of booze.

  Grayson extended a hand and I took it, allowing him to hoist me to my feet. I expected to come crashing down to my ass again, but my legs were surprisingly steady and my head felt a little clearer. I pulled my hand out of Grayson’s and looked around in the dirt and underbrush.

  “Where’s my bag?” Panic began to rise. I couldn’t lose that book or my collection of balms and potions. It was all the magic I had left. I spotted it, shoved nearly all the way under a bush. I bent to tug it out, then beat off the dirt, and slung it onto my back. Grayson was looking around too, a cloudy expression darkening his handsome features. “What’s wrong?”

  “I can’t find my bow and arrow.”

  I scrunched my eyebrows together. “You hung them on the back of your chair. In the clearing.”

  But we weren’t in the clearing anymore. I didn’t know where we were—somewhere in the woods, obviously. But the woods went on for miles in all directions. At least we wouldn’t go walking right into a tree now that it was light out, but how would I ever find the clearing again if I needed it?

  He put his hands on his hips and looked at me, his eyes shadowed with worry. “I haven’t even been on the job for a week, and I’ve already lost my equipment.”

  “Just tell them you were drunk,” I replied, deadpan.

  He considered me for a moment, the flat air blocking me from properly reading his energy, before he burst out laughing. I smiled too, watching as he shook the leaves from his light brown hair and straightened the front of his dirty uniform.

  “Do you want to look for the clearing?” I asked. “Your stuff might still be there.”

  He shook his head, wiping the rest of the sleep from his eyes and the moisture from laughing so hard. “These woods are nearly impenetrable. We found our way to the path again, so we should just keep going to the castle.”

  I hadn’t noticed the black dirt path beneath us, but he was right. Had Madden and Trystan left us here? We’d wandered in the dark for some time last night before finding the party in the clearing. Did that mean they thought I should keep going to the castle or run back in the direction of the portal?

  “Which way to the castle from here?” I asked, looking both in directions as it wound around trees and disappeared.

  Grayson pointed a thick finger ahead of us. “That way.”

  I wanted to ask how he was sure, but he’d been through here before and I hadn’t.

  “The Queen will explain everything when we get to the castle,” he said. “You’ll see.”

  I wasn’t so sure—about the Queen or about Grayson—but what choice did I have? The last time I’d seen the portal, it had been sealed shut. I had no access to magic and couldn’t convince Madden to leave the clearing long enough to see if his leftover powers could open it.

  I nodded for him to the lead the way, not exactly thrilled about our destination, but happy to be doing something definitive. I couldn’t stand still anymore with the tingling of my magic itching over the surface of my skin.

  “How’s your head?” he asked, glancing over at me.

  “It’s okay,” I replied. “Damn, those faeries can drink. I haven’t slammed booze back like that since college.”

  “You did drink a lot.”

  I glared at him, a small, sharp grin on my face. “You’re one to talk. You were knocking that moonshine tea back like someone was going to take it from you if you didn’t.”

  Grayson shrugged one shoulder, smiling too, but more openly. “Madden kept refilling our cups. I think getting us drunk was part of his plan. He wanted to keep you there. He kept glaring at me, making it clear I wasn’t welcome.”

  I had a clear recollection of Madden’s insistence and the warmth of his power moving over my skin, calming the magic boiling inside me and straining to burst free. I’d never felt such a consistent, painful blockage.

  “I guess birds of a feather really do stick together,” he said mildly, but his words sounded accusatory.

  “Like you wouldn’t have stuck around if we’d stumbled into a den full of shifters.” I bit back the next part of my comment—that, since dragon shifters didn’t play too well with others, he might not have felt very comfortable at an impromptu shifter party, unless they were all fire breathers too. It seemed unnecessarily cruel to say, but it was worth remembering.

  “That’s not the point,” Grayson said as we passed beneath some low-hanging branches. He lifted them so I could walk ahead of him, and then followed me “They were hiding from the Queen and still using magic. I just didn’t trust them.”

  “You work for the Queen, who stripped everyone of their powers. That’s pretty messed up. And it’s probably why they didn’t trust you. I’d question anyone’s motives if they did even half of what the Queen has managed to do in this realm. Magic chooses you. No one else has the right to take it away.”

  He stared at me dispassionately, his wide eyes completely unreadable. “Are you saying you don’t trust me?”

  I didn’t answer right away, which was its own answer. “I don’t even know you.”

  “But you trusted Madden?”

  I didn’t exactly trust him, per se, but something in his magic spoke to me, stirring that deep well at my core so I believed every word he said. I couldn’t explain that kind of connection to a shifter. He wouldn’t understand it.

  “He had no reason to lie,” was all I said.

  Grayson grinned sharply, his light eyes much darker in the shadow of the canopy. “You should have seen his face after you kissed me. I think he might have had a crush on you.”

  “After I kissed you?” I slapped his arm with the back of my hand, smirking up at him as he widened his eyes, playing innocent. “You mean after you kissed me?”

  “Either way, he wasn’t happy.” He chuckled contentedly. “I think he wanted you all to himself.”

  “I chalk all that up to way too much moonshine tea,” I said, brushing his accusations right off. “Just keep your hands, lips, and whatever to yourself from now on.” My entire face felt red hot, but I was smiling too. I had to stay on my toes around this shifter. I liked that, even if he was employed by the Queen.

  He chuckled but didn’t answer. The black path was clear in front of us, so we kept up a decent pace, moving as quickly as we could through the flat, scentless air. We were traveling up a gentle, but consistent incline. My quads were killing me. It felt like I’d been running nonstop for the last several days, which actually wasn’t far from the truth. I promised myself a nice long spa day when I got out of this damned realm and before I jumped into the next one. Oh, who was I kidding? The minute I jumped out of this world, I was going to find the next one as soon as I could. My parents could be waiting for me. I could entertain the idea of a spa day once I solved the mystery of their disappearance, not before.

  After what felt like hours, the path rose sharply, leading up the side of the mountain bringing the castle into view. Two guards stood on either side of the path, dressed in dark, drab uniforms that matched the one Grayson wore.

  “Friends of yours?” I asked, slowi
ng my steps. They’d already seen us and were waiting for us to approach. Was it too late to turn back and run off into the woods? Would I be able to find the clearing again? I could still feel the heat of Madden’s magic on my skin, both a clue and a warning.

  “They’re palace guards,” Grayson said, but he looked disgusted by the sight of them. “And skin walkers.” He spat out the last part, and I could tell there was some bad blood there—not that now was the time to get into it.

  The guards were rail-thin with lank, rust-colored hair hanging down to their boney shoulders. They had gaunt, ashen faces that looked like they’d never been out in the sun before. A strong gust of wind could probably blow them over. The power inside me fluttered uselessly, and I couldn’t help attempting to read the energy around them, but as expected, it was as dead as the wind. The walking skeletons watched us approach, their skinny arms hanging loose at their sides. The way they stood, there was only room for one of us to go between them at a time. Grayson passed without incident—they didn’t even say a word to him—but when I tried to follow him, they stepped into my path.

  I had to crane my head back to look them in their faces. Up close, they looked like corpses with pale, greenish-gray skin, dead milky eyes with no light shining behind them, and a mouthful of rotten, chipped teeth.

  “Who are you?” the first guard asked, his gravelly voice inflectionless.

  “What business do you have with the Queen?” the second guard asked, right after the first, his flat voice identical.

  Blinking up at them, first one, then the other, I had no idea what to say. I didn’t even know why I was in this realm. My first instinct was to run. Without my magic, I couldn’t very well force my way through, and Grayson was just as powerless as I was. I had no choice but to tell them some version of the truth.