“It’s not finished just yet,” Bastian reminded us as we made our way toward the potion room. “We need to dip it in the potion for it to be effective. From what I gathered, the blade stays imbued with the potion after dipping it until it’s claimed the life of an immortal.”
“Are we sure she should be carrying it?” Casper mumbled, eying the dagger in Fawn’s hand.
“I’m not loving it,” Jasper agreed.
“But it is her decision,” Aimon reminded him.
Itwasher decision, but the fact that the mortality dagger was created to kill an immortal—when shewasan immortal—made me nervous. However, that dagger was created specifically for Matthieu. Since his rune number differed from hers, itshouldn’tkill her.
But I also didn’t want to take any chances of that happening.
As we entered the potion room, the air was soaked with the mingling scents of herbs and alchemical concoctions.
Bastian's excitement was contagious as he eagerly accepted the dagger from Fawn's outstretched hand. The final step awaited us, a baptism of antidote potency that would cement the weapon's destiny.
In the glow of the potion room's luminous vials, the dagger seemed to radiate with an inner light, a beacon of hope in a world teetering on the brink of monstrous oblivion.
Bastian practically skipped to the cauldron, where the mortality potion bubbled, and he carefully dipped the blade into the glowing liquid.
The potion reacted with the runes on the blade, and the runes glowed brightly in response as he pulled it out and handed it back to Fawn.
“Be careful with that,” he warned, hesitation pooling in his pink eyes. “It is a powerful weapon now—one that can be used to kill an immortal.”
“And there are seven immortals—that we know of,” I chuckled weakly.
“The six of us and Matthieu, I know.” Fawn wrapped her fingers tightly around the hilt of the dagger. “But this dagger is for Matthieu. It was tailored specifically for him.”
“You need somewhere safe to store it,” I murmured.
She stuck out her free hand. “A rune. Like you did for my cats.”
As if mentioning them summoned their phantom spirits, her cats jumped out of the runes on her arm before hissing at the dagger in her hand.
Karma floated in between Casper and Jasper, eying it with fire in her eyes.
Oz hid behind Bastian, Cosmo bolted behind me, and Charm settled on Aimon’s shoulders.
Each phantom cat kept their ghostly eyes trained on the dagger with fear.
“They’ve never reacted like that before.” Her grip on the dagger tightened.
“You’ve never held a weapon that could truly end your life before either,” I muttered, my chest tightening as I grabbed her hand gently.
“It shouldn’t kill me. It doesn’t have the exact requirements for that,” she reminded me.
I gave her a sharp look. “Through the power of the spirits, let this rune be a resting place for the bone dagger of mortality.” Ink floated into the form of a storage rune before taking on a shimmering glow and sinking into her palm, and it became a part of her skin. “Spirits of Hexarium bless.”
The room filled with a cool breeze. Fawn pulled her hand back before she pressed the hilt of the dagger into the rune on her palm, and it swallowed the dagger entirely.
A wave of fatigue immediately swept through her and the bond. Her knees buckled, and all the strength seemed to evaporate from her body all at once.
“Shit, sunshine!” Casper caught her before she hit the ground while I conjured drinking water for her in a nearby clean glass.
"Give her this." I handed the glass to Casper, watching as he gently guided it to her lips.
Her fingers trembled against the cool surface of the glass as she drank. Her voice, though faint, carried a note of determination as she finished the glass. "I'm fine."
Fawn's cats returned to her side, their phantom feline concern a wordless chorus of comfort.
