“Talis,” Rys said, voice calm and soft and thankfully lacking alpha power. Because how humiliating would that be? “Sit down and let them finish.”
I cracked my neck from side to side, the noise satisfyingly loud as I sucked in a deep breath and slowly let it out again.
Calm.
I retrieved my chair and sat back down, resolutely not looking in Axel’s direction. Couldn’t, not while I hung on to the anger swirling inside me by the skin of my fucking fangs.
He watched me, though.
I felt the weight ofhisstare above everyone else’s.
This wasn’t me.
I didn’t lose my temper.
I also didn’t display my emotions for everyone to see, yet here we were. If anyone here hadn’t known about my feelings for Axel, well, they did now.
It would come back to bite me later, but in that moment I couldn’t bring myself to care.
With another deep, shuddering breath, I forced my grip on the chair to relax. “Sorry,” I said, looking at Wyn. “Carry on, please.”
Wyn eyed me, suspicious. “Are you sure, because it doesn’t get any better, and I don’t want you lunging across the table at me.” He gestured between him and Cara sat next to him. “We’re just the messengers. We didn’t create these crimes against magic.”
“I’m fine, I promise.”
“As I was saying,” Wyn said, setting three bottles on the table. The glass was dark; whatever colour the liquid was inside, they all looked black. “We’ve only done a very quick top-level investigation into what these potions are because we wanted to give you an idea of what you were dealing with.” He picked up the first one and grimaced. “This is refined Blue Alhuirn. There’s another five bottles of this in the box you brought.”
Lady Sarhin sighed. “We recovered four more boxes full of bottles like that one.” She eyed the bottles, lip curling up. “And also one that was almost empty.”
Fuck.
“I’m afraid that’s not the worst of it.” Wyn set that bottle down and tapped the top of the next one. “This is some sort of memory altering potion. We won’t know more without further testing.” He moved on to the last one. “And this in here is part of a spell to alter someone’s appearance.” He looked to Lady Sarhin. “It’s useless on its own, but you said you found magical artefacts there too?”
“We did.”
“Then I’d go out on a limb and say the other parts to this spell are there too.” He waved a hand over all three bottles. “All of these are banned by the witches’ council. Manufacture alone carries a heavy sentence, let alone distribution.”
His words took a moment for me to process, but when they did… I gripped the table so hard the wood splintered. “Are you telling us that Vai Zh’alek could look like anyone now?” My voice sounded eerily calm, even to me. “That we’ve all been keeping watch for the wrong fucking person?”
Lady Sarhin met my gaze. “We believe that Melhak stockpiled this for when Zh’alek escaped. I imagine they were supposed to go there together. But assuming Zh’alek had access to it, then yes, I think it’s safe to assume that he no longer looks like the Zh’alek we know.”
I closed my eyes, fighting my wolf as it raged under my skin. He could be out there right now and we’d have no fucking clue.
Rys’s hand clamped down on the back of my neck, grip firm enough to make me suck in a breath. “Calm,” he hissed, low and rough, the raw alpha power in it yanking me back from the edge.
I shuddered in my seat, the red mist clouding my vision dissolving enough that when I looked up, my gaze locked with Axel’s.
The colour had drained from his face. Violet eyes stood out even more as he stared at the three bottles like they were snakes ready to strike any second. Dathal wrapped an arm around him, pulling him into his side, and I smothered the urge to growl.
Not mine.
“How long would he be able to sustain this?” Dathal asked, the cold edge to his voice settling my wolf.
Dathal was lethal with his knives. I’d seen him in action.
Another who’d protect Axel with his life.
Wyn sighed and slumped back in his chair. “If he had access to this much magic, then…” He held out his hands. “Months.”
