Page 67 of Lunar Diamonds
“Wait, what?” I chimed in. “Bound to me?”
Erin held up the vial of pink liquid. “Drink this, Drake.”
He didn’t question her, popping the cork and knocking it back.
Pink liquid. Wasn’t that a truth potion?
“Is this all true?” Erin asked.
Drake’s mouth moved like a talking puppet. “There is truth in all things said. This body and tongue do not lie.” He burped up a cloud of pink smoke.
“Excellent,” Erin said. “So, the new bonding. Considering these are your diamonds, Riley, I can only suggest it be you. Which I’m not happy about, but it makes sense for you to work closely.”
This was giving me whiplash. Bound to him? What would that even entail?
“I know it’s a big ask,” Drake said, his eyes imploring. “But you need the lunar diamonds, and I need my freedom. And I promise to help you.” He burped again, adding, “This is truth.”
How long would that potion last?
“But you won’t be free,” Erin countered. “Your predicament only changes. The consequence of changing your bonding means you will be linked to Riley for a good number of years. At least ten, if I recall?”
I swallowed, sinking into bemusement.
“It’s ten years,” Drake confirmed.
Ten years? Just when I thought things weren’t weird enough, along came this little twist.
“And what happens to my freedom?” I asked, tugging at my collar.
“You’ll have freedom,” Erin replied. “But not from Drake.”
Damn. Damn. Crapping damn. Now what? How was I supposed to react? The arsehole had us by the short and curlies. Big time. If we didn’t agree to this, we’d have to find another scrying witch. And something told me we wouldn’t have time to pull that off.
The rules of magic sucked sometimes. I never understood why there wasn’t a spell of searching or whatever. Why did that particular power have to be associated with one type of witch? Was it fate’s way of keeping things interesting?
Ugh.
“I’m sorry, Riley,” Drake said.
Thatword got bandied around as if it meant something. Most of the time, it didn’t.
“You’re not sorry,” I retorted. “This was your plan all along. You don’t care about anything apart from your freedom. If you really wanted to help, there wouldn’t be conditions.” Okay, I was being mean here, but he’d pressed a rarely used button.
This wasn’t about me, it was about him. My choices didn’t come into it, not really. Because if I said no, he’d keep his mouth shut. So, what options did I really have? Everything now hung off my decisions. If I told him to shove it, we were left to huntthe diamonds without his handy help. But if I agreed, I was stuck with him for ten years. And how did that even work?
What an arsehole.
“Own what you’re asking,” I said. “Don’t insult me with apologies.”
“Hear, hear!” Isaac agreed.
Nice to know my brother had my back.
Drake closed his eyes, his forehead creasing, the plaster still clinging to his skin. He went to speak but held back.
“Are you done?” Erin asked him.
He opened his eyes, attention back to me. “Whatever you think, I am sorry to put this on you. I don’t want to hurt anyone, and I don’t want to be a burden. I’ll do everything I can to help your cause. I’ll help around the house, I’ll do anything you want. But I’m begging you to help me. Please.”
