It should make me happier.
So why am I so miserable?
“In here again?” Winny is never long to arrive after Callos. I wonder if Winny is reading too much into his and my temporary companionship. I hope not.
Now that Ruvan has pointed out Callos and Winny’s simmering relationship to me, I can’tnotsee it. The way Callos looks at her from over his spectacles. The way she decides to sit a little too close to him.
“My work is in here,” Callos says.
“You can take your work anywhere.” Winny lays out her daggers by the whetstone. They were honed beyond the point of perfection days ago. But she keeps at them. I must bite my tongue to stop myself from scolding her whenever she loses focus to stare at Callos while he’s not looking.
She’s going to take off the tip of a finger if she’s not careful. Though I guess it’ll heal quickly if she does. Everyone must learn somehow, and if all you lose is the tip of a finger in the process then it’s not too bad, all things considered.
“But I don’t have the expertise of our resident forge maiden anywhere else.”
“Do you know what the blood silverdoesyet?” Winny asks.
“We’re still working on it.” Callos runs his finger along the hilt of the dagger. “It might be faster if we had fresh blood that wasn’t of the vampir.” He glances my way.
I give him a slight glare, all exasperation. After the first time cutting myself with the blade, I have no interest in doing so again. I won’t find Ruvan prone in bed again, halfway to succumbing to the curse. Especially not when we’re hardly on speaking terms following the revelation of our marriage…
“We should know more what the blood silver does—or what they intended for it to do—before we experiment too far with it,” I say.
Callos leans back in his chair, folding his arms. “Sometimes, the only way to learn magic is to take a risk and get a bit bloody.”
“Speaking of getting bloody”—I leverage the opening to shift the topic—“I need both of your help.”
“With what?” Winny asks.
I hoist one of the sickles I’ve been working on. It’s far from perfect. Far from passing as a hunter’s sickle. But I want to make sure my base premise is correct before I spend my remaining days honing it. The moon is growing full and time is running out.
“We’re going to the old castle,” I announce.
CHAPTER31
“The old castle?”they say in unison, sharing a look.
“Time to put all your hard work sharpening your daggers to good use, Winny.” I start out of the smithy.
She’s the first to catch up. I’m glad to see her bringing her daggers. “Whyare we going to the old castle?”
“This isn’t a sanctioned trip, the vampir lord—”
“We’re not going far,” I interrupt Callos. I’ve no interest in getting Ruvan’s approval. Since he seems to have no interest in speaking to me these days, either. “We just need one Succumbed.”
“For what?” Callos balks.
“I need to see if this silver will kill it. If I’m right, it won’t. And that’s where you’ll come in,” I say with a nod to Winny.
“Why do you want your silver tonotkill the Succumbed?” she asks.
“I need something that has all the properties of a silver steel—at least to the naked eye. But not enough silver to be deadly to a vampir. When Ventos and I return to Hunter’s Hamlet, he’ll raise suspicion if he’s not wielding a silver blade. But we can’t give him an actual silver one in case they force him to cut himself on it.” It won’t fool my mother. But hopefully we won’t run into her…as much as it hurts my heart to think.
“Smart.” Callos sounds impressed.
“I have my moments,” I say over my shoulder with a grin as we reach the top of the stairs.
“Moments of what?” Ruvan asks, halting me in my tracks.
