Page 95 of Kingdoms of Night

“Oh, it’s simple.” Puck really did look like a completely different person, his face more hatchet-shaped than oval, his hair more ragged and yet brighter and fuller, purple instead of turquoise.

He squinted. Had the tattoos changed? How was he doing that?

Puck lifted up a teapot with pale-pink apple blossoms and bright-blue lilacs. “All you have to do is sincerely decide to have some tea with me.”

That was it? That was all it would take to get them out of this? Even hating tea, he’d take that bargain.

Idalno scowled. “What’s the catch?” She managed a fairly convincing glare even as she treaded water, the large pack still wrapped over her shoulder and floating, betraying no sign of fear or weakness. But she had to know how this looked, and that they had no room to negotiate. “I’m sure there’s a catch.”

“No catch,” Puck said. “It’s exactly what I said. When you sincerely decide to, you’ll be able to leave the lake. And once the tea is all gone, you can leave this place entirely. It’s a lovely blend if I do say so myself. You might think yourself the expert, but I do have some skill in this area myself.” He patted the rounded side of the teapot and smiled. “And you may have all this food as well. Food which I assure you is entirely ordinary and has absolutely no magical properties. The wolves will likely prefer the cheese scones.”

He didn’t know what the hell a scone was. It all sounded too good to be true, but he’d take it. He hadn’t come across a poison yet that could best his werewolf body, nor had he heard of one, and there had been no lie in Puck’s voice about the food. The tea smelled like tea, herbal and green and grassy and like he’d hate it the whole way down his throat.

“Wait.” Idalno halted, then started treading water again. “What are the tea’s ingredients?”

Puck chuckled. “Does it matter?”

“Yes!”

“Fine.” Puck rolled his eyes. “Some snake bane, little newt eye, and some other ingredients.”

“And the remaining ingredients?” she demanded.

“It won’t kill you. You might even find that you enjoy it.”

“I don’t consume anything if I don’t know what it is.”

Yeah, she probably didn’t. Although if they wavered much longer, they’d be consuming this murky lake water. A lot of it.

“Whatever it is, isn’t it better than drowning or being torn to pieces by enchanted eels?” Puck asked.

Yes, it was. If it wasn’t deadly, it was better than this situation, which could turn deadly in a heartbeat.

Shaking his head, he struck out toward the shore again. He sliced through the water with powerful strokes. Puck had saidsincerely decide—and hadn’t said theybothhad to—and thenonce the tea is gone, not once theybothdrank it all.

If all that mattered was that the tea was consumed, then he could do that himself. It wouldn’t even be hard.

“Listen up, Puck.” Idalno dragged herself up onto a rock and pulled in a large floating log for the wolves. They clambered onto it uneasily as one of the eels slid below. “I don’t care what you say, we aren’t going to blindly drink your tea without a full explanation of what it is and why it breaks this curse and what it will do because we aren’t stupid!” She jerked backward, eyeing a point in the water warily. “Oh! Oh, my word! Is that a corpse in the water?”

Puck grinned widely, then rolled his gaze to Feron. “I see you’re coming to your senses, darling,” he said, drawing out the words with a relaxed delight. He stepped back and gestured with languid grace at the entire tea service. “Soon your lovely match will join you, but there’s no need to wait—”

“We are not drinking that tea, and we are not a match!” Idalno shouted from the boulder.

No, they certainly weren’t, but he was going to fix this now and get it over with. Not only did they need to get out of this damn lake, but Annette and Lalko were waiting for them. He wasn’t about to leave two children scared and alone for any longer than he had to.

“Stop being so dramatic, love,” Puck called back to her. “You’ve got enough time. Swim to shore now and join us for some tea. You’ll love it, being a tea maker and all.”

“Stop calling me that!” she snarled.

Feron emerged from the lake, his clothes and hair heavy and dripping with the pungent water. While Puck and Idalno argued, he went up to the table and grabbed the teapot with both hands.

The tea sloshed inside, less than half full. Good!

“Wait, wait, wait!” Puck sprang toward him, hands outstretched.

No. He was done waiting.

He put the spout directly in his mouth and sucked the contents down. The thick floral and perfumy flavor filled his mouth and nostrils, almost like eating a bundle of wildflowers Annette loved to pick.

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