Page 102 of The Unweaver

She clasped his head between her hands and hovered her thumbs over his fluttering eyelids. “Are you feeling more cooperative, Marcel?”

“Enlighten us.” Bane held up the drink Durbec had drugged. “What is this potion?”

“I-I don’t know what you mean!”

Cora dug her thumb into his right eye and rotted away the lid. Shrieking, he tried to yank from her grip, his eye rolling in its lidless socket. Her thumb squelched through the vitreous jelly of his cornea. Blood and decay oozed from the darkened hole in his skull.

He thrashed against the manacles with a high-pitched whine. “The p-potion was for a customer! I kept the mostnegligibleamount. For personal use.”

“Do you hear that, Cora?” Bane cupped a hand to his ear while Durbec whimpered. “The sweet sound of cooperation.”

“Which customer?” she demanded.

“I-I don’t know!” Tears leaked like ruddy sludge from where his right eye had been. “Mon dieu, I don’t know! Believe me, if I knew who sh-she was I would tell you this v-very instant!”

Cora lifted her thumb a fraction. “She?”

“Oui. Apetitmademoiselle. She never gave her name and I n-never asked. I would never make customers divulge something so intimate as their name. Privacy is of the utmost importance to Marcel Durbec. Why, I wouldn’t dream of revealingyournames to anyone should you be so kind as to release—”

Her thumb descended. “What did the girl look like?”

“Blonde! Strange eyes. I followed her once b-but lost her on the way.”

“What else do you know about her?”

“Nothing! I swear on my life—my dear Maman’s life—on the life of my unborn children—”

Her thumb pressed into the putrid remains of his eye while Durbec shook and cried.

“Sh-she came into my shop. Once a month for six or s-seven months. Always alone. She bought relics, the custom potion. A very private, v-very effective recipe, should you be interested in the discounted rate I only offer my most prestigious—”

“What potion? What relics?”

“Asleeping potion. The Serenity Chalice. An… Occlusion Obelisk.” Durbec had the self-awareness to cringe at this admission. “The Oracle Ruby.”

“What about Sephrinium?” Bane said.

His remaining eye bugged. “You speak of myth, monsieur! I deal in the rare, not the nonexistent.”

Bane and Cora exchanged a look. Beckoning him to stand out of Durbec’s earshot, she whispered, “Mother had one of those obelisks when I was in her office, right before Teddy died.”

He nodded thoughtfully. His gaze fastened on Durbec. “The Oracle Ruby could be used as a spirit vessel.”

Her eyes widened. The vessel of the remainder of Teddy’s spirit, sold to an unknown girl.

Bane stalked towards Durbec. “Why would a child buy a sleeping potion and dark magic relics from you?”

“Sh-she never said.S'il te plaît—”

“Is Edwina Morton one of your customers?”

When Durbec remained silent, Cora rotted away his other eyelid. He cried out, and she removed her thumb before it sank into the cornea. Head hanging down, he looked up at herwith a lidless, unblinking eye and a rotten socket, licking the decomposing blood from his lips. “Oui.”

“Why did you curse Teddy?” Her voice broke on a sob.

“Teddy?” Beneath the gore and tears, Durbec looked surprised.

“Teddy fucking Walcott.” Cora slapped him, hard, streaking decay across his cheek. “You cursed my brother with the Specter’s Scourge. Carved his heart out. Trapped his spirit in eternal damnation. That ring any bells for you?”

---