Page 37 of Poison Nights & Twilight Alchemy

When the Duke reached her, Dulce continued, “Speak. Say my name.”

“Leski,” he rasped, his shoulders tense, his demeanor more like that of a boy than a man.

“If you want to save your town, I will need a sacrifice. Just one,” she crooned. “Give me that, and I will return to the depths of the sea. My flowers have gone hungry for much too long. They thirst for blood.” One of her flowers drew forward and snapped its teeth near his cheek.

“Take him!” The Duke’s throat bobbed as he gestured one shaking hand toward Reed, now kneeling in exaggerated fear.

“No!” Reed shouted, but when she glanced at him, Dulce discovered his eyes dancing with laughter for an instant just before he fell to theatrical sobs while the enforcers fled en masse. He clearly knew it was a farce. “Please! I’ll do anything! Don’t let her take me!”

“He is mine then.” Dulce wrapped her fingers one by one around the Duke’s neck and leaned forward. With her other hand, she reached behind him, undoing the clasp of his necklace as she whispered in his ear, “Dosleep well tonight, Duke. And remember, I know all your secrets.”

The tactic was the one Reed had taught her, only now she discovered that fear worked just as well as flirtation to distract.

Dulce released the Duke, and he stumbled backward, his eyes widening. Now released from La Bisou Morte’s spell, he appeared to comprehend fully the mayhem around him for the first time. He then fled through his garden toward the palace steps, taking them three at a time, his crown falling with a clank against the marble before he disappeared behind its doors.

No one remained in the garden now. Only Reed.

His gaze met hers, and he clapped his hands as he approached her with a grin. “Beautiful theatrics,Majesty. You put those other ghosts to shame, truly. They should take lessons from you.”

“To my prison in the sea, shall we?”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

REED

Reed and Dulce kept themselves safely within the tree line as they circled back toward the inn, but by the time they sat to rest behind a large boulder not too far from the White Cat, it was apparent that no enforcers had followed them.

The night was almost over, signs of dawn already lightening the sky.

“Where did you get that?” Dulce asked as Reed studied the sword resting across his lap. The glow of lights from the town illuminated her terrifying features. Reed found it curious that he could still somehow see the beauty of her eyes beyond their sunken orbs, her skullilluminating beneath her ghostly white flesh, sharp teeth grinning through cracked lips. However, the cuffs of vicious flowers had faded.

“Took it from that mewling canker-blossom when he pissed himself,” Reed told her. “Pretty sure he wouldn’t have noticed if I’d taken every weapon he wore.”

“You could’ve gotten yourself killed acting a fool in front of those enforcers!” Dulce hissed. “What would you have done if I couldn’t have rescued you?”

“I would’ve figured something out.” He smirked. “But I wasn’t worried—I knew my knight in shining terror would save me.”

“You’re partially forgiven,” she muttered. “But look at me. I certainly can’t go back to the inn like this.”

“Can’t you just…”—Reed waved one hand through the air—“magic yourself back to normal?”

Dulce tilted her head, lost in thought. “No, the transformation seems to be stuck. There is the option to wait it out, or I could drink the elixir. Something which is not on my person, unfortunately.”

“Are we talking minutes or hours?”

Dulce thought again. “Without sage leaves? Hours.” She studied her arms with a frown, turning her hands over in the shadows. Bones still shone through deathly pale skin. “At least two, if I had to guess.”

“Well, that certainly won’t do…”

“When one saves the world,” she sang, “one must make certain sacrifices, mustn’t they?”

“Take this.” Reed handed her the sword. “Though I’d love to meet the creature brave enough to face you looking like that.” He rose. “I’ll fetch the elixir from the inn and you’ll be sleeping comfortably in your bed in notime at all.”

Letting his brown hair fall across his face, Reed turned to leave, but Dulce reached out and grasped his wrist.

“Wait,” she rushed out. Reed turned to find her eyes pleading, an expression oddly heartbreaking on such monstrous features. “I want you to send Lucas home.”

“Now?”

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