Queen of the Fae (Dragon's Gift The Dark Fae #3) - Linsey Hall Page 0,43
antidote.”
Add that to the to-do list of misery. “Or I could just kill her.”
“That would be the most effective method, yes.” Hestia nodded.
“Great. Thanks.” Fabulous advice.
“You must go,” Brigid said. “The queen will receive no aid in reaching the top of the mountain as you have, but she may achieve it all the same.”
“Not if I have anything to say about it.” Arinitti glowered.
“You’ll send something after her?” I asked. Arinitti was the perfect one to do it. As a Hittite goddess, Mount Chimaera was in her territory.
“Oh, yes.” Her eyes glowed with an unholy light. “The wrath of our ghosts and myths.”
I sure wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of that.
“Go,” Brigid said. “The queen’s power was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. She may not be slowed much. It is up to you to stop her.”
I nodded, swallowing hard.
Talk about pressure.
“We will create a portal for you,” Vesta said. “You should not use your transport magic until you are out from under her spell. If it overtakes you while you are in the ether, you might try to transport yourself directly to her.”
That would be literally the worst.
I nodded. “Thank you.”
The goddesses combined their magic to create a shimmery silver portal.
“Where to?” Hestia asked.
“Potions & Pastilles, on Factory Row in Magic’s Bend.”
She nodded, then flicked her hand toward the portal. It glowed with golden light. “You may enter. And good luck.”
“Thanks.” We were going to need it.
Tarron reached for my hand and gripped it tight, and we stepped into the portal at the same time.
Just as we stepped in, I heard Brigid’s voice. “Be careful. All is not what it seems.”
Then the ether sucked us in. He kept a tight hold on me as the ether spun us through space. What the hell did she mean by that?
We arrived in front of Potions & Pastilles. The street was dark and quiet, chill with the early morning air. The shop itself was empty save for the glowing lights within, which gave it a feeling of life even though no one was inside. Quickly, I waved a hand in front of my face, using a bit of magic to clean myself up so it appeared I was dressed the way I normally did.
There was power in appearances, and I wouldn’t give up mine. Connor was a friend, but still. I liked to be put together—or to look that way, at least.
I knocked on the glass door, praying that Connor was still up. For a moment, there was no response. I knocked harder.
“Coming!” The voice sounded from above, and I looked up to see Connor leaning out of a second-story window. “Mordaca!”
“Hey. Any chance you have that antidote?”
He grinned, but it didn’t go all the way to his eyes. “Half an antidote.”
“Better than nothing.”
The grin spread a bit wider. “I’ll be right down.”
Tarron and I stood on the doorstep, waiting. Silence thickened the air. It was the first time since I’d woken that we weren’t running for our lives. And a hell of a lot had happened.
The night before played through my mind. Today, too, and the knowledge that we’d missed my mother by a hair’s breadth.
She might get the flame.
I swallowed hard.
To distract myself, I pressed my fingertips to my comms charm. “Aeri? We’re at P & P. Any chance you can meet?”
“Finally. Been waiting to see you. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
“Thanks.” I cut the connection.
Connor swung the door open and gestured us inside. “Just give me a few minutes, okay? I need to take it off the burner, but I think it’s ready.”
“What will it do?” I asked. “I’ve been hit with another dose, so I need something strong.”
He blanched. “Another?”
“Just now.”
“Shit. Well, this will help. It won’t get her influence entirely out of your system—you’d need a bit of her blood for that—but it will help you resist her call.”
“It’ll have to do. Thanks.”
He nodded and hurried off, calling over his shoulder as he disappeared into the room behind the counter, “Help yourself to anything.”
Instead of finding food or drink, Tarron and I just stood there. It was like the shock of the last twenty-four hours was catching up with us. Me, especially, now that I was back on familiar ground.
Apparently I’d lost my mind when I’d slept with him. “So. The elephant in the room.”
“Last night?” he asked.
“That’s it.”
“What of it?”
Weirdness slipped over my skin. I felt like I was trapped—between my feelings for him and the looming threat provided by my mother. By