Page 75 of Live Like Legends

I rubbed the bridge of my nose. “Ariel took Nick to the Ethereal Bastille. We want to get him out, but thehowis proving difficult.”

He nodded in understanding. “So, you need to get past a bunch of guards?”

“Clearly.” Elise made a face like it was the dumbest question she’d ever heard.

Xander ignored her, his ears perking up when his High Priestess’s voice rang out. “Yes, what are you thinking?”

He smirked. “I might have something that could help you with that.”

“You’re sure this will work?” Natalia asked, skepticism lacing her tone.

Xander eyed her with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Of course, I wouldn’t steer you wrong.”

“You’ve made this kind of thing before?” Elise said, turning her nose up at the glass ball he was filling with a green liquid. Smoke bellowed around the ladle he used.

The Enchanter poured the last bit of the solution into the glass sphere, swirling his hand around the top, closing the opening. “Yes and no. I’ve made it but not this large of an amount. I had to eyeball the ingredients, especially if you want the dosing to do the trick on your stubborn sentries.”

Xander had taken us to the Apothecary, explaining that a sleeping spell would give us the easy in we needed to retrieve my best friend. He’d told us that he’d formulated many sleeping aids for Enchanters, some of them suffered from insomnia or just fucking terrible nightmares and a good nights sleep was much needed. He made sure to explain that we shouldn’t linger too long just in case, but he was good at what he did, so we should trust him.

I didn’t trust easily, but for some reason I trusted this Enchanter that had nursed my fucked-up leg back to some sort of health and made sure Nick had his bearings after his overwhelming panic attack.

He turned and handed the glass ball to me. I held it delicately in my palm, watching as the liquid sloshed back and forth.

“Don’t drop it, Blondie. It will be nap time for all of us.” Elise moved past me, rolling her eyes.

I bit my own tongue as I stomped after her. Xander and Natalia followed behind us as we walked out the front door. A back to normal Beetee and grumpy looking Zane met us outside.

“Sorry,” Beetee mumbled under her breath, looking embarrassed.

I knitted my eyebrows. “For?”

She casually moved her hand in the direction of Natalia’s home. “For what happened? I just…sometimes….”

I chuckled. “Ah well, I would expect nothing less from our favorite reptile queen. If you didn’t care so much I would think you weren’t the real you.” I winked at her, which caused her to grant me one of her genuine smiles.

“Are you two fine going by yourselves?” The skepticism in Zane’s voice was more than apparent. His dark eyes looked between me and the less than appealing demon next to me.

“Awe, your concern is adorable.” Elise batted her eyelashes at the large Enchanter. “Makes me want to fucking vomit.”

Natalia cleared her throat. “I’ve been thinking about that as well. As much as I’m concerned for Nicholas, I…” She raised one of her defined eyebrows, her array of jewelry shining in the moonlight.

I raised my hand up to stop her. “It’s under control. The little one will be on her best behavior.” I gave Elise a smug smile, which she responded by giving me a middle finger.

“Um…a question?” Beetee’s voice rang out as if she thought she might be intruding on something.

We all looked at her expectantly.

She hooked her index fingers together, strands of her pink hair hiding her right eye. “How do you plan to make it into the Ethereal Bastille? You can’t use magic to just portal into that place and no way Ariel or any sentry will let you through without a valid reason.”

I snickered, giving the cute little shifter demon my attention. “Oh, don’t you worry, reptile queen. I have an idea.”

We walked across the lawn of The Skies, the sentries at the gate coming into view. Natalia had sent us through a portal that had us landing a few yards away, so that we wouldn’t cause a commotion. Elise had incessantly asked me about the plan, but I’d just shrugged and told her that she would find out soon enough.

My body was vibrating with what was about to happen as I fingered the strap of my bow that was behind my back.

“Blondie, you really need to fucking tell me what’s going on, or…” Her words were halted when I kicked behind her knees, causing her to fall forward, but I caught her by the arm right before she fell to the ground. “What the fuck!?”

I reached for her other arm, twisting her wrists between my hands and dragging her the rest of the way to the sentries. I pulled her back towards me, so that I could whisper, “settle down and let me do the talking.”

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