Page 78 of Live Love Lasso

I yank my shirt open to reveal the tattoo. He gasps.

“Something’s wrong,” I snap. “I feel it.”

He rises. “I haven’t seen her since earlier this evening. She was at Glimmer working with a troll potioneer.”

I’m losing my mind with worry at this point, but I’d bet a dollar to a donut he’s talking about Rykan, Letitia’s second. I comm the big troll, and he answers immediately, “Furyon, I was just ta⁠—”

“Lemon with you?” I don’t have time for pleasantries.

He’s silent a moment. “No, not since about half an hour ago. We worked late but were missing an ingredient. I went home, and she was going to grab it and finish the potion. Glimmer’s closed now, though. You called, and she didn’t answer?”

I’m up out of my chair. There’s a chance Lemon’s at Glimmer and just absorbed in her work. But the stabbing sensation in my chest tells me probably not. Still, it’s the only thing I can check. I comm Letitia too, just in case she’s there. No answer from the potion mistress.

Running around the corner, I call on my big form and throw myself through Glimmer’s glass front door. It shatters under the force of my weight. After jumping to my feet, I run through the hallways shouting for Lemon. My roaring echoes off the black stone walls and floor, but around me is just silence.

When I get to the main room, she’s not there. And in the basement room where I’ve found her working a few times, there’s nothing but cobwebs and an empty work station.

I emerge back outside to find the Keeper’s mansion shooting shards of her wrought iron fence up into the sky like a warning flare. She’s creaking and groaning and shrieking so loud the whole house seems like it might come down.

And Lemon? Lemon’s just… gone.

Lemon

Something yanks me, pain shooting up my legs and radiating up my spine. Blinking, I try to process the sensation. Darkness surrounds me, the only light coming from the moon high above. Cold fingers curl around my wrists and yank again as awareness filters through me.

I’m…outside?

A breeze rustles my hair. Okay, I’m definitely outside.

I jolt upward before realizing I can’t. Fear fills me as I realize someone is tying me to something.

“Wake up, Miss Denton.”

Letitia’s voice brings it all back into immediate clarity. The Arakna. The powder. She and Varek being behind the poisoning of the animals.

Struggling against the bonds holding my hands, I kick only to look down and see her tying my feet. Horror rushes through me at the realization that she’s tying my feet to the fucking railroad track.

She stands, admiring her handiwork as I start hollering and yanking against the knots. Terror rushes through me—we’re in the middle of nowhere, and it’s pitch-black. We’re nowhere near downtown. Off in the distance, a few pit hells hover, watching us with their tails and heads tucked.

Letitia turns. “Scram, filthy beasts!” She tosses something into the distance, and the dogs scatter into the darkness.

“Why are you doing this?” I shriek as I pull at the ropes with every bit of force I have. I shout for my comm watch to call Furyon, but Letitia laughs.

She reaches into her pocket and lifts something out. My watch. Godsdamnit.

“I hate this place,” she says softly, waving around at the expanse of nothingness surrounding us. “I hate how wild it is, how everyone puts on this community face. Yet the opportunity to build Glimmer has always kept me here. It’s outlived its usefulness, though. What I really want is solitude in my own haven, and that takes money and connections.”

She chuckles, the sound low and cruel. “You’ve got a lot of enemies, Lemon. Other potion houses who’d love to see House Denton razed to the ground so they can pick you up for scraps. So, when you showed up here, disgraced and unsure, I saw opportunity.” She slips her hands into her oversized sleeves. “I could disgrace you further. Ensure the destruction of the Denton potioneer line. So much money is coming my way.”

Fucking Rookwood. She’s got to be talking about the rival potion house who’s been breathing down Father’s neck.

She sighs, although she’s still smiling. “Too bad you had to discover what I was doing with the Arakna. I obviously can’t have anyone finding that out. So, it’ll just be a sad day for House Denton when Mabel comes along and crushes you to jelly.” She beams down at me. “If I’m lucky, predators’ll find you before anyone else does, and there’ll be nothing left for me to worry about, other than proving that I found the potion with your fingerprints on it. Those poor animals were your intended victims…”

“You’re batshit crazy,” I snap, gnashing at the air as I struggle to see any way out of this.

“On the contrary, I’ve never felt clearer about how to get what I want,” she says with a simple shrug. Looking down, she checks her comm watch. “Good. Mabel will be through in a few minutes, and then you’ll no longer be a problem. I’ll hear about your untimely death sometime in the next few days. I’ll provide proof of your guilt to Rookwood as promised, and then I’ll escape this godsforsaken place.”

“Help!” I shout. Gods, I’ve always thought of myself as a person who was good in a pinch, but I can’t see a single fucking way out of this. Maybe if I keep her talking, Furyon will realize I’m in distress and find me.