Page 32 of The Stygian Crown

Salizar led her to a locked glass cabinet at the edge of his row of oddities. The left pane was busted, revealing a tray of blood vials within. An undeft hand, then. Not a practiced thief.

Six tubes remained in the cabinet. “How did they know which blood was mine?”

Salizar swallowed. “The tube had your initials on it. To help me keep track.”

Kara groaned.

“Forgive me, but you seem unsurprised.”

Kara pasted on a smile. She’d decided against telling him about the shadow attack. It was possible he’d been involved. “It seems I really must stop flirting with Viscount Kendrick. I didn’t know the debutantes would go to such lengths.”

Salizar didn’t laugh.

“You left some things out about your potion, by the way.”

Salizar’s eyes skittered away from hers. “Did I?”

Kara yanked up her blouse, exposing the dark stain spreading across her midriff. “Didn’t think to mention this?”

Salizar’s eyes shot open. He fell to his knees in front of her and raised a shaking hand, reaching out to caress the mark. Kara struggled to keep from recoiling.

“That spread…very quickly.” His voice was almost reverent.

“Is that bad?”

“On the contrary, it means it was very effective. How do you feel?”

“Like shit.”

“Then it’s working.”

“You won’t be getting anymore blood from me, since you can’t be trusted to keep it safe.”

Salizar pursed his lips. “How about we revisit that when you need another dose?”

“You haven’t held up your end of the bargain. I’ve been practicing the runes.”

“What? Oh, right. Very busy, I’m afraid. To be honest, most who feign interest do not follow through.”

“We made a deal. And I’ve been studying.”

“Right.” His lips curled into another smile that didn’t meet his eyes. “Shall we practice now?”

Kara had her dreaded meeting with Thomas in the Belfry tonight, but otherwise her day was clear. She nodded.

“Which rune did you practice? Something simple, I hope. The power in your blood is diluted because of the demon’s drip, so more advanced ones won’t work.”

Ah, the second catch. Kara had memorized half the book already, but he didn’t need to know that. “The one for unlocking.”

“Good, good. I have something we can practice on.” Salizar rummaged in the cabinet beneath his lab equipment for a minute before drawing out a small metal lockbox.

Kara borrowed one of Salizar’s daggers to prick her finger on rather than reveal she was armed. She wiped the tip clean on her forearm, and Salizar rolled his eyes.

“Use your blood to draw the rune on the box. For a simple rune like this, painting it using one continuous stroke is best. You don’t want any breaks in the line—you’ll end up lighting something on fire rather than warming it that way. Sometimes yourself.”

Kara traced the shape of the unlocking rune onto the box with the blood pooling on the tip of her finger. When she reached the end of the shape, her skin vibrated against the metal. The box popped open with a satisfying click. There were a few pungent dried herbs nestled inside.

“Very good. Clean, effective. Not that it was particularly challenging.” Salizar snapped the lid shut and relocked it. “Now that your rune is on the box, you can unlock it again by reactivating the rune with a bit of fresh blood. No need to redraw it.”

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