Page 23 of House of Ruin
With a scrunched nose and eyebrows drawn together, Andro turned to Alecto. “He’s not a boy toy, bitch. He’s a member of our House.”
Lazily, Alecto waved her hand and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I’m aware. But he’s more than that to you, isn’t he?”
For a moment, Andro didn’t answer, considering Alecto’s question.
It wasn’t uncommon for Andro to be infatuated with boys. But it rarely ever lasted longer than a few weeks. His longest relationship that Alecto was aware about was with Norse last year. And they all knew howwellthat had ended.
So it was a surprise to see Andro with someone for over three months already. Especially when that someone barely had two brain cells.
Not that there was anything wrong with that. It was just not very Andro-like.
“I like Gael,” Andro finally said with a shrug. “He’s extremely handsome and fucks like an animal.”
With that, Andro tipped his glass, draining it, and Alecto followed suit. The moment their glasses were empty, the fire sprite returned, two fresh ones waiting for them.
“Have you changed your mind about trying to figure out who’s behind Riverblood’s murder before it comes to bite us in the ass?” Alecto spun the glass between her fingers.
“You know what I think about all that. We should let the fucking police and Venefica do their jobs to solve it. Maybe if we’re lucky, it’s really a Fanhy Coven witch who simply shared our mutual hate for Jack Riverblood and the House of Tigers. That’s the story I’m sticking with.”
Alecto narrowed her eyes. “Andro, hoping to get lucky is what stupid mortals do when they buy lottery tickets.”
Andro chuckled but didn’t say anything else.
Over the past weeks, Alecto had spent hours racking her mind to try and understand what had been going on and how it could relate to their House. What consequences Jack Riverblood’s murder could have for their House.
Detective Vin didn’t seem like a guy who would be forgiving towards the Snakes.
A witch passing by with two vials of black liquid caught Alecto’s eye then, and she remembered something she needed and had completely forgotten.
“Oh, Jolene asked me to get her some rosso syrup,” she said, rising to her feet. “I’ll be right back.”
Instead of taking the glass with her, Alecto handed it to Andro and walked over to the shelves, dodging the groups of people scattered around the floor.
Alecto walked and walked, passing one shelf after another.
Just when she was about to give up and go find the shopping assistant to fetch her the syrup, she came across a shelving unit with potions and other liquid ingredients.
After a few more moments of looking around, Alecto snatched the tall vial with black tar-like liquid and headed back to Andro.
But as she rounded the corner, something else caught her attention.
On one of the shelves, with a black warning sign, lay a display of mind- and heart-control potions. Alecto stopped, hesitating for a moment, but then curiosity got the best of her, and she walked closer.
There were many different potions in the vials: —one to control someone’s mind and make them do your bidding, another to make someone’s body immobile.
And then there was a tiny little vial with nearly see-through pink liquid swirling inside—the potion to control one’s heart.
It did cross Alecto’s mind, using a potion to help her with her vengeance. She could get the potion, feed it to Blaze when he wasn’t looking, and then he would be at her feet, with hearts in his eyes, ready to do whatever Alecto wished.
“Interested in a Heartbreaker?” A voice came from behind her, startling Alecto from her thoughts. She whirled to find a tall slender blonde with amber eyes staring at her. “Usually, it sells best around the love esbat in February.”
“I bet.”
“You know it doesn’t work, right?” the woman asked, arching one defined thin brow. “Witches aren’t meant to be tied down to one person. Whoever you use it on will only be your heart-slave for however long you feed them the potion. Totally not worth it in my opinion. And very expensive.”
With a flat smirk, Alecto slipped past the woman, walking back to the lounge where Andro waited for her.
Alecto was very aware of the negative sides of the Heartbreaker. She had considered it and decided the potion wouldn’t help with her plan. For Blaze to truly suffer, Alecto needed the feelings to be real, raw, untouched by magic. Even though the fear of whether it was even possible froze her sometimes.
