Page 77 of Bound to Burn
I let out a long breath once he steps through and Nora shuts and locks her door behind him.
Not much has changed since the last time I was here. A decorative couch with a coffee table and two armchairs take up the space with a large fireplace across from it. A portrait of Nora’s grandfather sits prominently above it. His severe stare glares at us. The wand that is now tucked in Nora’s silk hair wrap is resting in his lap.
Lucas’ voice strains. “We got caught up in a weaver fight. This is Valen, by the way. A friend of Aster’s.” Valen’s brow lifts, his blue eyes sliding to mine. “We could all use some healing and whatever potions you might have in stock.” Lucas grimaces.“You’re going to have to put it on our tab, though. Business is stretched a little thin at the moment.”
My skin prickles. Debt never sat right with me.
“I’ll pay.”
My head whips around to Valen. His face is impassive once again. “You can add it to the Bauer line of credit.”
Nora’s inspection of Valen shifts from womanly interest to a businesswoman’s keenness. I catch the moment the magician notices the Bauer signet ring on his hand. Her eyes glitter. “Of course.” She gestures to the door beside me. “This way. It’ll be easier down in the apothecary.”
I reach for Valen and wince when the cuts on my arm sting. “You don’t?—”
“Don’t insult me.” He shifts out of reach and steps around me. “It’s pocket change.”
I swallow, lips thinning. A deep baritone whisper in my ear eases the tension. “Do you think he’d want to buyThe Arachnomicon?”
A hysterical giggle bubbles out of me and I meet Lucas’ mischievous grin. “You’re terrible.”
The rest of the words get caught in my throat. Pain lances through my chest and I swallow thickly. He almost died tonight, and that ‘almost’ is a haunting I can’t shake. I want to say how glad I am that he’s okay. I want to thank him for helping me out of the darkness. I want to hold him tight and sob because he didn’t let go of me, not while fleeing my cursed brother and not while pulling me from the darkness. But I’m too caught up staring into his honey eyes and being terrified I’d never see their warmth again.
My lips wordlessly form “Lucas” and my eyes well with tears, my vision blurring.
Lucas’ grin softens, like he knows already. His thumb strokes along my arm and his forehead rests against mine. Tears spillfrom my eyes and I turn to press my face into his neck so no one else can see the cracks in me.
Lucas tightens his hold before descending the stairs after Valen. We step out into Nora’s office, the space smaller and much neater than mine by far. Nora holds open the door to Estrella Apothecary’s infamous back room and we follow her in.
The apothecary is like Peripetia Bookshop in that it has two faces, but where Peripetia morphs from one to the other, Estrella has a much simpler front and back room. The main storefront presents as harmless as possible with its creamy walls and gauzy curtains. It houses the gentlest of potion ingredients along with the cauldrons, the ceremonial chalices, and white-handled bolines.
But back here, where it’s all surgical steel and smooth tiles, there are no common herbs. Rows upon rows of shelves hold the dangerous, the unseemly, and the illegal components of potion brewing. A section of jars contains small things both alive and dead floating in the glass, another filled with mushrooms that shimmer and glow, some winking from their display cases in an attempt to entice the magic users over. Then there is the wall with no shelves, only a large, cold closet with multiple magical and iron locks.
In the center of the room is a long metal table with several chairs around it. Under the lip, leather straps are tucked away, just in case.
Nora’s wand slides into her hand. With a tap on the metal, the table ripples and blooms a padded surface with a plush blanket spread out on top of it. She flicks her wand three more times for the chairs to morph into comfortable armchairs. “Put Aster on the table and let’s have a look.”
Lucas lowers me down and my skin ripples in goosebumps without his warmth. I’m about to ask for the blanket, but Lucas’hissing groan when his hands slide out from under my back has my attention snapping to him.
Nora’s eyes flare wide. She snatches Lucas’ wrist and holds it up. “Your hands! Oh!” She turns it and then demands his other one. “Lucas.” Her full lips thin. She waves her wand over them, muttering under her breath, “The magic nearly cooked you to the bones. How were you holding her?”
Lucas shifts. “It’s fine.”
Nora shakes her head. “You could’ve lost your fingers.”
I glare harshly at Lucas. That secretive little fucker. But he ignores me, choosing to focus on Nora while she flicks her wand again. A large, shallow olivewood bowl and a glass jug float over. “Luckily for you, magical damage from misuse of tokens is a brisk business.” She pours a eucalyptus-scented clear liquid into the bowl. “Sit and put your hands in this.”
Lucas obeys and eases down into one of the freshly transformed comfortable chairs. The bowl slides into his lap and he lets out a long “Ahhhh” when his hands submerge.
Nora cocks a brow. “Better?”
Lucas nods. “You’re a miracle worker.”
“That I am. Now stay like that for about thirty minutes. It needs time to soak under the bands.” She runs the tip of her wand up and down his body. “Something severely damaged your insides, but whatever it was, it’s gone now.” She frowns. “Oh, itfeelsnasty. This will help with some of it, but rest is what you really need. Your body needs time to heal and your rings need to readjust.”
Lucas smirks. “I’ll get right on that.”
I snort and Nora turns to me. She steps back up to the table and lowers her wand, but a hand reaches out to stop her. Valen stands beside my head, his blue eyes cold and the backs of his long fingers resting on Nora’s wrist. “Tell me, witch.” He pusheslightly on Nora’s wand hand and it lifts away from me. “How does one such as you become so adept in the healing arts?”
