Page 17 of Queen of the Crimson Throne (Queen of Blood and Stardust #2)

17

LENNOX

With the snap of her fingers bags appeared next to Luce, as if they had been waiting in hiding until she was ready to reveal them. “I brought supplies, I figured witch relics are not easily obtained in the Blood Court.”

“You assume correctly,” Luka confirmed.

Luce wasted no time, pulling items from her bags, placing candles and vials of witch relics on the table along with a map of Lethenia.

I took the map from her, spreading it out on the table and using the bottles to secure the edges.

“What can I do?” Kara asked.

Luce pulled Hecate’s spellbook from her bag and handed it to her. “Find the page with the location spell.”

Magic flooded my fingertips at the sight of the book. Magic oozed from the book, sending a tingle down my spine. Kara shuttered as she took the book from Luce’s hands.

“What is that?” Declan’s gaze was fixed wholly on the book.

“Hecate’s spellbook,” Luciana answered.

“Why does it feel like that?” Nico shuttered.

Luciana looked up from her bags. “The book is powerful. It hosts the origins of the witches. It’s a magical book. ”

“The pages are blank,” Nico mused. Kara looked at him quizzically as she flipped through the pages.

“You can’t see the words?”

Nico shook his head. “Neither can I,” Luka added.

“Like I said, it’s a magical book, only those who it allows can read the book.”

“Well, aren’t you special?” Nico joked.

“You won’t get the book to show you anything talking like that, wolf boy.”

“So how does this work?” Declan approached the table, tucking his wings in tight to make room for us all.

“I’ll use the book as a beacon to help find the journals, once the ingredients are mixed together I will put them on the map. When the spell is complete the map should reveal to us where the journal is.”

“And we’re supposed to trust this spell?”

Luciana gave Declan a seething gaze. “Half of witch magic is about faith. Try to have a little, bird boy.”

Declan’s black wings rustled behind him as he crossed his arms. “It sounds risky,” Declan continued.

“Sometimes you gotta take risks, Dec.” Nico slung an arm over Declan’s shoulder only for the harpy to shrug out of his hold.

“I found the page,” Kara interjected.

“Perfect. Set the book on the table,” Luce directed. “While I gather the ingredients, can you light the candles, Lennox?”

I spread the candles out along the perimeter of the table before lighting them with the flick of my fingers.

“Ready, Luce?”

“Ready.”

Luce dumped the contents of the bowl onto the map. “Will you light them, Lennox?”

I sparked a flame onto the piles of herbs.

“We have a better chance of it working if we all try together.” Luce reached out her hands to me and Kara .

Kara, Luce, and I all grabbed hands. Our eyes closing simultaneously as our hands linked. Luce began chanting the spell, after saying it once, Kara and I joined in, the three of us saying the words in unison.

A light wind blew around us, causing the smoke from the herbs to drift to my nose. Luce’s hand squeezed mine at the same time a burst of magic jolted through me, like a tiny lightning strike, slowly traveling from my hand through my body as I continued to chant.

We continued until the wind and the magic buzzing in my body stopped.

I opened my eyes, immediately finding Luka staring at me in awe.

I tore my gaze from his and looked at the map. The herbs still smoldered, but they had shifted to form a small circle on the map.

“It worked,” Luka whispered in awe.

We all leaned in closer to see the location the spell had revealed.

Chills ran down my arm when I realized where it was circling. “That’s the location of Hecate’s cottage.” I meet Luka’s gaze. “The one Luka and I visited.”

“Well, it looks like we’re all in for a little adventure.” Luce grinned. “I’ve never tried transporting more than one person before.”

I whipped my head in her direction. “You want to transport us all?”

“Why not? Time is of the essence here is it not? You two are not in a position to up and leave for several weeks, and based on your last experience with Hecate I doubt she’d talk to any of us.”

“So the three of us.” Luka looked between Luce and me. “We’ll go back to Hecate’s cottage.”

“No way am I getting left behind this time,” Nico protested. “I’m coming too. ”

Luce shrugged. “Fine with me.”

“If he gets to come I get to come, too,” Kara added.

“So I get to stay behind while you go off on a ridiculous chase,” Declan grumbled.

“Don’t pout, bird boy, you can come too if you want.” Luce looked at him over her shoulder.

“You can bring all of us?” I questioned.

“I can’t see why not. It’s good practice.”

I sighed. I didn’t like how comfortable Luce had become with practicing Ichor Magic.

“It’s settled then, we’ll all go,” Luka said. “Tomorrow night? That way we won’t raise suspicion that we’re gone?”

We all nodded in agreement.

“Tomorrow we go back to the Mystic Court.”