Page 122 of Demon's Bane

Allie nods. “Not with anything as dramatic as whatever David used on you, but enough to put the other witch down for the count and vomiting her guts up during some important exams.”

The two of us fall into a few moments of uneasy silence.

“It can’t keep going like this. All this shit with the coven. Especially now that the realms are open and witches are coming here and things like this are just going to keep—”

“I know,” Allie interrupts gently. “It can’t. And I intend to raise some holy hell with my mom about it. But you don’t have to worry about it right now.”

Our conversation cuts off as the door to the sickroom opens. Disappointment immediately settles in my chest when I don’t see the curl of horns, the arch of two powerful wings. Another witch enters the room, one who seems so out of place I have to blink twice to make sure I’m not hallucinating.

“Soleil?”

Seren’s twin sister gives me a tentative smile. “Not who you expected?”

“Uh, no?”

She laughs softly as she crosses the room to a table strewn with flasks and bottles, scales, mixing bowls, jars of herbs. Amini apothecary. “Well, don’t mind me. Just here to give you a dose of something you’re going to absolutely despise me for.”

I shudder a little at that, and Allie gives my shoulder another reassuring squeeze. “Vayla should have been back by now. I’ll go see what’s up.”

She goes, and Itryto convince myself everything is alright. It’ll only be a minute or two and she’ll be back with my big, frustrating demon in tow. Rhett and I will have some privacy, and he can explain exactly what happened. We’ll be able to figure everything out.

Not sure if I’m doing much at all to make myself believe that, I turn my attention back to the witch at the side of the room.

Though Seren and Soleil are twins, they couldn’t be more different. Soleil’s hair is raven black to Seren’s blond, her demeanor careful and contained in the face of Seren’s daring and brashness.

And seeing her here, in the demon realm—a witch so closely tied to the coven and its leadership—is still hard to wrap my mind around.

Like she can feel me staring, Soleil speaks from where she’s still carefully mixing up some concoction.

“Allie came back through the Veil to ask for my help,” she says, dumping a small pouch of powder into a goblet of water. “Vayla stabilized you, but she didn’t recognize the poison David used on his knives or know the proper antidote.”

She crosses the room, hands me the goblet, and I take a sip, grimacing at its bitter taste. “And you came?”

Her brow furrows. “Of course I did.”

I have to fight to swallow down the rest of the medicine. Shakily setting the goblet down on the bedside table, I press a hand to my mouth to make sure it doesn’t come right back up.

“Told you,” Soleil says ruefully. “And sorry. It’s not pleasant, but itisgoing to help undo all the damage of that toxic shit David put together.”

There’s a thread of anger in her voice, sharper than I think I’ve ever heard her speak.

“Sorry,” she says again, a flush rising on her pale cheek.

“Don’t censor yourself on my account. He tried to freaking kill me. You can bad mouth him all you want.”

She laughs and takes the seat Allie just vacated. “It just pisses me off, seeing the way he corrupted what should be a sacred vocation, herbalism and potioncraft. All those skills that should be used for healing, not harm.”

It’s always been her gift. Like Seren with her incredible ability to break through wards and seek absolutely anything, anywhere, in any small hidden corner of the world, Soleil’s gifts were near-legend even when we were young.

It’s what’s made her so valuable in the eyes of the coven, and what makes it so damn surprising she’s even here.

“It’s why I came,” she says, thoughts apparently traveling down a similar path to my own. “They’re gifts I’d put to use helping any member of the Crescent Coven. Or anyone else. No matter what anyone has to say about it.”

“Except David?”

“Maybe even David. Under very extraordinary circumstances.” She hesitates before continuing. “And, speaking of Crescent witches, I heard… I heard Seren was involved in all of this somehow?”

“She… was,” I say slowly, uncertain what Seren would want me to share, how far I should wade into their complicated history. “She picked up some information while she was traveling the realms that helped Rhett and I out.”

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