He gave a clipped nod. “Thrain told her.”
“Festering dragon dung,” Iris muttered as she picked up the empty teacup, took a sip, and frowned when there was nothing to swallow. “That doesn’t explain why Cali would consort with someone like Marina.”
“Lira and I thought you could shed some light on that.” Vaskel shifted from one foot to the other. “You’ve spent more time with her lately than either of us.”
Iris nodded, studying him for a beat. “We do like to talk about the latest books I give her to read.” She flicked a hand toward the cushy chairs in the corner. “She’s spent many an hour reading here while I work.”
“Do you think she’s lonely? Do you think she might be vulnerable to the charms of a very cunning hellkin?”
Iris leveled her gaze at him over her glasses. “I think anyone could find themselves vulnerable to a very manipulative and very beautiful hellkin.”
Ouch. Vaskel dropped his gaze, his face once again flashing unwanted heat.
Iris let out a heavy breath and closed the distance between them, resting a hand gently on his cursed arm. “I only mean that even the strongest can be swayed, especially when they are good at heart.”
Vaskel raised his head and met her gaze and her smile. “I’d like to think that Cali is wiser and savvier than I was.”
Iris shrugged. “If Marina is as good as you say she is, I’m sure Cali believes she’s just making a new friend. Maybe she’s even convinced she’s helping an old friend of yours. After all, Marina told Thrain that you two were friends from childhood.”
Vaskel wanted to believe Iris. “But I saw the way Cali looked at Marina. She looked enchanted.”
Iris’s smile warmed, and her voice softened. “That’s the problem with hellkins. They’re very charming and very easy to fall for.”
Vaskel’s breath got stuck in his throat and his voice crackled when he could finally speak. “Iris, I?—”
Before he could tell her that his attempts to charm her had been with only the best intentions and genuine affection, she spun again, disappearing into the even smaller back room where she kept her hot plate and boiled water for tea. “Enough of that. You probably need to find Cali and talk to her. We won’t know if she’s truly fallen under the hellkin’s spell until then. But first, we need to talk about the potion I’m brewing.”
Vaskel cleared his throat, adjusting to Iris’s sudden shift in subject. “Sass should have popped by with the hairs she stole from Marina’s room at the castle.”
“She did, she did.” Iris reemerged, making a beeline for him and reaching up a hand, as if to caress the side of his face.
Without thinking about it, Vaskel closed his eyes and leaned into the touch, forgetting everything he’d told himself about keeping his feelings hidden so he could keep Iris safe from Marina. Then her fingers tangled in his hair and tugged hard.
“Ouch!” He jerked away as Iris yanked a few hairs from his head, winking at him as she backed toward the attached room again.
She winked at him. “But we forgot yours, love.”
Vaskel rubbed his head where he was now short some hair. At least the pain in his head was distracting him from the embarrassment of thinking Iris was caressing his face. He needed to get out of there before he completely humiliated himself.
“So the potion is nearly finished, then?”
Iris wiped her hands on each other as she joined him again. “Once all the hairs simmer a bit longer, it should be ready to use.”
“Lira is working on the cookies we’re going to use as the potion delivery device,” Vaskel said. “If she perfects the recipe and you finish the potion, we should have a way to break the soul bind by tonight.”
“Just in time,” Iris reminded him. “Do you think Marina will come to the tavern to find you?”
“If she doesn’t, I’ll go find her.” Determination surged through him anew. “Besides, I need to find out how far Marina has her claws into Cali.”
Iris folded her arms over her chest. “I think it’s about time we returned to having only one hellkin in Wayside.”
Vaskel managed a teasing grin. “I hope that hellkin is me.”
“It is.” The tenderness in the apothecary’s voice made the room go sideways for Vaskel, and he had to fight the urge to throw caution out the window and gather the woman into his arms. Butbefore he could, she gave him a pat on the arm that was clearly a dismissal. “I’ll bring the potion to the tavern when it’s done. You find Cali.”
He nodded, walking mutely through the curtain and the dimly lit shop. He barely noticed the bell announcing his departure, and only when the icy air hit him did he snap out of his daze of wishfulness.
Vaskel turned to walk back to the tavern, but stopped so quickly he nearly stumbled over his own feet.
