Poison and Potions: a Limited Edition Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Collection

by Erin Hayes

  Dvorak planted his fingertips against the table, leaning forward. “What is it, Adira? You didn’t think he actually loved you, did you?”

  She bit the inside of her cheek. Either the Regent was baiting her, or he was an asshole—most likely, both—but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction either way. Still, she couldn’t help but steal a glance at Alec, whose gaze remained steadily pinned straight ahead toward the wall.

  A tremble of doubt tickled her fingertips, but she pushed it down.

  The Regent pressed his palms flat. “He’s loyal to me, Adira. Every move he has ever made has been for no other reason than to learn what you are capable of. For fucks sake, he let his own family die to save this Sector! Do you really think he cares what happens to some ratty witch girl he found on the streets?”

  Adira tensed at the volume and tone of Dvorak’s voice. But for once, she was glad he had continued on with his rant. His anger was more telling than anything else: He wasn’t trying to convince her that Alec had betrayed her. No, he was trying to convince himself that Alec hadn’t betrayed him.

  And suddenly it hit her. Alec was like a son to Dvorak. Alec was Dvorak’s Achilles heel.

  She glanced at Alec again, noticing the twitch in his hand at his side. God, she hoped he wasn’t up to something. He could very well die in any attempt to help her at this point.

  Adira folded her hands in her lap and nodded, trying to keep her calm. “I appreciate your honesty,” she said evenly. “Is there anything else you would like to say?”

  The Regent’s whole face lit up. “Yes, there is,” he said. He came around the side of the table, over to Adira, and bent down one knee, taking her hand. “Will you marry me, Adira Chovanek?”

  Her face contorted because she couldn’t control it, but she quickly smoothed her features and forced a smile. “Yes, of course.”

  Her stomach churned at this, though. This was worse than his slimy advances on the walk toward the castle. This man was delusional.

  Dvorak slipped the Sector One heirloom ring on her finger and then stood up just enough to try to kiss her.

  She brought her hand to her lips, stopping him, and a storm rolled over his expression.

  “Shouldn’t we wait until after the wedding?” she asked coyly.

  His deranged smile slowly flickered back into place. “Right, of course. Oh, I do love a girl who honors traditions,” he said, wagging his finger at her as he stood. “However, I hope you will not find it unforgivable that we take some safety measures until that time comes.”

  Before Adira could ask what he meant, a guard advanced on her and clamped a shackle bracelet around her wrist. Sharp points pieced into her skin beneath the metal cuff. Instinctively, she pulled at it, but Dvorak clicked his tongue.

  “That won’t come off until I tell it to,” he said evenly. “But it’s for your own good. The potion in that shackle will dull your abilities as a witch, which ought to prevent you from doing anything stupid. And of course, any magical efforts of yours to remove the shackle would be disabled by the shackle itself. It’s a genius invention, really.”

  She stared down at the metal cuff again. Sure enough, there were rune markings all over it, many of which she’d never seen before. As a cool sensation flowed in beneath her skin, she clenched her teeth. He was dulling her magic at the source.

  “By the way,” the Regent added, “it really was such a shame to kill your mother. I always knew she wasn’t a witch.”

  Adira stood, and in one swift motion, reached behind the Regent, grabbed his sword, and pointed the blade at his throat. “You might need me to make an heir, Dvorak, but I don’t need you. Don’t you ever talk about my mother again.”

  The Regent didn’t so much as flinch. He just kept smiling like an idiot. Someone disarmed her and pinned her hands behind her before she could react. She knew the feel of those hands, though. Alec. He should have just let her killed Dvorak, but then, that probably would have gotten themselves killed right after.

  The Regent adjusted his suit and stepped forward. “I suppose the cuff can only prevent you from doing stupid things with your magic. That’s all right. I prepared myself for such an event. Please, follow me.”

  Dvorak left the dining quarters and started down the long main hall. Alec pushed her along behind him, but kept enough distance from the Regent to whisper one thing to her.

  “I’m so sorry, Adira. I can’t stop this.” After a moment, he added, “But you can.”

  She still didn’t know what this was, but she became more concerned as they left the castle and began the hike toward the border. She didn’t dare speak, but neither could she think. Every idea she had was met with an immediate road block. Her magic was useless. Physically, she was no match for the Regent and his guard. All her training had proved useless. She could only hope it would pay off once it was time to face a Ravager.

  But could she survive the rest of what life as the Queen entailed?

  Sure enough, Dvorak led them to the border. The sun had long set, and this far from the city, there was little light to see by. All Adira could make out was blocks of trees and shadows cast in the blue-black of night.

  Dvorak walked all the way to the very edge of the Sector, then paused, his back to Adira. “I feared it would come to this. That I would need to show you how serious this is to make you understand. Hopefully as my bride, you will be able to forgive me for what I’m about to do.”

  And with that, he held out one of his palms. A glowing energy lit up the space before him on the other side of force field, revealing Miss Balek.

  She was still alive!

  But her hands were pressed against some kind of invisible wall. Adira’s assessed the image before her, quickly realizing she was in some kind of runestone prison beneath her feet.

  No.

  “Let her out of there!” Adira demanded.

  “I will, my Queen,” the Regent said, an unnerving tone to his voice.

  Then he lifted his other hand, and Miss Balek stumbled forward onto her hands and knees. One of her wrists was shackled with the same metal cuff cutting into Adira’s wrist.

  Adira lunged toward Miss Balek, but Alec held firm. “Get out of there! Miss Balek!”

  Tears streamed Adira’s face, but the old woman made no effort to move. She just shook her head, smiling sadly, as though waiting for death to greet her. “Be strong, Adira.”

  Three Ravagers were already approaching from behind her, their teeth snapping and dripping slime down the fronts of their faces.

  Adira pulled against Alec’s hold again. “Run, Miss Balek! Please!”

  Dvorak turned toward Adira and Alec, his hands clasped behind his back. “Oh, it’s no use. It’s a good mile in either direction that I’ve closed re-entry even to humans and witches. We have to keep the Sector secure after all.”

  “You’re the only threat to this Sector,” Adira spat out.

  The Regent frowned. “Guess we’ll see about that, won’t we?”

  He turned back to the old woman just as the Ravagers closed in on her. Adira squeezed her eyes shut and buried her face against Alec’s arm, but she could do nothing to block out the screams, the sound of bones breaking, of muscles tearing and flesh ripping away from flesh.

  When it was over—when the haunting wails finally ended—she opened her eyes. The Regent stood facing her.

  “I’m sorry it had to come to this,” he said evenly.

  Then he raised both of his hands, and the light from his hands spread to reveal more of the Ravager land on the other side of the runestone force field. One by one, more witches from Miss Balek’s home came into view, each imprisoned in their own runsetone cell. All of them male. Even Erik, who for all the problems he had caused, still didn’t deserve such a gruesome fate.

  That was why he’d taken them. To force Adira to do as he said. Their lives depended on her obedience now.

  Jedrick dipped his head, imploring her with her gaze. Like he was trying to tell her something.
But what?

  Dvorak dusted off invisible lint from his shoulder and ran his hands down his lapels. “Please don’t make me do that again.”

  Then he walked off, his light footsteps crunching over dry leaves as he headed back the way they’d came.

  “Come along,” he called over his shoulder. “It’s not safe out here, you know.”

  Alec nudged Adira forward, and she could practically feel his regret in the way he guided her back toward the castle. As they left the outskirts of the Sector, he lowered his mouth to her ear.

  “Wait for me,” he breathed. “Don’t do anything else until I come for you.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  There had to be a way out of this. Something Alec was missing. The idea that they had to succumb to the Regent’s wishes in all of this was unthinkable.

  But what exactly were they supposed to do? Adira would never agree to do anything that would put her newfound witch family in danger. And if the Regent so much as thought something was amiss, he would take out those witches one by one until there was no one left.

  Knowing the Regent, he wouldn’t think twice of taking out the female witches in holding, too, and if Alec was certain of anything, it was that once that happened, Adira would start fighting back again. Once the witches were gone, Dvorak would have nothing to hold over her. But even that wouldn’t stop him.

  And then what? Would Adira be willing to run away with him then? Where would they go? No one even knew if any of the other Sectors still existed. Hiding out here was also off the table after everything that had transpired recently, and surviving in the Ravager lands was impossible, even with Adira’s abilities.

  That stupid magic-suppressing cuff didn’t help, either, but they could get that off with her sundial charm once she was ready to run.

  Alec slammed his fist on the bedside table. Here he was, already killing off those other witches in his head. As if sacrificing them to save Adira was okay. Had he not already realized that sacrificing lives was not the path to nobility? The very woman he was trying to save had been the one to teach him that!

  He had enough blood on his hands. The sacrificing needed to end.

  He stared across the room. Leaning against the wall in one corner was his magic sword. The Regent had finally returned it to him. But Alec wasn’t a fool. Dvorak didn’t trust him. Deep down, the Regent knew something was up between Alec and Adira, and he was either denying it to himself or planning something greater.

  Possibly both.

  What Alec needed wasn’t some sword to fight a Ravager. He needed some way to fight Dvorak. Or to help Adira do so. There was only one way he knew of to do that, though, and the last time he’d tried, it hadn’t ended well.

  There wasn’t much time, though. By morning, they would likely be preparing Adira to face the Ravager, and after that, Dvorak would take her as his bride. How had Alec ever thought he could let that happen?

  He took a swig of his whiskey and closed his eyes as the smooth liquid burned down his throat.

  What must be done, must be done.

  Alec set the bottle on the nightstand, stood, grabbed and sheathed his sword, and walked to his bedroom door. He held his breath as he peered both ways down the long hall.

  Adira was in the Queen’s chambers just around the corner, which would be heavily guarded, and by now the Regent would be in his chambers, which made the secret library inaccessible through that room.

  Alec would have to find another way to get his hands on those hidden spellbooks.

  Alec hated sneaking around, but more than that, he hated that he still hadn’t had the chance to tell Adira all that he had discovered. But if there was one thing he was certain of, it was that the Regent would expect him to steal a visit to Adira. He needed to save that card, because he might only get to use it once before being found out and exiled for treason.

  First, the spellbooks.

  Alec slowed as he passed the Regent’s room, peering to the space beneath the door to see if any light slivered into the hall. Nothing.

  Clenching his jaw, Alec forced himself onward. The last thing he needed was another guard to catch him lingering by the Regent’s bedroom, especially so late at night. He’d only narrowly convinced the Regent he hadn’t betrayed him, and even then, he could tell Dvorak was still skeptical.

  Someone, the Regent said, had been inside his room. Did Alec know anything about that?

  No, Sir. He’d been on his way to assist with the witches at Miss Balek’s residence.

  Why hadn’t he told the Regent about Adira?

  He’d wanted to, but he felt he was onto something bigger. He wanted to learn as much about her and Miss Balek’s hive of witches as he could before he turned Adira in.

  That wasn’t Alec’s call to make. That was for Dvorak to decide.

  I messed up, was all Alec had been able to say to that. And it’d been enough. Barely.

  Although, Dvorak knew how close Alec had come to sleeping with Adira, thanks to Erik. There was no excusing that, and the Regent made it clear in no uncertain terms that if he ever laid a hand on Adira again, his life would be over.

  Hers, too, he’d added, as soon as I get what I need from her.

  Alec cringed at the memory that continued to echo in his mind, haunting him with every breath. It would have been enough to stop Alec from what he was about to do, if he didn’t suspect the Regent was going to kill Adira once he got what he wanted anyway.

  Stepping out into the frigid night air, Alec sucked in a deep breath. No one would think anything of him being out here…but they would have a thing or two to say if they saw him climbing up the side of the castle. Which was exactly what he was about to do.

  He walked around the side of the castle to the Regent’s bower and tried to map out the inside of the castle from the outside where he stood. Two of those windows were the Regent’s bedroom. Only one of them led to the secret room.

  He scanned the horizon, considering what he’d seen from that window. The river and the trees. But that could be seen from any of the bower’s windows.

  At the sound of voices coming from the front of the castle, Alec curved around the next corner and pressed his back against the stone. His chest heaved with slow, deep, quiet breaths. They couldn’t hear him from this distance, not unless he started talking in the drunken shouts they were talking in.

  Once they had passed on to wherever they were going, Alec took another look around, then up. That smaller than usual rectangular window looked familiar…

  That’s when he realized the first three windows he was looking at weren’t the Regent’s and the secret room, but the Regent’s and one of the guards’ rooms. The office, which the secret library was behind, was at the far end of the castle, which meant the window he was looking for would be, too.

  It had to be that one. That one right over his head.

  Now to figure out how to get up there.

  He turned toward the castle and assessed the stones. There wasn’t much to hold onto. He stuck his toes on one of the ledges and then reached up to find a hand hold. He grunted as he stretched higher, and his fingers grazed an edge, but he couldn’t get his hand high enough to hook his fingertips.

  This wasn’t going to work. He let himself down and stepped a foot to the right, then tried again. Here he got a better grasp and was able to pull himself up. He had to stretch his leg for the second foothold, but it was there.

  Alec worked his way back under the window and was nearly to the second floor of the castle when one of his feet slipped.

  He clenched his teeth to stop the curse that threatened to spill from his lips and dug his grip harder against the stone. His fingernails ached and his muscles strained as he pulled his body up, foot fumbling for a new hold.

  There.

  He blew out a low breath, trying to steady his pounding heart, then tried again.

  The window was close.

  Just. One. More. Boost.

  But there was nothing to grip. To
go up, he had to stretch back over the way he’d come—away from the window.

  Sweat beaded his forehead and dripped into his eye. He grimaced, trying to blink away the moisture now clouding his vision. Alec climbed higher, placing himself adjacent to the window, but still there was nothing for him to grip to move over.

  Damn it!

  He looked down, considering retreating and finding another way into the room. Perhaps through the Regent’s office? Or even through the Regent’s room again, once he was out for the day, now that he knew what traps to avoid?

  Unless new ones had been set.

  But tomorrow was not soon enough. Tomorrow, Adira would face the Ravager, and why should she have to do that when everything they knew about Sector One was a lie?

  Alec could not let that happen. He was getting in, and he was going in through that window.

  Tonight.

  Fumbling for more juts in the stone, he scaled higher, until he had passed the window. Maybe now he could make it across. He stretched out his leg, every muscle in his body burning to hold the rest of his body against the wall. Finally, he found what he was looking for and made quick work to shift his body over until he was just above his target. Then he eased himself down until he feet dangled in front of the window.

  There was nowhere to place his feet now—not until he reached the large window ledge below. Holding as firmly as he could with his right hand, he let go with his left but kept it pressed against the wall as he glided it down the bumpy stones to find a new hand hold.

  His fingers couldn’t take much more, though. As his hold began to slide, he shot his right hand back up to the handhold it’d just departed from. This wasn’t going to work. Alec had trained since his youth and was by far the strongest man on the guard…but this was no task for a human.

  He couldn’t give up, though. Adira needed to know what she was getting herself into. He could die after that, but not before.

  Gritting his teeth while holding steady to the hand holds, he gave his body a light swing inward and let go. He landed on the balls of his feet and then followed through to his heels as not to make too much of a thud, but he still winced at the sound of his landing.