I made sure to pile my table with books about fae legends and some fiction stories, most about love and hope. If someone came to me, they would think I loved to read romance.
But, hidden underneath those, were books about herbs and alchemy. I had been searching for books about poisons, but I couldn’t find any. Either Lark didn’t have any, or they were somewhere else.
It was okay. Even if I didn’t find anything specific, I was sure I could find about some lethal herb.
On my fourth day at the Shade Fortress, Lark’s meeting lasted longer than usual, giving me more time alone at the library. Thankfully, he hadn’t appointed guards to follow me around, like they followed him. It wasn’t as if he needed them, not with some many guards spread around the hallways, and this damn fortress which was … well, a fortress. It was impossible to get in, and it was just as hard to get out.
The library was endless and while perusing, I did see some fiction books that caught my attention. If I ever had some leisure time, I would pick them up to read them.
Alas, I didn’t have any leisure time. Even if I didn’t have what to do with my time, it would never be leisure. Not while I lived in this place.
With a sigh, I advanced toward another row of shelves. I had been exploring shelf by shelf, from top to bottom, and slowly covering the entire library. The books were divided into sections and topics, but sometimes I found a small area that seemed out of place. This would be so much easier if Lark had caught up with modern days and had a computer here with all the books in the library on a database.
I kept going, careful to read each one of the titles on the bindings, making sure I didn’t miss anything that could be useful.
After going through three long rows and finding nothing, I stopped and looked around. At this rate, it would take me a whole month to cover the entire library. I didn’t have that time. In less than a month, the Moon Period would be over and I had to kill Lark before that.
This was ridiculous.
Trying to change my strategy a little bit, I went to the very end of the library. I would start over from here and then go row by row, until I met where I last stopped.
But it wasn’t necessary. When I got to the end of the first row, I found a small section on magical potions and dark spells. Hopeful, I pulled out a handful of books and skimmed through them. Some had sections on poisons!
A sudden eagerness filled me. I could do this. I just had to find the right poison.
I sat down on the cold, dark stone floor and started browsing the books. It didn’t take long. I finally found a poison that seemed strong enough to kill a powerful fae. But it took two weeks to brew and required three very rare ingredients: wolfsbane, darkmallow, and faerend.
These herbs could only be found in the fae realm, and I was stuck here, in this fortress in the human world.
I clutched the book tight to my chest.
Somehow, I had to find a way to get out and find these ingredients.
4
Wyatt
The muscles in my body tensed and I stared down the three witches in front of us. Unfortunately, there was no way to measure how fucking powerful they were just by looking at them.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
Myra cocked her head to the side. “Don’t you know? I’m looking for the fae that escaped our clutches.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lied. I knew exactly who she was talking about. When I first met Farrah, she had been in a trap left by the Bonecrown witches.
Myra took one step forward, her eyes gaining an amused glint. “I think you do.”
Beside me, Ariella stole a glance at me.
“I thought …” I frowned, trying to choose my words carefully. “Haven’t your coven helped Luana and Keeran?” Over three years ago, the queen of the Bonecrown coven had welcomed Luana and Keeran into their estate and helped them learn about Keeran’s past. “I thought you had turned a new leaf.”
A smile stretched over Myra’s red lips. “What, are you saying we’re evil? We like to think of ourselves as neutral. We side with whoever has our best interest. In that case, we helped Luana and Keeran because it fit our own needs.”
“And what’s your excuse now?”
“Now, we have some unfinished business with Farrah.” Myra’s smile faded. “Where is she?”
“I don’t know,” I lied.
Myra narrowed her eyes. “You’re lying. Where are you hiding her?”
I shrugged. “I’m not hiding her.” That wasn’t a lie at all.
Myra didn’t like my answer. She raised her hand and a ray of black magic shot out, coming for me. I jumped out of the way and shifted into my werewolf form.
The three witches attacked full force, and Ariella and I fought back. Myra commanded the show, throwing black bolts at us while the other two witches followed her. I lunged into one, dropping her hard on the ground. I would have gone for her throat, but Myra shot a bolt at my side, making me skid away.
I growled at her.
Then Ariella stepped up her game. She invoked her magic, casting bright light all around us, just like she had done with the fae when she helped Farrah rescue me. The witches shrieked, covering their eyes.
I retreated, closer to Ariella. She purposely aimed her magic away from me, but I still couldn’t open my eyes. She nudged my side with her foot, pushing me back. I kept retreating, but felt as her light became stronger, brighter, and the witches shrieked more.
After a moment, Ariella was by my side. “Run,” she told me. “The light won’t hold forever.”
Relying on my senses, I ran beside her, away from the witches.
When it was safe, she let me know and I opened my eyes.
Then we ran some more.
Ariella and I were mostly in silence as we drove for three entire days, changing borrowed cars at least once a day.
When driving through Colorado, I couldn’t contain my nervousness. I didn’t like being back here.
“I see you’re all jittery,” Ariella said from behind the wheel. We had been taking turns driving every few hours, so we could rest. “Is it because of the witches?”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t care about them.” Even if they found Farrah inside the Shade Fortress, they had no way of getting to her.
“Then what’s going on?”
I glanced out the window, to the mountain range rising beside the road, and let out a long sigh. “About two years ago, I’ve got in some trouble on this side of the country. I ended up pissing off some demons.” That was putting it lightly, but I wouldn’t bore her with my fucking story now. No one knew about it, other than me and the demons, and I sure hoped it stayed forever like that. “I just hope we don’t run into them while we’re around here.”
Ariella tsked. “Well, too bad, because I’m looking to get some payback on demons, and I would gladly like to run into some.”
I snorted. Of course she would. Demons had taken her wings, and because of that, she couldn’t go back home, wherever that was. Well, if she ever found the demons who took her wings, I would help her catch and beat them up.
We fell into silence again until we reached a small town near the Grand Canyon. We sneaked into a group of tourists and joined them on a tour of the Grand Canyon. When they stopped by the Skywalk, Ariella and I sneaked out again.