Page 26 of Wicked Crown

“The Nahualli charm.”A fortune’s worth of healing magic in a tiny package.

“Yeah, but it isn’t working.”She tossed it at him, and he caught it before it smacked his cheek.“Unless you know some special way to jump-start it.”

“What do you mean?It’s a universal charm.”He used the finger prick and generic incantation that would work for any supernatural.But she was right.It didn’t hum with healing energy as it should’ve.“Something must’ve happened to the Nahualli caster.If the rumors Vori heard were true, the witch Senate has fallen.”

“Or that one’s a dud.”Alys dropped cheaper charms into his palm.“I brought you backups.”

He invoked them, and his skin warmed with the pins-and-needles sensation.Pain ebbed away with each wave of magic.“Thank you.”

“You’re thanking the wrong person.My opinion?Vori should’ve left you there.Especially after the way you treated her.She’s sensitive about her goblin side, and you handled it badly.”She pointed to the charms he held.“You can’t take those to Kradnovtl by the way.Your kind’s spells only work in the dimension where the creator witch is.”

“Kradnovtl?”He stumbled over the pronunciation of the strange word.

“The goblin realm.”

His heart pounded like a gavel smacking on a judge’s desk.

She beamed that scary smile again.“You’ll go.Just wait and see.Your powers should travel with you, which will give you an advantage.Goblins don’t have magic.Not the real stuff anyway.”

“But Vori can shift into a supermodel.”And into a beast.

“She’s not a shifter, and that’s not magic.It’s who she is.She isn’t one or the other.All goblins can shift into human form.Especially the royals.”

“Did you say royal?”

“Don’t get uppity ideas.You’re still plainyou.”She said the word as though it left a sour taste in her mouth.Much as he might talk about demons.“You need a goblin culture crash course.But I hear you were smart once and a good-enough lawyer, so here’s hoping you’re not a complete loss.”

Ouch.Any time with Vori’s family would cost him the little self-esteem he had left after the Revelare and witch prison.The pain bringer seemed to be waiting for him to acknowledge some part of her insult.“I was the best at my job.”

“Good.Vori has been working on these murders while you’ve been playing Sleeping Beauty.Maybe you’ll see something she missed.Come on.My mom baked cheese buns.Vori’s favorite.”She lifted a basket covered in fancy embroidered linen with a thermos stuck in one side.Fluorescent bulbs above glinted on the metallic highlights in the pain bringer’s short hair.

He followed her through long passages.The smell of the sea mixed with metal and pastry.The slap of waves against the shore and the distant blasting horns of ships sounded like the prison.He needed a distraction enough to risk a conversation with a Maronov.“Who did Vori make a blood vow to?”

“The promises my cousin swore to Baba Yaga are her story to tell.”

“Baba Yaga?The legend about the witch with the house on legs?”

“Slavic folklore, and her house is indeed on birds’ legs.Don’t get me started on the deal that my mom made with the old hag.”

His stomach twisted in a free fall like the moments when he’d learned something horrible from his clients that he’d rather not have known.Each time was like opening a Pandora’s box, unleashing a swarm of other people’s problems.He shouldn’t ask, but he couldn’t stop the overwhelming need to know.

“Vori made a deal with a fairy-tale witch?”Only the worst villains and biggest heroes of real life made their way into those stories.His father had taught him that.

“Yep, she was just a kid, but you know there’s no going back on blood vows.”

“What’d she promise?”

“Nope.”Alys made the denial sound so damned chipper.“That’s not my secret to share.”

Curiosity clawed at him.He’d gone into law because of a need for justice, a desire to overthrow the system, and plain nosiness.“Is there anything youcanshare?”

“Goblin 101—the higher the goblin’s rank?The more attractive their human appearance.So take that for what it’s worth.”

Vori must be the freaking pinnacle of their royalty.Her stunning big eyes tipped at the edges like a cat’s.Her high cheekbones and pouty lips had been revered by millions, and her body curved like sin made flesh.Except she could morph into a green-skinned monster.Two vastly different halves of one complicated woman.

“What else can you tell me?”Because knowledge was power.

“Goblins earn their rep as thieves, but most work in the mines.There’s magic imbued in some of the stones, but the only way to unlock the power of the gems is blood—like the way you invoked those charms, except it only works for royal goblin blood, and there are very few royals left.”

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