“Pretty little poison, I don’t mean to rain on your parade, but—” Zuko was cut off as Koa stood up abruptly.
“Don’t drink that, Rune!”
Before anyone could stop me, I tilted my head back and drank the contents in one gulp.
“Shit,” Lorian muttered.
“She drank it,” Eleanor whispered.
“Are you really surprised?” Aura asked.
“Not really,” Hawk muttered.
“At least she did it when we were here in case something went wrong,” Koa said, sounding strained.
“Do I pass?” I asked, smirking faintly at Jarvins.
“You completed the mission,” he answered dryly.
The room tilted, my knees giving out as the potion roared through my veins.
My skinitched.
A crack splintered the air as raw magical energy shattered the silence.
Drecken appeared behind me, catching my jello-like body against his chest before I hit the floor. His magic clung to himlike storm clouds and wildfire, literal magic storms and fires bursting from his body.
His blue eyes were locked on me with an intensity that made my skin burn.
“Great timing! The potion works!” I exclaimed, turning in his arms with a grin as I gripped his forearms to steady myself. “I’ve been dying to add Mom’s venom to my arsenal. Great job, Drecken.”
He smirked, his head tilting as his green hair brushed over his forehead. Snapping his fingers, he reclaimed the notebook from Jarvins’s desk without breaking our locked gaze.
His voice slid like silk over my skin. “Viperling…no one’s deceived me before. Not once. How did you do it?”
A victorious grin spread over my lips. “I like to break expectations.”
“Yeah, definitely another one,” Slater muttered.
“No doubt,” Zuko agreed.
Drecken didn’t let me go, his magic brushing against me in a way that felt like foreplay more than anything else. “Your intent was lost on me. And yet…you were in my space. Your hand brushed my arm.”
“And now, I’m in your arms,” I giggled before smoothing my expression at his bewilderment. “It’s not my fault you couldn’t catch my original intent.”
The room was silent.
Everyone watching, and even Jarvins looked tense.
Drecken’s gaze narrowed, his arms tightening around me as I tried to stop the world from spinning.I loved potions.“How?”
I grinned wildly at him. “A woman has to keep some secrets, doesn’t she?”
The faintest hint of amusement tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Perhaps.”
With a crack of magic, he was gone.
The room swayed again. I almost toppled over before Zuko’s arm slid around my waist, steadying me. “I’ll take her back to rest.”
