Page 45 of Poison Nights & Twilight Alchemy

“Wait here, and I’ll return shortly.” He winked.

Reed ignored his exhaustion as he heated water in the kitchen and filled two of the castle’s wide copper tubs, the thought of a hot bath and clean clothing motivation enough for him.

He fetched Dulce, who was flipping through her spell book, and led her to the first bathing chamber upstairs.

“You did this?” she beamed. “I could’ve helped you!”

“Without your knowledge, all we would’ve had is pitiful hardtack.”

She grasped his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Thank you.”

Once she slipped into the bathing chamber, he flexed his hand, wanting nothing but to trail his fingers across her delicate skin.

Night was half over by the time they were finally able to retire. Standing outside the castle’s first bedchamber, they paused, and Reed placed a hand on her arm as they looked at one another. They came to the silent agreement that neither of them wanted to sleep in that place alone. Reed found that, ghosts, taxidermy animals, and a witch’s death bed aside, he had grown quite accustomed to having Dulce’s company while he slept. And he would be damned if he let her sleep alone in a place where anything might harm her.

New clothing magically fashioned for them after their baths, sacks of provisions and full canteens ready for their journey, they dusted off the quilts and slipped beneath them, a fire blazing in the wide hearth as the wind howled outside.

Dulce’s presence in the bed beside him kept his heart hammering until he finally found sleep.

The first light of dawn crept through the row of narrow windows beyond the bed’s gray and black curtains, and Reed knew instantly that something was wrong. Thecastle’s silence, which he had thought to be complete before, was now so absolute that it was almost deafening.

As he drew back the covers and sat forward, he stilled. On the floor between the beds lay the witch’s raven, dead atop a pool of blood, its eyes burnt-out cavities.

“Dulce.” Reed leapt from the bed and touched her shoulder, his voice a shout in the silence. “We have to leave. Now.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

DULCE

As Reed spoke, Dulce couldn’t make out what he was telling her, her focus trained on the dead animal on the floor before her. She studied its broken feathered body, the crimson blood pooled around it. The raven hadn’t been a living taxidermy thing like the rest. Under some magic spell, it had survived years inside a cabinet in the castle cellar. Had La Bisou Morte returned home and slaughtered the bird for helping her and Reed?

Dulce knew that wasn’t the case as soon as lightning cracked outside, thunder booming. She hurled herself across the room and thrust open the balcony doors, a heavy gust of wind nearly knocking her backward.Emerald sparks flashed within a light purple mist cloaking the gardens and forest.

Reed circled his arm around her waist and pulled her to him. The roots mimicked the movements of the last dying tree, which lifted like tentacles from the ground. Only this time, the Tree of Life slammed them along the earth, rattling the castle.

The bristlecone pine screamed in agony, piercing Dulce’s ears as she gritted her teeth against the harsh sound.

“We can’t stay here,” Reed rasped, tugging her back into the bedchamber.

“We can’t leave yet,” Dulce breathed. “At the Duke’s party, he stopped the tree’s wild magic with this stone.” She held up the necklace. “Perhaps I can do the same now without putting it on. The Trees of Life are linked to my mother’s, and the sooner they turn to stone, the sooner the world ends.”

Reed’s jaw tightened as though he wanted to argue, yet he relented with a nod. “As long as you don’t get yourself killed.”

“Have I made such an impact that you would miss me?” she cooed.

“I think you know the answer to that, Highness.”

Dulce tore her gaze from his and plucked up a silk blanket, then wrapped it around the bird’s frail body, cradling the fragile creature close.

She finally passed the raven to Reed. “Once I finish with the tree, we can bury the raven. It’s the least we can do after the creature helped us.”

“If I have to dig a hole with my bare hands for you, I will,” Reed promised.

As they rushed down the stairs, the castle continued to shake. Nearly reaching the bottom of the steps, Dulce’s breath caught, and her chest tightened.

No longer did taxidermy animals stand across the sitting room—instead, they rested on the floor in awkward heaps, their black sockets empty of the glass orbs that now lay in front of them.

“But do please hurry so we can get out of this nightmare,” Reed groaned.

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