Page 89 of I Destroyed the Elf Prince's Harem

“There-there’s nothing here! She was telling the truth. There’s no antidote,” I shouted when I’d looked over everything for a third and final time.

“There has to be?—”

Another crash of glass filled the conservatory, and my heart threatened to stop. Did the duchess have guards we’d missed?

“Did you find the antidote?” Jasper’s voice rang out.

“No! She doesn’t make antidotes!” I called back, panic causing my words to tremble.

“Search for a vial labeled ‘black-winged cobra hearts’!”

“What the…”

We all stared in the direction of the voices. A moment later, Jasper and Adeline appeared through the leafy greenery. Adeline deftly sliced through snakes as they attempted to strike while Jasper ran to us, his grimoire bouncing on his hip. He was pale except for spots of color in his cheeks. For once, Master Binx was not riding on the top of his head, but I thought I saw him peek out of the folds of Jasper’s robes near his collar.

“The hearts of black-winged cobras are a well-known panacea. They can cure nearly any poison if used in the antidote!”

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” Helena screamed, balling her hands into fists. She took a step toward Jasper as if she meant to attack him, but Adeline was right there, backhanding her hard enough to send her staggering to the divan.

The mercenary stood over her, glaring. “I’ve seen too many good people die from poison. I have no respect for what you do or who you are.” She spat at the woman’s feet, then moved to join Jasper at the table, where we were now searching for hearts taken from black-winged cobras.

“Even if you find the hearts, I’m not making you the antidote,” the duchess sneered. “Let Prince Orian die. You can all die.”

“I don’t think any of us would trust any antidote you claimed to make for us,” Nylian countered.

“Jasper, check those books over there,” Adeline barked. “She would have the recipe for the poison written down, right? Makes sense the antidote would be in the same book.”

“Yes! You’re right!” Jasper darted away to the bookshelf to work his way through the various tomes while I continued my search.

My shaking fingers fumbled over vials, causing them to clatter and fall over in my haste to read every label. At last, I located a small red jar with a winged snake drawn on it and a red heart was around it. I popped off the top and inside were what looked like tiny shriveled-up black beans. Nearly tripping over my own feet, I took it to Jasper.

“Is this it? Are these black-winged cobra hearts?” I demanded, practically holding the jar under his nose.

Jasper grabbed my hand and lowered it so he could more clearly into it. Master Binx scrambled over to Jasper’s shoulder and stood on his tiny hind legs to peer in as well.

“Yeah, that’s it. I think that’s it,” Jasper said, relief thick in his voice.

Master Binx also let out a chirp that sounded like an affirmative. Finally, something was going our way.

But that felt like the last thing.

I didn’t know whether it was his tiny squeak or his appearance out in the open, but a snake noticed and dive-bombed us. The chipmunk squealed and raced for cover. I didn’t think. My hand shot out, catching the snake behind the head before it could reach the chipmunk or Jasper with its venom-filled fangs. Just as quickly, I flung the creature into the trees and bushes.

Unfortunately, my arm slammed into a large vial of blue liquid, sending it flying toward the trees as well. It slammed into a slender branch and exploded in a shower of glass and chemicals. As soon as it touched anything, the liquid burst into flames. In a matter of a few breathless seconds, a quarter of the duchess’s private forest was engulfed in fire.

“Well, that’s not good,” Nylian muttered.

No, and it got worse. All the snakes that had been hiding in that forest were now flying and slithering in our direction to escape certain death. I tucked the jar of dried hearts into the pouch on my hip and turned back to Jasper, who was frantically paging through a slender book.

“Any luck?”

“Maybe. I-I-I don’t know. There are so many.” His hands shook as he searched, nearly ripping pages as he flipped them in haste. I snatched another book off the shelf and began searching as well.

“Jasper! We are out of time!” Adeline shouted.

Jasper and I glanced up at the same time to see a black cloud of snakes shooting through the air. There was no way Nylian and Adeline could fight them all off. There were too many. I swallowed hard, my heart squeezing so tight I thought it was going to be pulverized to dust in my chest.

Beside me, a book thunked heavily on the floor. I turned my head in time to see Jasper throw his hands in the air toward the racing snakes. Master Binx shrilly squeaked from the top of Jasper’s head, pulling on his long hair with both tiny paws. Jasper changed the arrangement of his hands slightly and shouted a single word.

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