Page 8 of Vengeance and Vipers

‘Aye, most assuredly, you deceitful little bitch!’ he spits.

His sudden animosity has me curling in on myself even though this isn’t the first time he’s ‘remembered’ who I am over the past few hours and spewed hate at me.

‘Then why?’

He snorts. ‘Perhaps ‘take the pain away’ is the wrong way of putting it. I meant that I could take your mind off it for a while.’

I wipe my damp eyes before I look at him.

‘How?’

He dangles something on a chain from his hand. It looks like a piece of jewelry.

‘Look, I know you probably think I’m like a magpie, and any sparkly thing draws me into its orbit like it’s a giant sun, but I actually have more important things to worry about than a pretty bauble at the moment.’

‘It’s a tacturn.’

‘A tacturn?’ I ask, not recognizing the name.

‘Aye. Fae. Makes you see things you want to see.’

‘Like a dream?’

He nods. ‘But more real.’

‘How?’ I turn to watch him, and he shrugs.

‘How does anything fae work? Magick and trickery.’

I’m about to tell him to stick it, but out of the corner of my eye, I notice a small spider spinning a web in the corner.

My lip wobbles as I’m reminded of my lost friend. Maybe I could see her again.

‘Okay,’ I say. ‘How does it work?’

‘We both hold it, and you close your eyes and think about what you want to see,’ he says.

That seems too easy for a fae device, and when I remark as much, he laughs and holds it out.

‘Why do we both have to hold it,’ I ask.

‘Because I know how to use it, lass.’

‘Will you be able to see what I can see?’

He shakes his head. ‘I’ll be a voice in your head, that’s all.’

I get off the bed and walk to where our cells share the bars.

I don’t get too close, and he grins at me as he holds out the chain. It dangles down, and I let it snake into my hand a little, gripping it between two of my fingers.

‘Close your eyes,’ he orders, and, with a final, wry glance at him, I do as he says.

I gasp as I feel a shift in my body, and I open my eyes, but everything’s black.

I draw a harsh breath.

‘Think of where you want to go.’ Krase’s voice echoes through my head, and I do it.