Page 82 of Silent Jay

I nodded and stepped back before consulting her notes again. The potions needed another twenty minutes or so. She didn’t have a way to precisely track time before she could add her blood to them.

“Did you make enough for two?” I asked.

She raised an eyebrow at me. Her stomach growled between us, and her gaze flicked down to the glass bowl I’d left out of her reach.

It twisted my heart to say it, but I’d come too far to give in. “You need to answer my questions first.”

I didn’t know what I’d do if she didn't answer them. My resolve was melting like ice cream on a hot day. Any moment, I’d be a puddle needing to fix everything marring our second meeting. I eyed her two mate marks, hoping they’d help remind me of her unattainability, but once again, my dragon purred, and a ball of excitement rushed through me.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

JAIYANA

Istudied the dragon shifter watching me. With two people and two potions bubbling away in his little cave, the space had gone from cool to humid and warm. A bead of sweat ran down the side of his diamond-shaped face, sliding past a cluster of runes decorating the curve of his neck.

He was much more connected to his magic than Rehan or Tyson. I’d decided hours ago I wasn’t dwelling on how I got knocked out or that he locked me inside a mountain and was starving me. The warlock had the tools and knowledge I needed. I could put my pride aside.

Pride aside.

Don’t fucking say it.

My stomach growled, echoing off the cave walls. I’d not eaten in the last twenty-four hours, possibly longer. My smell hadn’t improved, and if my captor got too close to a bucket in the far corner, he’d discover body fluids that should have gotten flushed hours ago.

But I needed him to trust me.

I’d gone a lot more than twenty-four hours without eating before. Fuck, fasting was one of the stupid health crazes I tried out in the last decade. Stupid internet.

Ignoring my hunger, I picked up my pad and paper and sat on the bed. ‘Ask away.’

Ogden grinned. “What’s your name?”

I rolled my eyes. ‘Jaiyana, but everyone calls me Jay.’

Ogden’s grin fell, and he sat in the only other chair in the room. “Ah, I didn’t think you’d just give it to me.”

I glared at him. Although I wanted to say:I’m tired, dirty, and just shit in a bucket, move on!I couldn’t say anything, so I crossed my arms over my chest and waited.

Ogden stiffened in his chair across the room and steepled his fingers in front of him. “What is worm rot used for?”

I raised an eyebrow and wrote on the pad of paper. ‘It’s a spell component used in many different potions to call negative energy. You can also eat it; it made great shoe polish back in the day. I’m not listing out every potion it’s used in. What kind of a question is that?’

Ogden chuckled, and his posture relaxed. “How do you make stardust?”

I pursed my lips, not liking being ignored, but wrote out the instructions. After looking them over, he nodded, positively beaming. Little dimples formed on his cheeks, and twenty years dropped off his face.

He took a moment to tie a green scarf around his head, keeping his messy black hair out of his eyes and the sweat from rolling down his face. I hadn’t been sure what to expect from my captor. Leaving me in here with nothing but some bottles of water had been a shitty thing to do, literally.

But he’d also left me here with all his stuff. I didn’t know much about vintage records, but I knew they were ‘old,’ and the people who still listened to them were usually collectors. He hadthe supplies to make several poisons, and with my limited fire magic, I could easily have made something explosive to surprise him with.

He asked me another technical question, this time about runes.

I sketched out the fundamentals for a binding spell that would function with any substance and passed him the pad. He crossed his legs and rested his bare forearm on his thigh to study my work. His questions targeted my technical knowledge, probably establishing I was what I said. It was a smart move, although it gave me just as much information on him.

“OK.” He looked up from my rune with another beaming smile. I found my guard dropping despite myself. “I believe you’re an enchantress or at least very good at magic.”

I snorted. I’d forgotten more than he’d ever learn.

The thought froze me in place. Multiple times now I’d found myself drifting oddly… as if getting lost in thought, except there were no thoughts. What if it was a problem with my memory? How would I even know?

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