Page 49 of Enchant the Dawn

“We have to give it to Dominic.”

“But I thought you said if it changed color, it would cure him.”

“It means the potion contains the right amount of all the ingredients. There’s no guarantee it will work.”

Maddy’s shoulders slumped. “What if . . . what if it doesn’t work?” Tears stung her eyes. “Will he . . . will he die?”

“I don’t know. But if it works, he will be immune to the poison.”

Maddy trailed Ava down the hall to another room, all the while sending a silent prayer to heaven—please let it work, please let it work. It had to work. She couldn’t bear to think of how empty her life would be if anything happened to him.

She paused in the doorway. Dominic lay on his back on a big brass bed, a colorful quilt covering him from the waist down. His chest was bare, his skin and hair damp with sweat. She couldn’t tell if he was breathing.

Ava tenderly lifted his head and held the glass to his lips. In a voice filled with power, she cried, “Dominic Falconer, I command you to drink!”

For a moment, nothing happened. And then, slowly, he obeyed her command. When the glass was empty, he lay quiet for a moment. Just when Maddy thought the poison was gone, he began to thrash on the bed, arms and legs jerking wildly as a harsh cry of pain rose in his throat.

Ava took a step back, her eyes wide with alarm.

Maddy pressed her hand to her mouth, her stomach roiling as a thick black mist emerged from his throat. It hung suspended in the air over him like some evil wraith come to steal his very soul.

Throwing her head back, Ava screamed, “Be gone!” and dropped to her knees, her head cradled in her hands as her strength drained away.

Dominic suddenly went still.

As the ominous black cloud swirled around her, Maddy shuddered in horror, then let out a strangled cry of fear as she tumbled into oblivion.

* * *

He struggled through layers of darkness, searching for the light that was Maddy. As from far away, he heard her voice, thick with concern. Who was she worrying about? Ava drifted in and out of his consciousness, her hand cool on his heated flesh, yet each touch caused him pain. He could feel the Knight’s poison coursing through his veins like venom, knew he was dying and didn’t care, if only it would put an end to the excruciating agony. And then Ava was there again, her voice like thunder as she commanded him. At first, the revolting concoction she forced down his throat burned through him like the fires of hell, and then he tasted Maddy’s blood, warm and sweet and alive. It smothered the fire in his veins and filled him with a sense of peace....

Dominic woke abruptly. Had it all been nothing but a bad dream? But no, Ava sat on the floor, her head bowed. The signature of residual magic lingered in the air. He turned his head, let out a harsh cry of denial when he saw Maddy sprawled on the floor beside the bed, her face pale.

Sliding down beside her, he pulled her onto his lap. “Maddy?” He stroked her hair, her cheek. “Maddy, wake up.”

She stirred in his arms, her eyelids fluttering as she looked up at him. Smiling faintly, she lifted a hand to his cheek as she murmured his name.

Relieved, he hugged her close. Thank the Lord, she was all right.

* * *

Later, after he had showered and dressed, Dominic sat on the sofa in the living room, with Maddy pressed close to his side, while Ava told him all that had happened.

“Like my father always said,” he murmured with a faint grin, “it pays to have a witch in the family. Especially one as powerful as you, Grams.”

Ava nodded, but she was watching Maddy. “How do you feel, child?” They had both been touched by the spell’s aftereffects for a short time. Ava felt fully recovered, but she wasn’t sure about Maddy.

Maddy started to say fine, then shook her head. “I don’t know.”

Concern flickered in Ava’s eyes.

“What is it?” Dominic glanced from one woman to the other. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Maddy said quickly. “I just feel a little . . . strange.” She shuddered as she recalled the ominous dark mist that had hovered over her.

“It’s probably nothing more than the aftereffects of the magic I used,” Ava said with a reassuring smile. “And the loss of the blood I took.”

She was lying, Dominic thought. But why? “What kind of magic was it?” he asked sharply.

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