Page 15 of Witch Queen

“You mean, those hellbeasts just turned up at your location?” Nikolai said sharply.

“Yes.” Anya winced when Nadia touched her leg. “We have no idea how they found us or what their intentions were.” A cynical laugh left her. “Apart from killing us, that is.”

Sable flew over from where she’d been perching on Tarang with Popo and nudged her witch’s arm with her large head. Anya released a shaky breath and stroked the Harpy Eagle gently.

Cortes gave Mae a troubled look. “I think they were after my magic.”

Anya’s eyes rounded. “What?”

A cold sweat broke out on Mae’s brow. She held the sorcerer’s gaze, the photographs of the bodies the New York coven had found flashing through her mind.

From Nikolai’s harrowed expression, he’d just had the same thought.

“That hellwolf tried to tear my stomach open, like it wanted to reach my core.” Cortes pressed a hand to his belly. “Soul Shieldresisted the attack.”

“It was clever of you to suggest putting that spell inside us, oh former queen of my heart,” Popo said effusively.

Cortes narrowed his eyes at his familiar.

Mae chewed her lip. She’d placedSoul Shieldaround everyone’s core upon their return to the States. With Vedran and Barquiel still at large, both wounded and desperate, she’d feared what they might attempt to do to those she cared about.

Seems it was the right call, after all.

Indeed, Na Ri concurred.

“But—how did you end up here?” Vlad said, indicating his penthouse.

The members of theBlack Devilsclean-up crew he’d called were clearing up the wreckage and replacing the broken glass and damaged floorboards. Mae shivered as she recalled the cold efficiency with which they’d cleaned her apartment when she and Nikolai had been attacked by ghouls a few months back.

“I don’t know.” Cortes furrowed his brow. “One minute I was standing on the road with Anya and we were fighting those monsters, the next moment there was a flash of golden light all around us. When I opened my eyes, we were here.”

“A black-magic portal brought those monsters to the apartment seconds after we got here,” Anya said bitterly.

Nikolai scowled. A sour taste filled Mae’s mouth.

So, we were right. This was Vedran’s scheme.

Something that Cortes had just said made her draw a sharp breath.

“Wait.” Mae’s pulse quickened. “You said you saw a flash of golden light?!”

Cortes frowned. “Yes.”

My witch?Brimstone murmured quizzically.

Mae focused on Cortes’s core. It was Na Ri who felt it first.

Wonder filled her first incarnation’s voice.His magic. It’s…different.

“Did your body feel strange when it happened?” Mae asked Cortes tensely.

He stared. “Now that you mention it, yes. My stomach felt hot.”

Anya’s fraught gaze swung between Cortes and Mae. “What’s wrong?”

Mae rose and went over to Cortes, her heart thudding dully against her ribs. “I’m going to examine your core.”

Cortes grimaced. He was no doubt recalling the time she had analyzed his magic so she could incorporate it in the spell she’d created to counter Anya’s Illusion Sorcery.

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