“It’s the way he knocks.” He frowned. “Do you mind grabbing it?”
I used the opportunity to catch my breath. I opened the door, but Jyuri paid no mind to my presence, walking past me without a care and forcing me to hustle to catch up to him. He stood in the doorway to Alandris’ room while I took my place back on the opposite side of the desk.
“Hm.” Jyuri sniffed at the air. “Why does it smell of poor decisions?”
Alandris choked on the mead he was swallowing while I covered my mouth in horror. Thankfully, Alandris spared methe responsibility of having to answer, for I surely wouldn’t have maintained my composure as well as he had. “We were drinking. Talking.”
“Odd. I have supernatural hearing, and I did not hear much talking from beyond the door.”
Alandris narrowed his eyes at the Fae. “Did you hear something else you’d like to enlighten us of?”
Please don’t.
Jyuri grinned. “No. I’m not so impolite as to prod you further.”
“To what do I owe the honor of your presence?”
“I procured what you have asked for.” He pulled a small bottle from the inside of his robes. “Catch.”
Alandris caught it by the tips of his fingers, cursing. “Was that truly necessary?”
“Should always keep your wits about you, Grand Arch Magus. Drinking with your students in the middle of the night—how untoward!” Jyuri cackled. “Do you show all of your students such special treatment?”
“Hilarious,” Alandris bit back. “Get out. I can’t deal with you today.”
“No. Besides, don’t you want to know how it works?”
The bottle held a swirling blue liquid, faintly glowing in the dim light. As Alandris turned the bottle over in his hands, the light caught the liquid, and it seemed to shimmer in shades of silver, purple, and green— each color refracting like shards of glass. The bottle itself was unadorned, save for a metal stopper topped with a butterfly wing.
“No, thank you,” Alandris said, setting the small bottle on his desk. “Given the request I made of you, I’m certain I can figure it out.”
“Of course, Grand Arch Magus, how could I question your wisdom?” Jyuri smiled at the prickly reaction the full titlegave Alandris. “Two drops on the tongue. Amorphael sends her regards.”
Amorphael?I turned my head towards Alandris, but I didn’t question him until I’d heard the click of the door—the sure indication of Jyuri having left the quarters.
“That is from Amorphael?” I asked, grateful for the distraction. The arrival of the strange potion had provided the opportunity to discuss something other than whatever it was we’d just done. That would be better discussed internally, later. I could stare up at my ceiling and ask,why did you do something so stupid, Nairu? Why did you make things infinitely more complicated?
“It is. She made it for you.”
I raised a brow. “Should I really drink a potion brewed by a Fae?”
He smiled. “Under normal circumstances, I would advise against it, but Amorphael is a trusted companion. I resented her at one point, but she has proven herself dedicated to our current mutual goal. I trust she has not tampered with it in any way beyond its intended purposes.”
“Which are?”
He clicked his tongue. “I cannot tell you until you drink it.”
“You do realize how horrible that sounds, right?”
He nodded, pursing his lips. “Yes. Yes, I do.”
“Give it here.”
He obliged, and I took a moment to examine the liquid once more. I unstoppered the bottle and sniffed the contents. It had a floral scent—something sweet and perfumed. Nothing I recognized outright as being poisonous.Two drops. Before I could question my sanity further, I tipped the bottle back and let them fall onto my tongue.One. Two.
The taste wasn’t awful—sour and a tad bitter, but with underlying hints of fruit that made it more pleasant. It made mymouth water and my tongue grow numb, but I didn’t feel any other effects. I was sure I was supposed to feel something else, even if I wasn’t sure what exactly it was.
As I was questioning if it had all been some sort of strange joke, I felt it. An odd sense of silence washed over me. I could normally feel a presence in the back of my mind. At first, I’d not known it was Zaelos that I was sensing, but it was something that was ever present, nonetheless. Once I’d discovered it was him, it had felt darker. More solid. A constant scratch at the inside of my mind, a claw trying to rip me open and break free.
