We needed to be more careful. If we kept running around like this, we were going to get people hurt. Then there would be no one from the Seelie Court left.
18
CERRI
Ibit the tip of my thumb while I considered this recipe. It was a shot in the dark, but I was pretty sure that I had potion brewing down to a science now. Reversing a love potion shouldn’t be that hard. I dropped in rose petals for access to the heart, added cloves for protection, and cringed when I had to add a strand of Rhoan’s hair.
I really didn’t want to have to drink something with hair in it, but that seemed to be how my day was going to go so far.
Feri scurried out of nowhere and clambered across my open notebook. He looked down at the scribbled text. For a moment, I wondered if the ferret could read. He straightened and looked over at my bubbling cauldron.
“Why did you pick up this hobby?” he asked. “It is not fitting for a princess. You seem more like a witch, the kind that curses good princesses simply for being pretty.”
I was tired of explaining necessity to these fae. They refused to listen. My arcana had been locked away with my memories. This had been the only way to access it, so now it was my go-to whenever I needed anything.
“Because,” I said, instead.
I dipped a metal ladle into the frothing mixture inside my cauldron and poured the concoction into a simple glass. There was no need for fancy bottles when I was going to choke this down immediately. It warmed my hand as I watched it with mixed feelings.
One sip of this and I would never have to worry about my feelings for the drunkard fae warrior ever again. He’d vanished bright and early this morning. His penchant for disappearing on me when I expected him to stay had gotten old already. If he wanted to be the protector he claimed to be, then I needed him to stick around.
Or he could tell me where he was going.
To be fair, I hadn’t really been giving him the same effort. Every chance I got, I slipped off to do something against his better judgement. And every time, Rhoan had to come in and save me.
I should cut him some slack.
Or, I could remove these burgeoning emotions and turn this into a simple work relationship. He’d do what I needed him to do, and I’d sit on a throne for all of five minutes while I planned my escape. Sounded simple. Right?
Before I could bring the glass to my lips, it shattered. Shards flew in every direction. Blood dripped down my hand and into the rest of the potion. It turned a soft pink as I stared in shock. The pain hadn’t yet settled in.
Neither had the danger.
The glass in my hand wasn’t the only thing that’d shattered. Foolishly, I’d left the window over the sink unblocked. The glass now bore a pretty little hole the shape of a crossbow bolt.
I didn’t want to look down at myself because I knew what I would find.
Rhoan
I had things to do,things that didn’t need to involve Cerri. If I’d brought her with me, I only would have been putting her in harm’s way.
To my surprise, when I reached out, Delphine agreed to meet with me. That should have been my first warning that something was up. I’d leaned on our old history and assumed that she would have no problem talking to me. That was the very least she could offer.
So, she’d given me a time and place. Early in the morning. Outside the city so that we weren’t on anyone’s territory. I’d thought that meant she expected this to come to a fight. We could trade blows so long as it was far away from Beryl’s territory.
No.
I stood in the middle of a field for fifteen minutes before I realized that I’d been played. Not only had Delphine not shown up, she’d made sure to put me somewhere with no in-betweens. The open field stretched on either side of me. I could run back to the road and use the space between field and road to step in-between, but I was still losing time.
Delphine was a smart hunter. While I was here, she was back at the refurbished warehouse turned apartments, hunting my princess.
19
CERRI
Iwas so tired of living in fear. This time, the only cold I felt was the cool wave of shock keeping me standing. Behind it, my arcana burned like the blazing heat of the desert sun. Where once it had been a nourishing warmth, it now threatened to scorch the earth and everything upon it.
Looking down, I found exactly what I expected. The bolt had pierced my chest. Thankfully, the glass in my hand must have slowed it down a bit. The tip of the bolt hadn’t reached my heart.