Page 13 of Hostile Holiday

He looked at her. “May I see what form it took?”

She held it up to him. He held her hand gently and huffed softly. “That explains so much.”

“It sounds like you are having an educational afternoon.”

He paused and lowered her hand. “One more thing.”

He turned and used a pipette to withdraw a few drops of dark red liquid before dropping it into the flask.

A screaming black skull lunged out of the flask, and Hunter huffed at it, freezing it. The skull disappeared in a puff of snowflakes.

“A blood curse definitely binds you. That is certain. I can negate it from here temporarily, or I can deal with it now.”

“How?”

“Blood. You will need to get blood from your sibling, and with that, the curse can be broken.” He smiled. “Fortunately, his blood is already here.”

She blinked. “What?”

“This will hurt a tiny bit.” He took her hand, and his claw jabbed forward with the speed she had seen in the arena.

He used a clean pipette to take the blood welling in her palm, and his eyes smiled. “Well done.”

He took the blood and set the pipette in a stone bowl before gathering other ingredients.

Orla looked at the blood on her hand, shrugged, and then licked the puncture. She didn’t know what he was doing, but at least she could breathe this time.

He returned to the table and nodded. “You share blood with your brother, so this will work. It breaks the curse attached to the blood, so it goes both ways. You will be free, and he will get a hangover from all of the energy he has used that was yours.”

“So, what happens with the energy that goes back to me?”

He chortled. “You will get a pleasant buzz from the returning magic.”

“Oh. Good, I guess. I don’t drink, so I guess I will find out what a buzz is.”

He focused on the bowl, adding specific counts in measure. “Why is that?”

She watched him lift the pipette and smiled. “My mother said it was in my blood. I was her little fallen star wrapped in her skin.”

His head jerked up. “Fallen star?”

She watched a series of drops hit the bowl he was working on. She was thrown backward and hit the bookshelf hard. Lightdanced behind her eyes, and when she opened them, everything was glowing. Her head pounded, and she touched the back of her skull. There was blood, which wasn’t a surprise.

Orla stared at it, and the crimson turned to gold and turned to dust. The pain in her head faded. “Oh, wow. I amnevergetting drunk.”

Her ears were still ringing, and Hunter came to her, his fur scorched and eyes worried. “Orla, are you all right?”

She nodded slowly. “Your tail isn’t wagging.”

“No. I didn’t know you packed so much power.”

“I don’t. I never used it, and then, it was gone.”

He carefully lifted her to her feet and sniffed. “Blood?”

“I hit my head hard. It seems to be fixed.”

“Let me see.” He turned her and touched her head. “It has healed, but it needs to be cleaned.” He picked her up and set her on the table, selecting a silvery blue vial from the wall with a nod.

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