Page 30 of Venomous Lies
My head snapped up when Isla called out my name, and my stomach dropped when I saw she wasn’t alone.
Bricriu was with her.
My lips twitched when I realized he was carrying a few takeaway boxes from the dining hall and a drink carrier. He didn’t complain when Isla waved for him to follow her, not even when she broke off and hurried over to where I was sitting with my stack of books.
I carefully moved them out of the way when it became obvious that Isla was going to settle down and make herself at home at my table.
“I thought we had today off?” She furrowed her brow while gesturing at the books.
“From classes,” I replied with a half smile before focusing on her mate as he joined us. “Not homework. What’s going?—?”
“I wanted to talk to you about the magick stuff that I had brought up earlier,” she cut in as she patted the bench next to her. “And since Bones here is involved in this, I thought…”
“That makes sense.” I tilted my head and studied first her, then the bone fae I barely knew.
I wished I could read him, but behind those black and gold sunglasses, I couldn’t tell much. He had short, silver-white hair and what appeared to be a name-brand shirt and slacks. The fae really was a mystery.
He gave a slight nod before passing Isla her things and digging into his food.
“I have no idea what we’re doing here, witch. You’ll have to ask Isla.”
My lips twitched despite myself, and when I turned back to Isla, she took a long sip of her tea before starting to speak again.
“The first time Bones saw me, the night he kidnapped me?—”
“You make it sound—” Bones started to protest.
“Well, youdid.” She arched an eyebrow at him, daring him to continue.
“To bring you here… Though, you were willing, so I don’t know how far you’d get in arguing it wasactuallykidnapping.”
“Anyway…” She rolled her eyes and focused on me again. “He said he thought of me as a poison weaver. Are there different kinds of weavers? Is that why I could see the strands of magick?”
I hummed, rubbing my face as I thought it over.
“Potentially,” I told her ruefully. “But there’s barely any information about weavers anywhere, so there could be a ton of different types. If there’s anything at the library here,it must be in a faculty or restricted area because I couldn’t find anything.”
“That’s what these are for?” Bricriu nudged the books.
I nodded. “But can you see threads of magick now? If you concentrate, can you see them?”
“I’ve only ever seen them twice,” she replied, then shook her head. “I don’t think I can see them on demand. Wait… Does that mean you can?”
“If I concentrate, yes,” I told her, considering the witch in front of me. “We could, if you’re okay with it, look at your grimoire and try some of your spells. Look out for any threads when you’re actively doing a spell or potion. Sometimes, if you’re not aware… What’s wrong?”
For some reason, Isla had started to look really uncomfortable at the mention of her grimoire. Her head was down, and she stared at her lunch with single-minded focus before taking a long sip of her tea again.
“It was just a suggestion, Isla. It’s definitely not something we need to do if you don’t want to share?—”
“It’s not that.”
“What’s wrong?” Bricriu asked, his attention shifting from his food to his mate beside him. I shivered at the force of his focus, glad it wasn’t centered on me. Isla, though? She relaxed beneath its weight, directing a small smile his way as she lightly touched his arm.
The movement drew my eyes to the mate mark on her forearm. The delicate design that represented their bond had taken on the shape of a plant, though which one I wasn’t sure.
“I don’t have a grimoire.”
I blinked a few times, my mouth opening and closing. But no, even after a solid minute of silence, I still didn’tunderstand. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one that was confused.
