The Poisoned Veil (Accessory to Magic Book 4) Read online

  He’d also saved her life. Twice. Three times, if she included what he’d done to hold Mickey at bay while she unraveled her own Shattering.

  This, though—watching him perform a spell more complicated than she knew possible when he thought she wasn’t looking... This was the real Leandras Vilafor. This was the fae man in his truest form, in his element, completely lost to what made him fae and maybe even what made him the Laen’aroth.

  This was what made him dangerous.

  ‘What? Are you serious?’ The bank sniggered. ‘You’re scared of a little magical drawing board over a potion?’

  I’m not scared.

  ‘Yeah, I know. Figure of speech.’

  Not when you’re in my head.

  Jessica’s breath had become a slow, drawn-out string of silent inhales and exhales as she watched Leandras work. Part of her felt like if she so much as breathed too loudly, it would rip the fae from his concentration. The rest of her knew that was impossible.

  Leandras was in so deep right now, she could stomp across the lobby, screaming like a lunatic and waving a kitchen knife in his face, and it wouldn’t make a difference.

  She knew that state all too well. Only when Jessica reemerged from hers, more often than not it was to find bodies on the floor around her and blood on her hands—figuratively but sometimes literally too.

  The fae really was as old as he claimed.

  ‘Okay, now you’re just speculating.’

  He has to be.

  A spell like this must have taken centuries just to learn, let alone master.

  ‘Right.’ The bank scoffed. ‘Because you know so much about being around for centuries and learning highly advanced...whatever that is.’

  Maybe not. But Jessica most definitely recognized another magical caught up in the intricate ecstasy of their own power when she saw one.

  ‘Oh, I get it. This is you trying to justify all the tingling when he gets too close and you start thinking it’s gonna rain inside around the two of you.’

  Wrong. Jessica finally blinked and shook her head as she began her slow retreat around the corner of the hallway. And there’s nothing to justify.

  ‘Uh-huh. Tell that to all the tingling.’

  Shut up.

  She turned fully around to head for the stairs but leapt back when Confucius’ warning hiss rose from underfoot.

  “What—” Immediately, she redirected her footstep, but the damn lizard darted in the same direction at the same time, his claws scrambling madly across the wooden floor. “Damnit, Confucius. Move.”

  Jessica stumbled forward, barely managing not to fall flat on her face in the hall as the reptile darted back and forth, hissing like a punctured tire and bashing his scaley tail against her ankles. “Get—you dumb—stop—out!”

  She felt like an idiot for pointing sharply at the end of the hall like she was scolding a dog before banishing the creature outside. As far as she knew, there was no way for the lizard to get out except through the front door. Which she hadn’t seen him do.

  Confucius thumped against the wall and turned to look up at her with another hiss. His mouth opened even wider to tell her off all over again with a series of quick, creaking clicks.

  “Yeah, you too,” she spat in a harsh whisper, then hissed right back.

  ‘Hey, don’t go so hard on the little guy—’

  “Get out of here,” she repeated, still whispering, and nodded toward the end of the hall. It didn’t matter where; he could go literally anywhere else in the bank but right here. “I’m serious. There is so much that could go sideways right now if you get your stubby little claws into the wrong...”

  Jessica paused, because now the sound of Leandras’ magic in the lobby had changed. The buzz intensified, then instantly faded, replaced by a high-pitched whine like a tiny engine gearing up. She shot the lizard a warning scowl and couldn’t decide if she wanted to check on the fae or hightail it up to her room just in case.

  Then the lobby fell deathly silent.

  ‘Well everything’s just falling flat today, isn’t it? Where’s the climax?’ The bank tittered. ‘Hey, I bet if you took the fae up to your room with you—’

  “Shut up,” she hissed.

  Jesus, forget the bank acting like a moody teenager. Now it was hormonal.

  ‘Just feeding off your own brain, witch. Hey, it wouldn’t be nearly as fun if you didn’t actually have it all floating around up here for anyone to—’

  “Jessica?”

  She froze.

  Leandras’ heavy sigh reached her before the sound of two slow, shuffling footsteps. “Whether you’re talking to yourself or the...bank, I can still hear you.”

  Shit.

  Now he thought she’d been spying on him.

  ‘You were spying on him.’

  Ignoring the bank, she headed for the end of the hall.

  With a hiss, Confucius scrambled past her, nearly tripping her up again in the process before zig-zagging into the lobby. Then he stopped and tapped his claws one at a time against the wooden floorboards.

  “Hmm...” The amusement had definitely returned to Leandras’ voice, even after a short chuckle. “I hardly think sending a reptile out here as a diversion is the best you can do.”

  Rolling her eyes, Jessica emerged from the hall and stopped. “Confucius.”

  The lizard scuttled sideways to look at her.

  Okay, maybe he was more like a dog than she’d thought. Minus the inexplicable healing powers.

  “Out.”

  Confucius narrowed his golden eyes at her, turned back toward Leandras to utter another hiss—louder and longer than any of the others—then scurried toward the fae.

  Leandras staggered backward to avoid the five pounds of rampaging reptile, but Confucius apparently just wanted to take the long way around. The lizard scrambled around the desk, his tail thumping against the corner, then the mad scrabble of his long claws and his dragging underbelly headed down the smaller hall toward the back beside the cramped office.

  Both Jessica and Leandras stared after the creature’s departure until all sound had disappeared with him.

  “I really do despise that thing,” the fae muttered, then looked up at Jessica with a barely concealed smirk. “His convenient and necessary abilities notwithstanding.”

  She snorted. “Trust me, I was as surprised as you were.”

  Leandras tilted his head. “Were you watching me?”

  “What?”

  “Well don’t expect me to believe you busied yourself in the kitchen all this time. Somehow, I can’t quite imagine you hand-washing dishes and organizing cupboards.”

  She gave him an unamused smile. “I went upstairs. And then I came back to check on you. You know... Make sure you weren’t opening any other portals down here.”

  His eyes widened. “Really?”

  ‘No you didn’t.’

  It’s called lying.

  ‘Sure. You know what else it’s called? Being completely unaware of the—’

  “So you’re finished now, right?” Jessica took another few steps into the lobby and glanced at the potion bowl. It was completely empty this time.

  “I certainly hope so.” Leandras reached into his pocket and eyed the bowl. “I can’t imagine it—”

  “Where’s the potion?”

  “Still here, I assure you. Merely transmuted.” As he withdrew his hand again to glance at his watch, his other hand rose at his side above the desk with something black and glinting under the lights. “Well. Honestly, I expected it to take closer to three hours, but apparently, two was enough.”

  “Put it on the desk and—wait.” Jessica leaned toward him with wide eyes. “What did you say?”

  “Transmuted.” He raised an eyebrow. “The potion and a workable spell like the one I’ve just—”

  “No, I know what transmuted means. You said two hours.”

  “Yes. It appears the additional reagent of your blood helped speed things along more than expe
cted. Actually, I didn’t expect that at all.” The black item in his hand settled on the desktop with a soft click. “But that means we’ll be stepping through the Gateway that much... Jessica?”

  She stood frozen there in the center of the lobby, staring at a chip in the edge of the desk.

  Two hours? That spell hadn’t lasted more than twenty minutes tops.

  ‘Until you tuned me out.’ The bank groaned. ‘If you’d quit interrupting me all the time, maybe you wouldn’t look like a complete idiot right now.’

  Why didn’t you say something?

  ‘Because you keep interrupting me.’

  “Are you all right?”

  Jessica cleared her throat and shook her head.

  “No?”

  “Yeah. No, I’m fine.” Blinking furiously, she took a sharp breath and tried to calmly meet the fae man’s gaze. That made it even worse; he clearly picked up on her confusion. “I guess I just wasn’t paying attention. Time, right?”

  No shit, time. She’d just lost another two hours and had no idea what had happened during them.

  Leandras could have been casting hexes around the bank, for all she knew. He’d done it at his own apartment, so why would her bank be any different?

  When she looked up at him, his wide-eyed alarm seemed to verify her fleeting suspicions. Either that, or something much, much worse had happened.

  Chapter 12

  “It happened again, didn’t it?” Without waiting for a reply, Leandras stormed around the desk toward her, staring at the side of her neck where she knew he’d still find the glowing purple rune slapped there.

  “Seriously, I’m fine.”

  “Any new sensations? An increase in discomfort? Spreading to any other areas?”

  When he reached toward her neck, she slapped his hand away and snorted. “Okay, Dr. Fae. Hands off.”

  He blinked, looking entirely too stunned by her reaction. “What about—”

  “Leandras.” Jessica stepped away and spread her arms. “Just because you slapped a last-minute rune on my neck that makes me jump through time doesn’t mean I’m your personal science experiment.”

  “No.” The fae slowly lowered his hand, still studying her neck and apparently distracted enough not to notice her sarcasm. “But it is important to know if the effects are worsening.”

  “They’re not. Two hours is... I mean, it’s long enough to lose completely, but it’s shorter than the last time.”

  His gaze flickered back and forth between her neck and her eyes, as if he were gauging the one thing she’d been trying to figure out about him since they’d met—Was this the truth?

  Jessica sighed. “I don’t have any reason to lie to you.”

  “Not about this, at the very least.”

  Okay, so she hadn’t always been a hundred-percent up-front with all the demons in her closet either. Even if she’d been a generally open witch, he’d given her more than enough reasons not to open up to him. At least not until now.

  Maybe.

  When he pulled away, Leandras’ frown surrendered to that “I’m so much better than you” twitch at the corner of his mouth. “Though you did try to hide in the hallway.”

  “Oh, come on. I only saw, like, five minutes.”

  “Hmm.” He gestured toward the desk. “And did you like what you saw?”

  “What?”

  “Five minutes is plenty long enough to form an opinion.”

  “I...”

  The bank burst out laughing in her head.

  “I only have two opinions about spells. If they work, and if they don’t.” Scowling, she brushed past Leandras to take up her usual spot behind the desk.

  With a chuckle, he turned to follow her. “I believe you misunderstand my use of the word opinion.”

  “Tell me what this is.” She pointed at the black stone sitting on the desk, trying not to fidget as she waited—yet again—for an explanation.

  Did she like what she saw?

  How the hell had Leandras gone from worrying about her overactive Guardian rune to insinuating she got any level of enjoyment from “watching him work”?

  ‘Because you did.’

  Nope.

  ‘Don’t be stupid, witch. You might’ve hopped out of your own head for two hours, but I stayed right here the whole time. Pretty cozy, actually. Really starting to heat up...’

  “Watch it,” she seethed through clenched teeth.

  “Am I to ignore you for the moment?” Leandras asked, looking her up and down from the other side of the desk. “Or was that directed at me?”

  “Just tell me what you did with the potion. And how this chunk of coal’s supposed to help us open the Gateway.”

  Dipping his head to unsuccessfully hide his smile, the fae grabbed the incredibly shiny hunk of rock and held it toward her. “This is our anchor.”

  Jessica didn’t hold back on the skepticism in her stare. “That doesn’t answer my question.”

  “You didn’t ask a question.”

  “Jesus. You know what I mean.”

  With an airy laugh, he gestured toward her with the stone. “Take it.”

  She held out her open palm, expecting the heavy weight of a rock the size of a baseball to plink down into her hand. Instead, she hardly felt it.

  Light as a feather.

  “Combined transmutation of an incredibly robust potion, various forms of magical energy, my incantation, and your blood. One might even call it the ultimate form of alchemy.”

  “I’m really hoping the Gateway didn’t add to one of those various forms.”

  “Thanks to you, it did not.” He stared at her with a hint of that genuine and completely baffling concern mixed with gratitude again, and Jessica had to look back down at the weightless stone.

  Otherwise, she’d spend way too much time and energy trying to figure out what was really behind that stare.

  “There’s one more thing.”

  She snorted. “Should’ve seen that coming.”

  “You need to set it.”

  “As in...down?”

  Leandras nodded toward the back hallway. “As in place our anchor where it will be of the greatest use to us. And to activate the opening sequence.”

  “Wow. You gonna whip out a fancy gadget and start planning our itinerary on a holographic display now too?”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “Nothing.” Her smile completely disappeared.

  She had to stop turning toward the worst jokes in her repertoire when things got a little nerve-wracking.

  ‘You call that a joke? Jeeze, if you’re gonna tell the guy to whip something out, at least make it inuendo.’ The bank gasped. ‘Hey, I got that word right this time, yeah?’

  “Okay.” Jessica jiggled the transmuted stone in her palm. “So I just go upstairs and put this thing in front of the door? Beside it? Under a pillow?”

  Sweeping his hand toward the hallway, Leandras bowed slightly at the waist, his amused smile growing now. “If the Guardian permits, I would very much like to accompany you upstairs to assist with this final task.”

  She stepped away from him with a frown. “Don’t do that.”

  “I’m merely respecting your personal boundaries.”

  “Yeah, but...” Clicking her tongue, she headed toward the hallway. “The way you said it’s just all weird.”

  His arrogant chuckled followed her across the lobby over the click of his dress shoes. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say chivalry makes you uncomfortable.”

  “Well that’s a big part of the problem right there, Leandras.” Jessica scanned the hallway for wayward Halibus Racerbacks, then hurried toward the stairs. “You always think you know better.”

  “Oh? Then perhaps it’s your enjoyment making you so flighty—”

  “First of all, I’m not flighty.” She spun toward him and stepped back quickly when she found the fae suddenly inches in front of her. “And back up.”

  Leandras took one small step away from her, h
is self-righteous little smirk unwavering. “And second?”

  Wow, this guy really flipped like a light switch, didn’t he?

  “Yeah. Second, we’re not talking about whatever you think my feelings are. I already said I’d go with you through the Gateway. We already made this...anchor stone. No reason for you to keep prying, okay? You have what you want.”

  Jessica had already started to turn away when the softness of his voice made her pause.

  “Not everything.”

  ‘Ooh... Here it comes!’

  Oh, for crying out loud.

  The second she looked back at the fae man with his hands clasped behind his back and that ridiculously intense gaze of admiration settling on her, she wished she hadn’t. So she whirled toward the stairs again and cleared her throat. “Yeah, well, if we make it through this alive and both worlds still exist, you can tell me all about it.”

  “When we make it through this.” Leandras’ footsteps were unbelievably even and steady as he climbed the stairs behind her. “I would very much enjoy that, Jessica. Perhaps we’ll make a night of it.”

  “I’ll give you twenty minutes. Maybe.”

  She reached the top of the stairs and wanted nothing more than to head right into her room and close the door in his face. Just to put something physical between them, because now the fae was laying it on thicker than ever.

  ‘And?’

  And it’s not gonna happen. Vestrohím and literally anyone else just don’t mix.

  ‘Except for the Laen’aroth, right?’

  Do you know what that means?

  ‘No. But now you know who I’m talking about.’

  Just stop.

  A light touch at her elbow made her step away.

  Leandras spread his arms as he reached the top landing, then gazed pointedly at the Gateway door at the end of the hall. “Shall we?”

  “You just said...” Jessica shook her head. “Yeah. Let’s just get this over with.”

  Her first few steps toward the creepy dungeon door were hesitant and slow. If the Gateway decided to act up again, they were both sitting ducks.

  ‘Not when the ducks disarmed the dude with the gun.’

  I have no idea what you’re talking about.