Page 26 of The Mating Magic
Both eyebrows raised now. “You ask only for the one you call sister, and not for yourself?Why?”
“First of all, she may not be the sister of my blood, but she’s the sister of my heart, so she is my sister. Second, Evie is innocent in all this. It was my idea to take the potion when Chase had it out on his counter. Evie told me,” she added hastily, seeing his mouth turn downward and his gaze harden in pure cynicism. “She told me about seeing the vial, but I’m the one who snuck into Chase’s house and swipedit.”
An eerie blue glow ringed Drust as power hummed in the room like the low pitched whine of an electric motor. Whining, Lucky backed away and then scampered toward the safety of the back room.Yeah dog, I’d get as far away as possible. Phoenix would suffice. I hope if he is going to blow up the store with me in it he’ll at least call the fire department after so the neighboring shops can besaved.
Lacey lifted her chin and looked him square on. “It was me. Everything is on me, Drust. NotEvie.”
The hum of power eased slightly. “Why?”
She licked her lips. “You wouldn’t understand.” How could he, with all his enormous magick? This was the same wizard who’d failed to aid Evie when she was hurt, who had failed to answer Lacey’s plea for help in greaterissues…
“Try me.” Unsmiling, he stared at her, his blue eyesglowing.
Ignoring the fear making her pulse race, she folded her arms. “Because you let us down, and I knew the only way to help my sister was to do it myself. I knew I couldn’t rely onyou.”
The power faded more from his body. Drust frowned. “Let you down?When?”
“Shall I count the ways?” Lacey held up her hand and began ticking off her fingers. “First when you let Chase’s nasty ass cousins kick Evie out of the ball and humiliateher…”
“There was a reason for that, which you are not privy to,mortal.”
“Second when you ignored my pleas for financial assistance so we wouldn’t lose the shop, a store, I might add, that is of tremendous benefit to dragons. You know, your people you’re supposed to help? The dragons, since you are the new judge and guardian over ourkind?”
“I am not an ATM, mortal.Next.”
“Third and fourth,” Lacey’s temper began to rise. “You never showed up when I was flying and accidentally set the forest on fire when I belched flames, nor when I called on you for help when I got stuck in the swamp and my powersfailed.”
Irritation creased his forehead. “The fire was put out by Skins and you need to control your powers better. And I am not a, what do you call it? AnUber.”
“A lift would have been nice! Or at least send someone to free me. I was surrounded by gators and snakes and all kinds ofthings.”
“Because you failed to properly care for your dragon nature and maintain your magick, Lacey. You experimented with illegal, dangerous herbs from this very store and that is why you ended up in theswamp.”
Lacey arranged her expression to look innocent. “There’s nothing deadly in thisshop.”
Snapping his fingers, Drust turned toward the shelves of potions and herbs. He pointed to the top shelf, the jars she deliberately kept out of reach. A glass jar labeled DRAGON’S BLOOD floated to hishand.
Lacey’s breath hitched.Please don’t open that, please don’t openthat…
He droppedit.
The contents spilled onto the hardwood floor and Lacey ran for the door. A hissing sound ensued as vapor rose from the floorboards at Drust’s feet. It did not affect thewizard.
Ofcourse.
He wasimmortal.
Drust snapped his fingers again and the jar and its contents vanished. Lacey breathed a sigh ofrelief.
“Case in point,” he said dryly. “You mislabeled poisonous nightwing, which can suffocate a dragon inminutes.”
“I knew what it was.” She opened the door and breathed in fresh air, just in case, and then closed it. “It’s poisonous, but when combined with sage and distilled eucalyptusleaves, it heals a dragon’s wracking coughs. But you never asked. You simply left me there all night in that swamp with the creepycrawlies.”
“A night there gave you time to reflect on your misdeeds, did itnot?”
His voice was silky and smug and suddenly she wanted to slap him. “No it did not! How the hell was I supposed to reflect when my mother was dying, dying, damnit, and the only reason I was in the fucking swamp was to get her swamp plants to make a potion to ease her pain? But you wouldn’t know thatbecause…”
Trembling, her breath coming in little gasps, she ticked off her thumb. “Reason number five. I begged you to save my mother. I pleaded. She never hurt a living soul in her life and you let her die. You weren’tthere.”
