Page 26 of Ascendant King

“I’ll do the bathroom, then we’ll take the product and the cash. Piper and Lee can determine if it’s really Thorn or a knockoff.” I opened the bathroom door and took a step back when I saw what was inside, nearly knocking into Cade.

He caught me automatically, his hands wrapping around my elbows. I could feel his warm skin, my body attuned to the buzzing, vibrating feel of his magic. My chest ached, but I barely noticed because inside the bathroom was golden, dripping sap.

It gleamed in the reflected light from the living room, dribbling down from the ceiling to the tub in heavy, echoingplinks. The mirror was coated in a thick layer of it, the sap moving slowly, puddling in a stopped-up sink.

“The poison,” I said, feeling slow. “From House Bartlett.”

“What is it doinghere?” Cade released me, and I took a half step forward, tilting my head to see how bad it was.

On the other side of the bathroom, whoever our mystery dealer was had knocked out the back wall, revealing a hidden room. It was dark, even the reflected light not reaching it.

“I want to see what’s in there,” I said, pointing.

Cade immediately shook his head. “Miles, the last time we tried interacting with this, it almost killed us.”

I remembered it vividly: the room in the basement of the House Bartlett building, Cade’s magic allowing me to catch fire and burn it all away from our skin.

“Can you do something to protect us?” I asked.

Cade’s expression twisted as he considered. “I could teleport us to the other side, but if I don’t know what’s there, it might be dangerous. If we get there and it’s just more of the poison…”

He didn’t finish. I remembered what it looked like when the poison had taken over Cade, when it had colored his blue eyes golden, honey brown.

“Oh, yo! That’s why bro had so many raincoats!” Joel said.

We both turned, and Joel pointed to the small hanging rack next to the dresser. Five identical raincoats hung neatly next to each other, gleaming as though they’d just been bought.

“Check them,” I said suspiciously.

Joel pulled them off, his fingers running over the fabric, checking for strange bulges, checking seams for hidden pockets or needles. When he finished the first, he offered it over.

“It’s clean, boss.”

I crossed the room to take it. Our mystery dealer was smaller than me: the sleeves fit a little too short, revealing a good inch of skin. Cade was grabbing another jacket that Joel had cleared.

“We’ll come too,” Coral said, reaching out for a third jacket.

“No,” I said immediately. “This stuff is a poison. The last time Cade and I saw it, we barely escaped. Stay here—I’ll call as soon as I’m on the other side. If we don’t come out, go to the pack house and tell Nia to come back with flamethrowers.”

I wasn’t sure wehadflame throwers, but Nia could plan a bank heist with two paperclips and a bicycle as a getaway vehicle. She could find flamethrowers. I looked at Cade. His expression was blank, but when his eyes caught mine, there was a challenge in them.

He was thinking about the last time we’d met the sap too. That endless moment of trust when he’d been nearly out of magic and he’d sent me every drop he had left. In return, I’d given him my wolf when he took that magic back.

Part of me still wondered about it, the act of total submission, letting someone else own that part of me. I swallowed, and Cade’s eyes dropped to my throat.

“Let’s go.” I pulled up the hood, giving myself as much coverage as the raincoat could.

Then, I walked through the small bathroom. It was barely bigger than a closet, the bath pushed close to the sink, the toilet opposite. There was no way it was up to code.

My shoes stuck to the floor, making a cracking, snapping sound every time I took a step. The sap stretched under my shoes, tugging me down, and I looked back to see how Cade was managing. He had tucked his hands into the rain jacket’s pockets and kept his head down to avoid any drips.

I took one last step and I was through the bathroom. Something warm burned on my wrist, and I swore, shaking it, but the sap clung to my skin.

“Miles?” Cade grabbed hold of my hand, and his black magic swarmed my skin, hot. It burned away the drop of sap. The poison sizzled before sliding off and landing on the floor, leaving Cade holding my hand, his warm fingers brushing over the unblemished skin. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah.” The burn echoed in my skin, or maybe that was just Cade’s touch as he brushed his thumb over the back of my wrist, repeatedly checking for more. “Can we get some light?”

Stepping back, Cade and I both searched, but there weren’t any light switches, so he threw up a hand, mage lights springing up around us. I had expected to see a room full of the poison, a cavern like the one beneath House Bartlett.