I gasped and pulled away, wiping my lips with the back of my hand. “I’m so sorry, my lord,” I said, feigning embarrassment.
“No need to apologize,” he said, already leaning in again. “It’s just a little blood.”
As his lips met mine once more, a scream rang through the hall, coming from the other side of the door.
“What was that?” I asked sharply.
He glanced at the door with a scowl. “Nothing Malek and I can’t deal with.” Straightening his shirt, he let out a sigh. “Come, I suppose we better get you back to the main house.”
He swiftly led me back into the portal to his private quarters.He instructed one of his guards to see me to my room, but before he left, he yanked me closer.
His lips found my ear as he said, his voice low and heavy, “This isn’t finished, Selena.”
A promise. A warning.
It didn’t matter. I got what I needed.
When he vanished back to the Hollow, I looked down at the small streak of red on the back of my hand and smiled.
44
Devora
Iran straight for the bathing chambers in my room and carefully wiped the dried blood from my hand with a handkerchief. I had no idea if this would be enough to get someone back through the portal, but it was worth a shot. Then I got out the enchanted parchment to update Nox, describing where the portal to the Hollow was located and how he used his blood to open it.
N: Convenient, considering Shifters rarely bleed.
D: Then it’s a good thing you have someone as resourceful as me on the inside.
N: What did you do?
D: Got some of his blood.
N: WHAT?
D: Doesn’t matter. The point is, I might be able to get through the portal now.
N: Devora, you are NOT going back there. And how the Fates did you gethis blood? Did you stab him?
D: Not exactly. I bit his lip.
It took several minutes for a response to come through after that. I toyed with the edge of the handkerchief with Scarven’s blood, suddenly nervous about what Nox would think. The idea of kissing Scarven—of kissinganyone—and having to tell Nox about it made me feel sick.
When the paper heated, I scrambled to grab it from the bed.
What did you find in the Hollow?
I chewed on my bottom lip. I didn’t want to describe everything to him or make him relive what he’d been through all those years ago. I would just give him an overview.
D: I only saw two rooms. The first one was a lab of some sort, with an Alchemist named Malek Mortep. S called him his lead Alchemist. Then he took me to a connected office with records of past experiments. Dosages, ingredients, results, things like that. Fatesprig isn’t the only outsourced herb he uses. There are two others called ashgrave and vireroot.
N: I’ve never heard of them. I asked Silas, and he hasn’t either.
D: That’s because they’re not found here or in Mysthelm. They get them from somewhere else. He didn’t say where.
N: Wonderful, more for us to destroy.
D: N
