Page 28 of Wicked Curses
She stiffened when he clasped her elbow but didn’t try to pull it free.
“This way,” Orin said.
* * *
Sahira resolutely ignoredthe tendril of warmth spreading from where he’d touched her to the rest of her arm. Did he have to be so warm? Andwhydid he make her tingle in all the wrong places while her heart beat faster?
But then, the dark fae were built for two things: sex and deception. Orin was the perfect example of that, so ofcoursehe affected her when she didn’t want it. That was theonlyreason why. She was sure of it.
Mostly.
Orin led her to the back of the pub and into the shadowed alcove where two bathrooms were located. When she returned to the pub yesterday, she got the key to her room from Belda and went upstairs to settle in. Since there were also two bathrooms upstairs, she hadn’t explored this area last night.
Brass lanterns hung on the walls. The candles inside them jumped and danced to illuminate the shadowy space, but she immediately spotted the infinity symbol with the three arrows sticking through it. Other than being a lot smaller—this one was only three inches tall—it was identical to the one in the library.
“What does it mean?” she muttered. “Something or nothing?”
The door to the men’s room opened, and Zeth ducked down so he could exit. He rose and froze when he spotted them, but then he followed the direction of their gazes to the symbol.
“Ah, so you’ve discovered another one of the many puzzles from this realm,” he said.
“Have you ever seen anything like it?” Sahira asked.
“I’ve seen countless symbols over the years; demons have a way with them. But no, I’d never encountered this one before coming here. I have no idea what it means or why it’s on the original buildings. No one does.”
So she’d been told, but it never hurt to ask. “Have you looked through the books in the library?”
“I’m not much of a reader, but I made it to the third floor last week. I’ve been going through them since I arrived.”
And it had taken him thirty years to get there. He was a slower reader than Elsa, or the second-floor selection wasn’t as interesting to him as the first.
“And you haven’t found anything in them?” she asked him.
“Not one little thing.”
“Great.”
“If you’ll excuse me, I have some lycans who will take over my job in the stables tomorrow if they lose one more hand of cabul.” He rubbed his hands together as he grinned over the possibility of winning another round of the card game immortals often played. “I sure wouldn’t mind an extra day off.”
After he walked away, Orin spoke. “That’s about all we have to play for here, extra time off, but most won’t wager it as they don’t want to do more work. I’m amazed he got those lycans to agree to bet it.”
“Hmm.” Sahira wasn’t really paying attention to him as she stepped closer to study the symbol. “Does it seem off to you?”
“What seemsoffabout it?”
“Shouldn’t the arrow at the top be facing up and the one at the bottom down?”
“Maybe, but it’s a symbol. They’re all strange and can be drawn however their creator decides.”
“I’ll be back.”
Before Orin could respond, Sahira turned and walked out of the small alcove. No one paid attention to her as she set her books on a table, grabbed a chair, and carried it to the symbol.
“What are you doing?” Orin asked.
Sahira set the chair down and climbed onto it. Once there, she was high enough to reach the symbol. Tipping her head back, she examined it before lifting her index finger to hover it over the figure eight.
There was power in symbols, and messing with one could unleash someone else’s magic, but she couldn’t be the first to touch one of these things. She was sure countless other immortals had traipsed along this same path.
