Page 58 of Wings of Ashes
Bael added, “I’m your new security detail. What if you accidentally start another fire?”
“Ryker was the one who saved me.”
Bael pursed his plush lips, extracted the lollipop, and tapped the candy to his mouth. “Do I need to intentionally set a fire to prove myself, Swan Lake? I can protect you just as well as Ryker.”
I don’t have time for this.Ignoring him, Nix walked up to the potion professor’s desk, and Bael matched her strides.
“Miss Oadess, I was hoping to see you after today’s class,” Professor Bowen said, standing from his chair.
“Yes, I wanted to talk to you about…” Nix glanced to Bael, who stood, rooted beside her, sucking on his suggestive lollipop. “You really won’t leave?” she asked the incubus.
“And risk your life? What part of ‘I will protect your delicious body with mine’ do you not understand?”
Nix sighed deeply and turned to Professor Bowen, pretending Bael was not listening. “I wanted to ask you about the chapter on reversal potions. I made one last night and—”
“Youmadeone?”
“Yes.”
“Reversal potions can be dangerous, Miss Oadess,” Professor Bowen said in a wary tone. “You should not be experimenting on yourself without years of practice—”
“You were right, professor. I have been consuming a potion that has been secretly harming me, and I want to reverse it.”As soon as possible.
“Harming you? What’s—” Bael began.
Nix flicked the tip of his white lollipop stick, shooting the lollipop to the back of his throat. He choked on the red sphere. He coughed as Nix focused back on the potions professor.
Professor Bowen offered, “I can develop a daily potion for you that will allow the reversal to safely take its time—”
Disappointment flooded her. “There is no instant fix?”
Professor Bowen’s brows scrunched, and he shook his head as he said, “You told me you have been taking this for years?”
Nix nodded solemnly.
Bael yanked his lollipop out of his mouth and asked, “Takingwhatfor years?”
“My dear, it is entirely possible that the potion will have left considerable, irreversible damage. You should prepare yourself. You said you have never shifted—well, it might have permanently stunted your ability.”
Permanently… For a shifter to never be able to shift… It was the most heartbreaking and humiliating thing to experience. Like turning into an invisible ghost with no identity.
Bael reached out and wrapped his fingers around her arms. He pulled her close enough for his musky forest scent to blanket her and contaminate her every breath. “What the fuck is he talking about?” Bael asked her.
She could not answer.
Because she had questions filling her brain that needed answers first.
Could Elle’s family really havemeantto do this to Nix? Intentionally taken away her paranormal abilities?
Why?
She had always felt like a second daughter to them. But then, why had they never found her in her four years of captivity? Had they looked?
Why are they poisoning me?
No matter what damage had been irreversibly done, Nix knew she still hadsomethingspecial in her, lurking behind the surface. Because whateveritwas, it made her captor want to keep her for experiments. It had made Persius’s eyes widen when he first saw her—or maybe that was the sight of her bleeding in a cage.
“I can have a potion prepared for you as early as after today’s lunch period,” Professor Bowen said.
