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“I’m trying to, but no,” Scarlett answered. “You?”

Rayner shook his head. “Ready?”

She nodded, looking back at Sorin and Kailia. “Were you ever in here?”

“No,” Kailia answered. She offered nothing else. Scarlett couldn’t blame her.

Rayner pushed open the doors, and when Scarlett stepped through them, she felt the wards bending as Rayner allowed them passage. Sorin sent more flames into the air to light up the space, and they all just…stopped. Tables of papers and potion supplies littered with dust took up most of the space. The room smelled musty and stale.

“When was the last time someone was in here?” Scarlett mused aloud, stepping further into the room.

“The day I killed Moranna,” Rayner answered. “Do you need anything else before Kailia and I go to the other levels?”

“I don’t think so,” Scarlett said, watching the dust filter through the rays of the soft glow of the room. She glanced back at Rayner. “Send a message if you need us. Otherwise, we’ll see you outside as planned. Make sure you have enough magic left to travel from here if necessary.”

“Be mindful of what you touch,” Rayner said. “She could have enchanted anything.”

When the heavy doors had closed behind them, Scarlett faced the apothecary room once more, planting her hands on her hips. She had no idea what she was looking for with this lock, but apparently this was the best place to start looking. Rayner had said that if the Baroness had wanted to hide something, it would most likely be here. According to Saylah, Moranna had also been trying to experiment with it, so having it nearby in her workroom seemed logical.

“I still find it hard to believe Saylah has no insight as to what this lock looks like,” Sorin said, moving deeper into the room with her.

Scarlett hummed in agreement. “Apparently, it has taken on different forms since its creation.”

They moved among the tables, Scarlett scanning the items as they went. Empty vials. Empty cauldrons. Books. Some closed, some lying open. She paused and blew the dust off one, studying the page. A book on herbs and plants. She moved to another, her head tilting as she studied it.

Then she flipped the book closed and sent it to a pocket realm.

“What are you doing?” Sorin asked, his tone wary.

“It seems silly to leave such interesting reading material just lying around,” Scarlett quipped, sending another book off in a puff of shadows.

“You are going to steal from the Baroness?”

“AdeadBaroness,” Scarlett corrected. “And isn’t that what we are already here to do?”

There was a long pause before, “I suppose you are right.”

She picked up a vial, holding it up to the flame above her. A reddish-gold liquid swirled inside of it.

“Stop touching everything,” Sorin said, snatching it out of her hand and placing it back on the table. “You heard what Rayner said. The last thing we need right now is to deal with a curse of some sort. Or for you to summon some ancient city.”

She stuck out her tongue at him, continuing to browse the tables and shelves. One cauldron had residue in it, as though the potion inside had long since evaporated. Another made her wrinkle her nose when she found solidified brown sludge inside.

“Do you remember what I said the other night? About us being gods?” she asked after several minutes of silent searching had passed.

Sorin looked over at her from across the room where he was rifling through a cupboard. “Of course I remember that.”

“Would you want to be one? If you could?”

He turned back to the cupboard, pulling out small drawers and shoving them shut again. “What would I be the god of in this scenario?” he teased.

“Hmm. Since fire is already taken by Anala, I suppose you’d have to be the god of mother hens,” she retorted, sending another book to the pocket realm.

He threw her a dry look over his shoulder. “And what would you be? The goddess of wicked tongues?”

“You would certainly benefit from such a thing. Just think of the possibilities,” she sighed wistfully.

He barked a laugh, returning to his searching. “Let’s focus on getting out of here today, then we can discuss your tongue and its various possibilities all you’d like.”