Page 27 of Of Flames and Crows

“Mae Jin is the Witch Queen,” Vlad replied, his face tight. “The fox is her familiar.”

Cortes stared. “As in,theWitch Queen of prophecy?”

Vlad clenched his jaw. “Something must have happened. She wouldn’t just turn up like this.”

Cortes watched him for a couple of beats before asking one of his men to open the door. Mae rushed up the steps and inside the cabin, her hair fluttering wildly around her and Brimstone on her heels. Relief flooded her face when she caught sight of Vlad.

She rushed over and hugged him, oblivious to the guards staring at her and Ilya and Milo’s sharp inhales. “I’ve been calling you all day!”

Vlad closed his arms around her, startled. He took his cell out his back pocket and cursed internally. He’d forgotten to take it off silent mode after a meeting that morning.

He grasped Mae’s shoulders and pulled back slightly. “What’s wrong?” He scanned her face and body, dread sending his pulse racing. “Are you hurt?!”

She shook her head. “I’m okay.” Her eyes darkened. “Something’s happened in Prague. We need to hitch a ride there.”

“We?” Cortes said in a brittle tone.

Mae registered the Colombian’s presence and his sour expression.

She did a slight double take. “Whoa! Someone did a right number on your magic core.”

Cortes blinked, stunned. His men stiffened when Violet and Miles came inside the airplane. They were both breathless, like they’d been running.

“You sure it’s safe to leave your car there?” Ilya said.

He cocked a thumb to where Violet had parked her SUV in a zone designated for emergency vehicles.

Violet waved a dismissive hand. “Someone’s gonna pick it up.” She dropped onto a couch and fanned herself. “I need a drink!”

“You and me both,” Miles muttered as he sat beside her.

He flashed a distracted smile at one of Cortes’s men.

Vlad looked into the Colombian’s irate face.

“I don’t think they’re gonna leave,” he said, contrite.

Cortes took on the appearance of a man strongly considering killing something as he observed Violet’s rabbit and Miles’s boa constrictor making themselves at home. He inhaled raggedly before running a hand through his hair.

“Alright,” he growled. “But you owe me one.”

Mae brightened. “Oh. Is this your plane?”

“Yes,” Cortes said grudgingly.

He froze when Hellreaver detached himself from Mae’s neck and shifted into his double-bladed, serrated dagger form. The weapon zoomed down the cabin to the galley, heedless of Cortes’s men jumping out of the way with shocked gasps.

A muffled scream came from the back of the aircraft.

Mae deflated. “I’m sorry. He smelled meat.”

“He only eats bad people,” Ilya reassured Cortes’s men where they stood clutching their guns.

Vlad sighed. “That’s not exactly going to put their minds at rest considering their occupation.”

“Oh.” Ilya scratched his cheek. “You’re right.”

Brimstone’s nose twitched. He licked his chops and padded toward the galley with Tarang.

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