“Rope, a basket, and a blanket should do. We’ll need to keep the Underfae in a dark room, so as notto kill it with light.” I tapped the parchment on the desk in the library where I’d written a list of supplies. “We’ll need to extract their venom as is done with snakes.”
Arthur raised a brow. “And how is venom extracted from snakes?”
“We will coat a cloth in my blood and lay it over a bowl. When the fae bites into the cloth, it will eject venom which we will collect.”
“You’re very confident about this,” he muttered.
“The Beast’s bite marks and theirs are similar to a snake’s. They must secrete their venom with their teeth, but it must not be as potent as yours.”
Arthur ran his tongue over his canines. “And how will we get the venom into my blood?”
“I’ll have to cut your skin beforehand. We can’t be certain ingesting the venom would do anything to you, but direct contact to your blood should work and slow the Beast.”
“You’ll cut me?” he questioned, raising a brow and tapping his breastbone.
“Not there,” I chided, taking his hand and flipping it over to the underside of his wrist. The tendons along his arm rose and the veins just under the surface of his skin pulsed in a deep blue. “Here,” I said softly, tracing a purple vein.
When I tore my gaze from the beauty of his arm, I found him staring, waiting for me to see the heat in his eyes.
Good Goddess, I wanted him. Memories of those long days and nights in his bed, as he held me and brought out the fever in my body, lingered between us.
But I needed to leave this realm. I had my people to look after. I had a son. A daughter. I had a family that grew, and a life somewhere above, I?—
“When you leave,” he started, bringing me out of my daze, “promise me you will not return.”
I swallowed hard. “It’s possible I can find a way to?—”
He squeezed my hand, bringing my knuckles to his lips. “Ever.”
“I’ll make no such promise. Now, are you ready to begin?”
CHAPTER 32
Arthur
The dark burrowedthrough the western corridor like a disease—an omen and a promise. I refused to allow Reshina to be the one bringing the bait, and though she argued thoroughly about her ability to stun a few of the Underfae like last time, I dug my heels in, reminding her it wasn’t enough to stop a horde of them. They were less likely to frenzy with me, for it was her Goddess blood they craved.
Something I knew well.
I took the small vial of her blood from her hand, a shiver running through me at the warmth of it. The Beast awoke, rumbling something about flipping open the cork and downing it all in one go. I shut him away—an easy feat, as he’d been more accommodating than ever since biting into Reshina’s wrist.
“Are you ready?” I asked her, rolling my shoulders and cracking my neck to the side.
“Yes,” she answered. “Piffle?”
The Changlingfae held his lantern high, chewing obnoxiously on his bottom lip. “Yes, Mistress. Though I do think this entire ploy is unnec?—”
“Thank you, Piffle,” Reshina interrupted. “We’ve heard your concerns and made the decision to move forward regardless.”
“But if you’d just find a way to say?—”
“Enough,” I ordered, glancing at Reshina quickly and then back down the tunnel. “Let’s begin.”
I took one of two lanterns from Piffle and started down the dank corridor. The Underfae nested far from the entrance, unable to risk exposure to any light from the opening. I traveled through the rock, wet and dripping from an underground reservoir of water that spread throughout the Underrealm. A pink slime coated some of the surface and I had to catch my balance twice as I traveled on.
When the dark surrounded me and my lantern was the only beacon in the consuming abyss, I uncorked Reshina’s blood. Instantly salivating, I swallowed hard, shaking away the deep desire for just a taste. I added a few drops of the dark liquid to the rocks below me, backing up slowly as I did, leaving a trail for some poor, unsuspecting Underfae to find.
The clicking was distant, but clear as more than one curious creature noticed my presence in their tunnel. When the vial was empty, I inhaled deeply, corking the top and shoving it into my pocket. I blew out the light of the lantern, unspooled the rope at my waist, and waited.
