Page 55 of Spindle of Sin

Rush lifted it by the chain. Losing such a finely crafted object… His dragon hissed and sent flames coursing through him as he realized what Rush was about to do.

I’ll replace it,he assured the beast.

Besides, he’d been searching for the sorceress that gave him the spell since it was cast, so what made him think he could find her now?

Rush flew to the mountain range he’d given to the sorceress, clutching the pocket watch in his talons. After circling for most of the afternoon, he spotted something … new.

A small house built at the end of the edge of a cliff. The thatched roof sat upon stone walls and a path was worn into the grass, leading to a square patch of a garden.

Rush touched down on a rocky overhang above it and dragged in a deep breath. The scent of freshly chopped evergreens permeated the air along with the hint of a dying fire. He leapt from his perch into the clearing around the home, shifting to land on his human feet.

Rush strode toward the cabin, slipping into a pair of trousers that were just his size and ratherconvenientlyleft at the edge of the property. He peered into one of the windows—inside, a variety of dried herbs hung from the ceiling. In the center of the room, containers of powders and jars filled with teeth rested on a long table. Embers burned in the fireplace at the back, and in one corner, a mossy green curtain was pulled away to reveal a bed covered with bearskin. More containers lingered on shelves lining the walls, the contents unclear from where he stood. Papers and books were heaped into random piles throughout the entire space.

It certainly appeared to be the home of a magic user. But was it the same sorceress? He never stipulated what she needed to use the mountain range for when he gave it to her. There was no telling if this was therightsorceress. Rush clutched the pocket watch in his hand. A soft creak drew his attention toward the door. It pushed inward slowly, gently, but with no one present to move it.

Rush stepped boldly over the threshold and the door slammed behind him. “Sorceress?” he called.

“My name is Aradia,” came a scratchy female voice. “As you well know, Your Majesty.”

Rush’s gaze narrowed as he scanned the interior. On the opposite side of the table, a shape formed, ever so slowly. Wispy, then a shadow. The vague outline of a human shimmered into a woman. An extravagant blue dress hugged the sorceress’s curves and gray streaked her long dark hair. Rush held his breath for a moment, uncertain if, after all this time of searching for her, she would vanish as she had before.

“Don’t look so surprised, King of Sin. I’ve seen you circling the mountains for weeks.” She scanned him up and down. “I see you found the trousers I left out for you.”

Rush’s lips parted in surprise, but he quickly wiped the expression from his face.Weeks?If he didn’t need her help at the moment, he would remind her exactly who’s court she lived in.

She chuckled as she opened a glass jar and extracted a dried leaf. “Your dragon isn’t subtle.”

“You knew I was searching for you?” he ground out.

She shrugged. “A trick of the light kept you from seeing my new abode as easily as it kept you from seeing me a moment ago. I prefer not to be disturbed.”

Rush snarled. “And I don’t like being lied to.”

“I did not lie.” Her gaze lifted to his and it danced with secrets. She crumbled the leaf into a small glass bowl, not a speck left on her fingers. “The spell I gave you is working. The fortune teller spoke true.”

“Aura’s still awake,” Rush growled. “It took two years to find every single ingredient to cast the spell, and when I did, you said it would be immediate.” Anger thrummed within him, not because Aura wasn’t falling into the spell but because he had been forced to get to know her, to second-guess his actions. Neither would fight the other—the sorceress needed Rush alive to keep her claim of the mountains while he needed information. And yet, she was the only one who could make him feel uncomfortable.

“It won’t be much longer now.” Aradia pulled a glass jar across the wooden table toward herself, the sound of it echoing through the room.

“And if I wanted to … slow the progression down?” Rush asked.

Aradia laughed. “There is no delaying the effects of a spell. You either break it or you do not.”

The muscle in his jaw ticked. If the spell was broken, Aura would be free of the curse, but… But he would lose his last thread of hope. Still, he needed the option. “I want to know how to break it then.”

Aradia paused in scooping gray dust from her jar to stare at him. “After all you’ve done to cast it, I’m surprised you would even ask.”

Rush sneered. “Answer me.”

“I do not fear you, King of Sin.” Her piercing brown eyes flashed in defiance as she shoved the spoon back into the dust and set it aside. “Ididwarn you against this kind of dark magic. I would need afavorin the future to do so.”

“I have something you might want more.” He grasped her wrist, slipping the pocket watch into her palm. “I will not owe you a favor, sorceress.”

“This is … ancient,” she mused. If she thought he was unaware that it held magic, she was wrong. Not that he cared what the watch did—just that the shine made it perfect for the hoard. But giving this in exchange was better than Aradia showing up at his palace, demanding something that he was unwilling to give in return.

“Do we have a deal?” Rush narrowed his eyes, his dragon anxiously awaiting her answer.

Without a word, she stepped away from her concoction, then tore the corner from a sheet of paper and used a bit of charcoal to scribble letters across it. When she finished, she folded the paper and held it toward him. “This is fortheirsake. Not yours.”

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