“You can’t try that one again!” she called to him. “I know your tricks now, Sedgwick.”
“Keep him distracted,” Nathaniel told Quinn, who nodded and sent her bees in an angry cloud toward the other alchemist. “Pru! How are we doing?”
His twin smiled a smile he’d seen a million times throughout their childhood when she was about to loose a prank on him or their parents and couldn’t hold in her excitement. “Should be any moment.”
“Good. You know what to do.” As Pru tucked her violin under her chin, Nathaniel selected another vial and threw it to the ground before Sedgwick’s feet. A cloud of viscous, horrible-smellingsmoke arose, clinging to the first living organism it found—in this case, Sedgwick. The other alchemist shrieked, and Nathaniel took off toward Peri as Pru drew her bow across the strings and began to play.
He had an entire arsenal’s worth of military secrets at his disposal when it came to alchemical weapons, but his options had been extremely limited due to time. Still, he’d managed a few quick and dirty tricks. Sedgwick was no idiot, though—he’d realize in a moment or two that the smoke only hovered in the air from chest level up. Before he could duck free, Nathaniel swept the motionless rock goblin into his arms, noting the gaping hole in his chest where the peridot had once been. He tucked Peri beneath his arm and bolted for the wall of vegetation Violet had created.
“Incoming!” He grabbed hold of the wall’s edge and swung himself behind it, coming face-to-face with Violet for the first time since the disastrous fight in her shop. “Hello.”
“Hi,” said Violet, avoiding his eyes as she took Peri from him.
“You know, despite being made of literal stone, he’s still heavier than I anticipated,” Nathaniel quipped, catching his breath.
Violet scanned Peri for injuries, grimacing at the hole where the stone once was. “Do you think he’ll be alright?”
“I hope so.” At the edge of the room, Pru coaxed a lively tune from her instrument as if she were onstage at Market Day or dancing between tables at the Claw & Hoard, not in the castle of an evil sorcerer while her friends fought around her. “But you? You’re unharmed?”
“I’m fine.” As she set Peri down gently behind the wall, Sedgwick finally ducked free of the smoke. Nathaniel tried to focus on the fight, but inwardly he was kicking himself—there was so much he needed to say to her, and this was all he’d managed?
“Jerome, Bartleby—watch out!” he yelled, and the pothos, who had been helping Jerome scuff the ritual marks from the floor, chucked a paring knife and a straight razor in quick succession toward Sedgwick.
“We still need to get the Eye away from him,” said Violet. “I don’t think he can perform the ritual while we’re here distracting him, but we can’t risk it. I don’t know if he’s capable of using its power for anything else, but if he can…”
Nathaniel nodded. If Sedgwick could wield the Eye, they were in even bigger trouble. “Can you trap him with magic? Hold him still?”
“You’re not worried I’ll cause more blight?”
“Violet, I should have—”
“It’s fine,” she said flatly, her eyes on Sedgwick. “I figured it out. That second source of magic I told you about?That’swhat was causing it, not my own magic. So you don’t have to worry.”
“That’s—” There was a time for this conversation but it wasn’t now. He settled for telling her, “Anyway, I solved it, Violet. I discovered the antidote.”
“You did?” Her eyes widened, and he basked for a moment in their light before she turned her attention back to the matter at hand. “Hey!” she cried, curving her hand into a claw and gesturing at Sedgwick, who tripped over a vine that hadn’t been there a moment before, therefore landing short with the potion he threw at Pru.
“I’m so proud of you,” she said, turning back to Nathaniel and beaming. For a moment it was like they were back in the greenhouse, not surrounded by an actual battle. “I knew you could do it.”
Nathaniel took a deep breath. He supposed now was as good a time as any. “I owe you an apology.” He paused to throw a potion at Quinn’s feet, sending up a temporary shield that blocked the worst of a trap she’d triggered.
“You’reapologizing tome?” Violet’s mouth hung open in shock.
The vine wall they were hiding behind crumbled to dust, finally spent, and Violet threw herself toward Nathaniel, taking his hand and leading him away from the noxious orange smoke that began to rise in its place.
“I was scared and surprised, but I should have listened to you,” he said, pulling her toward him to dodge a trap.
“But I’m the one who lied!” said Violet, flinging her free hand to his chest to catch her balance. “I should have told you the truth weeks ago—I wanted to, I did, but I was afraid of losing you.”
Nathaniel threw another vial, this one releasing a harmless smoke that provided cover as they bolted for the other side of the room near where Pru played her music.
“And I confirmed those fears,” he said miserably. “I’m so sorry.”
“I mean, it’s a lot to take in,” acknowledged Violet, panting to catch her breath. “I’m pretty famous, and not in a nice way.”
“But I should have heard you out. I should have stayed and listened, and I regretted it the moment I walked out of your shop.”
She searched his face, her eyes softening, and again he felt drenched with shame. He knew Violet’s heart even if he didn’t know everything about her past, and he would spend as long as it took trying to make up for his knee-jerk reaction.
