Page 31 of Broken Hearted
I moved the tip of my ice sword to his neck until a single drop of blood formed. He eased the shadows off, which allowed me to breathe and have some limited range of motion.
We were in a standoff. I’d forgotten he was an Ethereum lord, and therefore powerful.
Plan B.
“I’m not here to kill you, okay? In order to do that, I would need this.” I pulled my faestone blade from its sheath and then held it out with the handle facing him. “Here, you can have it. As a show of good faith.”
I walked slowly toward him, the shadows moving with me as I reached out to lay the blade by his head.
He tracked me with his eyes, and I could see a cloudiness there. The tea was still at work, and I would need to detox it from his system before he saw reason.
As his attention was engrossed with the faestone dagger beside him, I sent a hunk of blunt ice from the floor into his temple, knocking him out cold.
Again.
The shadows fell away, and I sighed.
This was not how I had planned for this to go.
* * *
After paying the innkeeper nearly all of my coin, he procured a fae with a dampener rune wand and the ability to use it. I needed Adrien’s powers neutralized for the next few days, and that was the only way I could think to do it.
When the fae arrived, I was a little surprised at his elegant appearance. In his early thirties with a neatly trimmed beard and mustache, he strode confidently into the room with a bowler hat and three-piece suit, but there was a conniving look in his eye that made my skin crawl.
“You can dampen his powers?” I asked.
He just nodded, walking over to the bed without sparing me a second glance. Opening Adrien’s shirt, he drew the rune onto his naked chest with his wand.
His nostrils flared as he sniffed the air. “Love potion. Interesting. No judgment,” he told me with a smirk.
“It’s not mine,” I protested.
He could smell it? Did that make him a witch too? I swallowed hard.
He raised one eyebrow. “Well, if he’s coming down from it, you are in for a rough few days.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
He held out his hand as if to say that his knowledge cost money. I’d already paid him for the rune.
With a growl, I dropped two coins in his palm.
“Depending how long he’s been ingesting it, he’ll get sick after a few days and then the potion will try to make him cling to thoughts of whoever it was focused on. It’s ugly.”
My heart hammered in my chest at the thought of it. I felt so bad for Adrien and even more furious at Elisana. If this fae was right, we were both in for a rough few days. If he’d already stopped drinking the tea, then he would probably start getting sick soon. But what I was really dreading was having to endure listening to him cling to Elisana for who knows how long after that.
“How do I get the rune off when I don’t need it anymore?” I asked the man as he glanced at Adrien in bed. Dispelling runes was no doubt part of Dawn’s training to be a champion, but I’d only had time for a crash course before coming to Ethereum.
His gaze fell to the blue faestone dagger on the pillow besideAdrien’s head. Desire flashed in his eyes and I snaked my hand out and sheathed the weapon back at my hip.
“One touch of that blade will do,” the fae said. “Unless you want to sell it to me.”
“No chance. Thank you for your time.” It was a goodbye, and my tone was firm. He got the point and with a little hesitation, he left.
It only took about ten more minutes for Adrien to rustle awake. He was out for a much shorter time than before, which I was going to take as a good sign. But when he glanced down at the rune on his chest, he growled and then bucked like a maniac in the bed.
“Shhh, calm down,” I told him. Running to his side, I tried to soothe him. “You’ll hurt yourself.”
