The Shield grinned. “Did you enjoy that? I certainly enjoyed watching you squirm. Who came to you, I wonder?”
He hadn’t seen what she’d seen. It had all been within her own mind. But it had felt soreal.Lux glanced at her chest, the fabric intact.
No knives extended from her.
“Such a mess you’ve made, though.” The guard sniffed at the puddles of blood on the stone, directly below her hands. Turning, he reached for the vials once more. “What will we try next?”
A very real knife found its home this time.
The man slumped into the wall, sending potions raining from their perch to shatter against the floor. Puffs of mist and smoke melded in their midst.
Lux didn’t spare a second glance for him, craning her neck instead to the doorway. To a seething Riselda, eyes snapping with flame. A second knife flashed in her hand. With quick movements she stepped over the body, slitting his throat.
Blood spurted across the chamber, and she shoved him down. “You think you can take her from me?Never.” Riselda spun toward Lux, hands miraculously clean. “Lucena. Are you all right?”
Lux nodded once, and Riselda retuned the gesture, striding over to her and unbuckling the restraints. “Who else was involved in this?”
Lux regretted every foul thought that had ever entered her mind regarding her aunt. “Two others.” She described them quickly.
“Can you walk?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I will see you home. Then I plan to have a nice, long conversation with our mayor. Despicable. He should count himself lucky if he makes it through alive.”
With a careful hold on her arm, Riselda hauled her to standing. Lux swayed on her feet. Her aunt’s grip tightened, and she steadied herself at last. “Thank you, Riselda. I think I can stand on my own now.”
Riselda released her one finger at a time. “Have you had anything to drink since your capture?”
She shook her head, once again acutely aware of just how parched her throat had become. “How much time has passed?”
Riselda’s lips thinned. “When you didn’t return home last night, I began my search. It wasn’t until I found a drunken woman this evening who remembered your leaving the Brewing Bog and encountering several members of the Shield, that I finally realized where you had been taken.”
An entire night and day had come and gone. No wonder she felt so miserable. A wave of dizziness descended, and she stumbled. Riselda frowned, gripping her around the waist.
Walking alongside her, Lux entered the adjoining room. The dead body was gone. The surgeon as well. In its place was a cleaned table, though she was sure she could see stains marring its surface.
She made for the doors, but Riselda’s grip around her tightened. “Not yet, Lucena.” Releasing her slowly, her aunt left her side, striding to the shelves filled with decanters, vials and powders.
Pulling a fresh beaker toward her, Riselda opened several of them to sniff and slosh their contents. Without another glance at Lux, she began to pour, sift and mix until the mixture changed from coarse opaque to a clear, light blue.
Riselda inhaled the newly crafted potion. With a satisfied smile, she held it out to Lux. “Drink up.”
“What is it?” She was too tired to keep the distrust from seeping into her voice.
“As much as I value your self-preservation, if I wanted to poison you, darling, I would have done so by now. Drink it. It will help.”
Lux took the lightly smoking beaker and tipped the contents into her mouth. It tasted refreshing, like the air on a rare,sunshine-filled spring day. Almost instantaneously, her head cleared. She hadn’t realized there had been a low, pulsing ache at its base until it was gone, and she sighed in relief, her shoulders dropping in exhaustion.
“Feel better?”
“Much. Thank you.”
“It’s a simple tonic. I remember it being one of the first things I attempted to teach you, though I believe the resulting potion actuallygaveme a headache.” Riselda laughed, low and quiet in memory, and Lux forced a smile to her lips, though she couldn’t recall the same.
It died, however, as she glanced about the room. “The mayor is harvesting lifeblood, Riselda.”
“I know, Lucena.”
