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Damien smiled, a little secretive. I wondered if he was just going to keep his mouth shut. Maybe I’d never find out? I was probably getting way too far ahead of myself. “Books. Rare, antique, old books that I find.”
That surprised me. “I didn’t realize you were a reader.”
He chuckled, scratched the back of his neck. “I’m not. I just add on to my ‘to-read’ pile without ever actually reading anything. Warrick is very appreciative of my habit of collecting rare books, though. He’s checked plenty out of my hoard room. Thankfully, he’s always brought them back.”
“What is it about the books you like if you don’t read them?”
Damien chewed on that for a bit as we walked down the left path. I kept an eye on every potion we passed, as did Damien. I wasn’t entirely sure what we were looking for, but I assumed that the plaques and inscriptions underneath each one would tell us when we had found it.
“I like the potential they have inside them,” he answered. “I like the idea of me being able to go in there and get lost for weeks in different worlds, whenever I want. I also really enjoy cover art. I think that’s just as expressive and inspiring as a book can be.”
I nodded. “That makes sense to me,” I said as we continued down another hall. This place felt endless. Our footsteps echoed for what felt like years—clop.
“What was that?” I asked, recognizing a sound that wasn’t at all like our footsteps.
“Probably noise from the party, or it could be the plumbing,” Damien suggested as he continued down the hall, looking at all the beautiful vials we walked past. He looked unbothered, so I decided to be the same.
“Probably… So, about your hoard. When do I get to see it?”
Damien’s laugh was low. He bumped his shoulder into mine. “What about tonight? After we’re done here, I can show you mine. Once we have the end to this curse and finish celebrating, of course.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I said, an ivory bottle with a crimson red base catching my eye. It was described as a Vampire Repellent. “I could probably use this one.” I slowed down at the pedestal, pointing at the shining bottle. Damien put an arm around my waist.
“Why? You already have a vampire repellent right here.”
I looked up at him, his touch around my waist feeling like an anchor thrown down in rocky waters. Not only was he a grounding force, but he was right too. I owed him a hell of a lot for how many times Damien had saved me. I had to pay him back somehow—maybe later tonight. I could make sure he knew just how grateful I was for him.
I kissed him as a little preview for what I had in mind, grabbing the back of his neck and pushing myself up against him, leaving no space for doubt.
“Whoa,” Damien said, eyes glinting under the white lights. “What’s that for?”
“For being my prince in shining armor. Don’t worry, there’s more where that came from.”
“Oh, really?” Damien arched a brow, head cocked. The bright red scales on his bicep glittered the same as his eyes. “Let’s hurry and find this cure, then, because if you kiss me like that again, I’m going to have to drop your pants and take you right here.”
My eyebrows jerked up my forehead. Damien knew damn well the kind of effect his dirty words had on me. He chuckled and continued down the hall. I glanced one last time at the Vampire Repellent and followed after him.
The hall split again, and again, and again. I asked Damien if there was a chance we’d get lost in here, but he had been memorizing the potions that we went by, keeping a trail of breadcrumbs in his head. Which was good because I had already gotten lost after the first right we took. My sense of direction was currently equivalent to a blind mouse bumping into walls inside of a cheese maze.
It was in one of those moments where I was stumbling around blindly that I spotted it, freezing in place. Damien continued on for a few steps before realizing I had stopped. He turned to stare at the golden vial, its cap sculpted to look like two feathery wings. It was held inside of a gilded cage on top of a stone pedestal.
On that pedestal, two words were written in a fancy script.
“Curse Breaker,” I read aloud. “This has to be it, Damien!” I couldn’t keep the excitement out of my voice, and neither could Damien, exclaiming that I could be right. He went right to the pedestal, but the cage surrounding the potion had no door, and it wouldn’t lift off the pedestal when Damien grabbed it.
If it was just me down here, there would have been a problem. But solutions seemed to be much more prevalent when there was a fiery red dragon around.
