Page 48 of Blood on the Ice

“Yes. I’m sorry if I scared you, Morgana. Iggy says I’m too blunt and I should learn better social graces—which is funny once you get to know him. He’s not exactly a diplomat, either.” The siren gives me a crooked grin that makes my heart go pitter-patter, then steps back.

I lean down and brush my lips over his cheek. “You helped me a lot, actually. Even if your intuition scares me, you helped me quit focusing on the possibility that Lucas won’t get better. I felt overwhelmed, which might frighten him. I appreciate it.”

Holding his hand out, Slade flushes pink with the praise. “Stop making me blush. Praise is my thing, you know.” My eyes widen and I grin a little, tucking that knowledge in my pocket for later. “We have to finish this brew and give it to the big bear before he gets worse. Come on.”

He’s right—for now.

I watchSlade pour the flowery mix into a big mug from the cabinet nervously. Trusting numerous new people goes against my nature, yet I must. My mother’s skills never stuck with me and I definitely can’t go hunting for a professional curse breaker, given Lucas’s and my public profiles.

Nope. This is my only option, and it doesn’t matter if I have misgivings.

“Let’s go out and give this to the Prince,” he says, holding his hand out again.

I take it, letting him twine our fingers together. His touch is calming as we walk over to give Liam the mug and it helps me ground myself. “What’s next?”

Kaspar looms over the Fae as he mutters into the glass and I blink when sparkles zing through the surrounding air. The Prince is speaking in a language I haven’t heard before—it’s not High Fae, nor it is from this side of the Veil. Iggy looks fascinated as well, scooting closer to watch Liam as he chants. Everyoneis hanging on the edge of their seats until a loud pop echoes through the air and the Prince grins at the glass.

“There we go. This should do it, though it might be uncomfortable,” he says as he looks down at Lucas. “I’m sorry for that. You’ll probably scream, but it goes away as this flushes the poison away.”

The polar bear shrugs and gives him a wan smile. “Dude, I’d take some momentary pain over feeling like my life is draining from me slowly. Bottoms up.”

Letting go of Slade, I walk over and drop onto the ground next to the lounge as he chugs the mixture. His face contorts, the moment he swallows it down, and he shouts as his body arches off the cushions. My hands curl into fists as Lucas thrashes around, his bellows making my ears ring. This had better make him better hastily, because I can hardly stand feeling my mate hurting—Des is hissing in my ear as if she’s going to attack as it is.

“Everyone stay calm,” Liam says softly. “The poison will ooze out soon and we’ll need to wipe it away. Do we have paper towels?”

I nod, but I can’t make myself move from Lucas’s side. The grouchy dragon throws up his hands when the others stay still as well and I call to him as he heads inside, “The pantry, top shelf.”

I’m pretty sure whatever he just said is ‘fuck you’ in that same weird language.

Liam looks over at me with a sheepish expression, rubbing his hand on his neck. “I’m sorry about Kaspar. He’s very serious about his job and even more serious about protecting his friend. It makes him act like a jackass… well, most of the time.”

“Jackass is putting it nicely,” Iggy mutters. “That guy has a chip on his shoulder big enough to be labeled a canyon.”

Lucas tries to laugh, but it comes out as a strangled moan. Scooting closer, I brush the hair off his forehead, trying to soothe him a little. “Iggy’s right. He clearly doesn’t like us, so I appreciate you helping my mate, despite your guard’s protests.”

“Oh, I don’t think he dislikes you,” Liam says as he looks at his watch. “If he did, he wouldn’t have gone to find the towels. This is going to get gross in a minute. He’d let someone he disliked ruin their furniture and get covered in sludge.”

“Covered in sludge?” I ask incredulously. “What do you mean, covered in sludge?”

His lips curve as Kaspar comes back with two rolls of paper towels and a glower. “You’ll find out right about… now.”

I turn back to Lucas. The aptly titled ‘sludge’ is now leaking from his pores, black and slimy as it runs over every inch of his frame. It’s like something from a fucking horror movie or a comic book, and I have to scramble away so it doesn’t touch me. Iggy and Slade back up, similarly horrified, and I take Slade’s hand to get to my feet. “What the hell, Liam?”

“That’s Prince?—”

“Shut up, Kaspar!” I growl in irritation before I go back to his charge. “What the hell is this?”

He shrugs. “The poison, Morgana. Everything in or made by the Fae has a life force. The brew pushes it out and we need the towels to wipe it all up. Then we’ll bag all the towels and burn them in your fire pit. If we don’t kill it, it could escape and taint other things.”

“It’s like Venom!” Lucas crows, coughing as more sludge comes out of his mouth when it opens it.

Fucking men. Only a guy would be excited if his weird Fae poison was like some stupid superhero shit.

“That shit almost killed you, baby. Maybe don’t be so excited?” I grumble. Kaspar smirks as he hands me a wad of towels, then moves on to Slade. “It’s not really cool if it’s fatal.”

Iggy shrugs and takes a handful from the dragon. “I don’t know. Every boy, even supes, hopes they’ll get bitten by a radioactive spider. It’s one of those ‘become your hero’ things men like.”

I give him an odd look. “Ignatius Briarton, you havemagic. Why the hell would you need to have spider powers?”

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