Page 25 of Potion of Deception (Potion of Deception #1)

HOLDING FOR THE TRACES

A n inquisitiveness didn't want to leave Violette's mind. She was puzzling over the written riddle, lying in her bed for hours after she woke up.

Unable to bear sitting in her room any longer, she crawled out of bed, deciding today was a good day to explore something new. Even if she wasn't in a big, exciting city, she knew for sure she'd find something to keep herself occupied.

The place they stopped in was an old township, which reminded her a little bit of a witches' town not far away from her home city. Its antique architecture looked straight from the old fairytales with those small cottages and narrow alleyways, infusing it with a peculiar charm.

She wandered around, scrutinizing the windows of colorful shops. Her nose caught the scent of a whole mixture of flowers, which later turned out to come from a beautiful, quaint flower shop.

A line of small stores lined the entire street: cozy bakeries, clothing stores, a small bookstore.

She even decided to visit the last, but to her surprise there were practically no textbooks on magic and sorcery.

They had an assortment of novels, tales, legends of magic, but nothing that would help to learn spells or potions.

Apparently, this was one of those towns that Dante spoke about: where wizards were either not a common occurrence, or witchcraft was absolutely prohibited here.

Be that as it may, Violette decided to cover her wand with her cloak.

She wouldn't want to tempt fate; she already had plenty of problems.

She walked through the small alleys for a bit before she realised she had already managed to get around all of the town. As she reached the notice board located next to the small, quiet park, her eyes scanned the posters and other signs on it:

Perhaps magic was not forbidden here – Violette felt relieved.

She lowered her eyes to the bigger thesis:

Her eyes quickly ran to another edge of the board, looking through the advertisements and announcements until she heard a low grumbling.

“Fools!” an old man spat out. “Lake of Hope! How many times should I tell them it's called the Lake of Despair? Hope in the dark forest? Idiots!” He waved his hand, not stopping muttering under his breath.

He caught Violette's eye. He was an old man with a long silver beard and embittered eyes, not a really pleasant type of a person to meet.

She would easily disappear in the moment to stay away from this grump if not for his words that brought her attention.

She glanced again on the thin, yellow paper pinned to the sign with a warning.

Her mind went back to the name the Lake of Despair and the gears in her head immediately started to work. She tried to hang on to the last word.

Dark forest … What did the riddle say?

If she remembered it right, it was something about the depth of despair.

Something clicked. Her head quickly turned to the old man who had already started walking away.

“Excuse me, sir!” She hurried to catch up with him. “Did you say the Lake of Despair?”

“I know what I said!” he snapped. “Want to tell me I'm wrong? Stupid kids, if only you'd listened to your elders!”

Violette froze. The man's tone sounded so rude, as if she didn't just speak to him but accused him of something terribly ridiculous. Trying to collect her thoughts, she swallowed the desire to tell him what she thinks about his behavior.

“Um, no…” she started cautiously. “I actually wanted to ask you about the lake. Why do you call it differently than it's written?”

“Because only desperate people would go into that cursed forest. It was called the Lake of Despair in the past and for a good reason! But no, some wiseacre decided to call it the Lake of Hope,” he mocked. “A lake in the middle of a beastly forest? Bilge!”

Violette forced a smile. Unfortunately, she dealt with people like him while working in the potion shop.

Despite how many good customers visited her shop there always were a few who could ruin a day and suck the life out of anyone just out of spite.

Sometimes she wondered if these people just come up to quarrel and vent their anger.

No matter how hard it was, she tried to be polite and asked, “Is it a magic lake?”

“Who knows? Nobody goes there, and if they do, they never come back.”

Great…

The last thing she wanted to hear about was a cursed forest where people go missing. First vampires, now this. She must have incredibly terrible luck.

“Thank you! You actually really helped me,” Violette blurted out and spun on her heels, hurrying back to the lodge. She has to tell Dante about it immediately!

“Oh, another fool soul,” the old man grumbled under his breath, watching as the young wizardling ran away.

Violette's booming steps could have alerted Dante about her appearance even before she opened the door in his room but it didn't happen, instead she saw the vampire sleeping in the bed facing the pillow.

“Dante, wake up!”

In response she only heard some mumbling.

“Dante! I think I found a clue to the riddle!” she said again, closer to his face.

He didn't move, only a small sleepy gasp left his mouth. She wasn't sure if he'd just ignored her or slept that soundly. Perhaps it was impossible to wake up vampires in the middle of the day but she didn't care, it was too important.

“Dante!” This time she pulled the blanket off him and shook him by the leg.

The irritated male breath entered the air.

“What do you want from me?” he drawled tiredly, casting her an annoyed side-look.

“Have you ever heard of the Lake of Hope?” she asked but didn't receive a response as he had already closed his eyes, succumbing to the kingdom of dreams. “Wake up! I have important information about our business!”

In a quick moment he finally sat up, forcing his eyes open. He looked exhausted. If not his sleepy sight indicated this then his messy hair and disheveled shirt. She didn't notice it until now but his bed and room also looked quite chaotic.

“When did you go to bed?” She looked around, taking in the open books and papers on the floor.

“If you have nothing important to say, I am going to bed,” he mumbled as his body started to lean to the bed sheets again.

“No, no. You're such a baby!” She pulled him by the arm. “It's about the riddle.”

“Why didn't you say so right away?” He finally seemed to listen to her and straightened up, trying to open his eyes wide enough and focus.

It made her sigh as she took a step to sit on the edge of the bed .

“So, I was in town and I heard about the Lake of Hope, which was actually called the Lake of Despair some time ago, which got me thinking–” She looked at Dante, only to find that his eyelids were almost shut again. “Are you even listening to me?”

He didn't answer.

“Dante?” No answer. “Dante!”

He blinked twice.

“Sorry, I got distracted,” he let out.

“I'm saying that perhaps the Lake of Despair is from the riddle. It's in a strange forest everyone is afraid to go to, which I think is a clue to the 'darkness' in the riddle.”

“I know,” Dante said simply.

“I’m not sure, it's just a gue–” She fell silent for a second. Her lashes flapped. “You know?”

“Yes,” he yawned, rubbing his eyes, “I figured it out some time ago when I was looking through the books. By the way, we're going when the sun goes down.” With the last words he lay back on the bed, his eyelids half closed as his forearm landed on his forehead.

Violette's lips parted. “Why didn't you tell me?”

“You were sleeping and I actually wanted to sleep as well. By the way, you interrupted a pretty dream of mine. By that, if you are not thinking about joining me then leave and let me sleep,” he drawled, rolling over.

“I'd rather leave.”

He wasn't listening to her as his eyes had already closed and his mind left this reality, trading it with the desired dreams. Violette pouted, leaving him alone.

Maybe, after all, she could take a little nap.

She didn't know how intensive their adventure would be this evening; she could expect anything with the situation she was in, so it was rational to take care of herself.

A few hours flew by and Violette opened her eyes again.

Her gaze fixed on the pink-red sky beyond the window.

The sun was setting. One blink. A blink again.

It was time to get ready and find something to eat before they departed for another trip.

She stretched as lazily as the last rays of the sun traveling around her room.

Flipping the blanket, she quickly dressed and was already standing at the threshold to the corridor.

Dim lamps illuminated its dark green wallpaper and the wooden doors leading into other rooms. Violette took a step with the decision to find a kitchen.

The door behind her shut quietly. She passed three doors as one swung open right before her nose, making her pull back.

Dante's silhouette appeared in front of her.

“You woke up!” Violette exclaimed happily. “I know we are about to leave, but I thought about having lunch before.”

His eyes appeared reflective. He studied her face for some time, then narrowed his gaze and angled his head.

“Were you in my room earlier?” he asked .

“Yes?” she said uncertainly.

“Oh, good, because I started thinking it was a fever dream.”

“We were literally talking,” her brows drew together, “You told me you know about the lake.”

“Lake?” His brows raised.

She nodded.

“Oh…I lied.” His mouth twisted in a shameless smirk.

“What?!”

“I just wanted you to leave me alone.” He shrugged and turned to the stairs.

Violette quickly caught up with him on the way down.

“Are you kidding me?” Her mouth twitched.

“I was asleep. I'll be honest, I didn't care what you were talking about at that moment.”

She sighed quietly. That's alright, she'll just tell him again.

“So you don't know where to go?”

“I didn't say that,” he said airily as they went down the stairs. “I remembered where I heard of the Road of Nightmares’. While I have no clue what you told me about a lake, I am pretty sure there is a lake on the way, so perhaps our clues are related.”

“Remind me to slam your face next time, maybe it'll make you listen. ”

“Don't pout, Little Witch,” he said and crossed the hall to the dining room.

“So what is the Road of Nightmares?” Violette took a plate, standing at the table with food.

Dante's hand reached to take something to drink.

“It's not a metaphor like we thought. It's an actual road which leads deep into a dark forest not far away from here.”

Listening carefully, Violette placed a blueberry cream bun on the plate and then poured some tea into a porcelain cup.

“I don't want to sound dramatic but…why is it called that?” she released a question.

“Well,” he made it to the table first, “at the time this riddle was written it was called differently. You were close with your clues. But it was never the official name of the road. People just called it this way because of the stories around it.”

Violette glanced at him, taking a spot at the same table.

“They saw something scary and suspicious in this forest,” Dante continued, gesturing with his hands.

“Some of them said they saw strange, frightening beasts hidden there,” Violette didn't take her eyes off his face, carefully listening.

“As time went on it was confirmed – these strange beasts were monsters. Now this place is called the Forest of Somber Eyes.”

“No…” she said in disbelief, he r hand with the bun frozen in the air. “You are not telling me our path lies through the forest full of monsters.”

“I wish.” Dante took a frustrated breath. “Well, they’re not as scary as people picture them. You're human, always so dramatic.” With the last word, he stirred his drink with a straw and took a sip.

“Oh, well,” Violette casually started. “Sorry I am not immortal and can die from any small inconvenience like…I don't know…maybe, being killed by a beast?!”

“You're safe,” he said serenely, like he was having a casual conversation about the weather or he was informed that the bakery didn't have his favorite rolls and now the lunch menu needed to be changed. “Don't worry. They don't just attack the guests. They rather watch and play hunting games.”

“It's definitely changed the whole situation.” Violette's brows snapped together as she leaned on one hand, aggressively stirring her tea with a spoon.

“They're shadows or part of the shadows. Can't say how exactly,” he explained shortly. “But they won't jump on you straightforwardly. And I will be beside you, remember? I still need you alive, Little Witch.”

It didn’t sound as earnest as she wished but she knew it was true. He needed her. Needed her alive. So he would protect her, right? At least from dying. She wasn't sure he cared about her remaining unharmed. She might have to watch her limbs.