Lux eased again to her back and searched for Artemis. He’d retreated to his counter. When he turned around, he carried a puffing beaker, a pair of tweezers, and the smallest blade.
He set them beside her head. “Hair first.” He plucked a strand, and Lux scowled. He dropped it into the beaker where it sizzled to nothing. “And now blood.”
Her insides seized. “I don’t think so.”
The healer’s hood shifted toward her; he’d been reaching for her hand. “Why don’t you think so?”
“Because I was told never to offer up my blood.”
“Don’t you ever, darling. Do you understand?” Riselda’s hand lay atop Lux’s head. “That’s the main ingredient—in curses.”
“Who told you that?”
Lux gritted her teeth. “Someone who didn’t want me ever to be cursed.”
“Well lucky for you, my dear, I am a healer, not a curse-wielder. And even if I were, curses are not all they’re made out to be. Would you really suffer so much if I cursed you with two left feet or the inability to love?”
Lux swallowed hard. “Yes. I think I would suffer a lot actually.”
“We don’t need to agree. But you do need to believe me in that I won’t harm you. That thisisthe only way.”
“Go on, Lux,” said Corvin. “He’s telling the truth.”
Her teeth pressed harder together. She didn’t know to whom she should listen. She prodded at her instincts for some insight, but other than the fierce prick of nerves and a growing despair, she felt nothing distinct.
If she was broken beyond repair…
“Fine,” she bit out. “Only a little.”
Like it mattered.
“Excellent,” said Artemis with entirely too much glee. He sliced the pad of her middle finger.
Lux hissed, but she didn’t move. She allowed the healer to hold her finger over the beaker until several fat drops landed inside. They sizzled, same as the hair.
“Once more now,” he said.
“Again?” She took the wrapping from his outstretched hand and wound it around her fingertip.
“The foot this time.”
Lux immediately met Corvin’s frost-like stare. “It was the same for me,” he said.
“Of all the saintforsaken hells…” she grumbled.
Lux sat forward, and they gave her room. She unlaced her boot first then removed it. She stared at the stocking a moment before easing her skirt marginally higher. Her cheeks heated as she worked it free.
She lay back when she was through, staring at the herbs, and only winced a little when the sharp pain nipped through her toe. This time, the healer wrapped it for her.
“Perfect,” he said. “Now drink.”
Lux stared at the thimble he offered her. “Is that the elixir?”
“It is. An amount appropriate for the size of you. Drink up.” She reached for the thimble and lifted her head, downing it in one swallow. “Her hand, Corvin,” she heard him say, but already, it sounded far away.
Corvin’s hand settled over hers.
At first, Lux didn’t grip it back. While everything felt distant, it didn’t otherwise feel abnormal. Then the pulsing started. She noticed it in her heart first, which made sense, she supposed, but she soon tightened every muscle as her every vessel came alive.They beat, fast and thudding, and once they began to squirm, she held onto Corvin’s hand as if it were her only anchor to the real world.
