Page 81 of Crown of Slumber

“I don’t know if this will work,” I said for the third time.

“Fenn, I know.” Aurelia’s voice was soft and patient, but I knew she was likely as nervous as I was.

“I could hurt you.” I glanced at her, allowing a moment of vulnerability in that brief look. My fear. My concern for her safety.

Such weakness was so uncharacteristic for me that I couldn’t stop myself from quickly adding, “And, you know, that would jeopardize our bargain. I’m not supposed to bring harm to you.”

“From what we know, this rune on me is powerful enough to protect me from a sleeping curse,” she said. “If anything, I’d be worried it would react to your spell and harmyou.”

I chuckled. “Don’t worry about me. I have a protection rune, remember?” I stared at the liquid in the saucer, running the slipperysubstance over my fingers once more. “This—This will work better with your blood. But I think we should try it first without, just in case. Blood tends to strengthen a spell to its maximum effect, but if this backfires and whatever magical force inside you lashes out, then we certainly wouldn’t want to escalate that.”

“Right.” She sat up straighter, her chin jutting out with determination, eyes blazing. In this moment, she was my fierce little firebird, scared of nothing and no one.

I wasn’t sure when she becamemyfirebird, in my mind. The thought was so alarming that I pushed it away before it consumed me.

I breathed a long, slow exhale before bringing the saucer with me as I sat right next to Aurelia. She obediently angled the left side of her body away from me to give me better access to her shoulder blade, where the black spiral marking was etched into her flesh. I found myself staring at the exposed skin, the pale rosy complexion and the smattering of freckles I loved so much. Gods, had it really only been hours ago that I’d been running my tongue over those very freckles? And now we were dabbling in witch runes.

I had never been this nervous when conducting experiments with Marek. Then again, we had been young and foolish, heedless of our own safety.

But this was the heir to the Summer Court before me. And she harbored a dangerous magic that we knew nothing about.

If this went badly…

No. I wouldn’t allow myself to think it.

Stop being such a fool, Fenn,I chided myself, before dipping my fingers into the mixture once more and painting the image over the marking on Aurelia’s skin. She stiffened and inhaled sharply. I knew from experience that, when the concoction was spread on a witch rune, it stung slightly.

“Sorry,” I muttered.

“It’s fine.”

With careful precision, I painted a circle with three dots on one side and a curved arrow on the other. Then, I slowly withdrew my hand and waited.

Aurelia was holding her breath, her body as still as a statue. Iwished I could see her face, to offer her some reassurance. But I couldn’t even reassure myself at this point.

The silence in the room was deafening. My pulse thundered in my ears, roaring so loudly I thought she would surely hear it.

Just when I was about to declare the attempt a failure, the spiral on Aurelia’s shoulder began to glow a brilliant gold. I stared at it, eyes wide, as a shape took form. It blurred and spread, dancing across her skin like magic light. My brow furrowed as I tried to make out what the image was.

“That feels funny,” Aurelia whispered. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing,” I said quickly. “It’s the rune. It’s… making an image.”

“An image of what?”

“I can’t tell. It looks like a cross between a horse and a bird.” I knew it sounded ridiculous, but that was all I could make out.

“Hmm,” Aurelia said thoughtfully. “It’s definitely an animal?”

“Yes. It has wings.”

“A dragon?”

I cocked my head. If I squinted and blurred my vision, then yes, it resembled a dragon. “Perhaps.”

“Maybe it’s a familiar.”

I frowned. “Why do you say that?”

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