Page 20 of Venomous Lies (Greywood Conservatory for the Arcane #2)

Bricriu

SATURDAY

F riends were odd.

That was the only thought I had as I listened to Wells and Isla discuss random things as we walked in the forest. Not that Wells was a friend of mine , but it was odd to see him interacting with my mate.

The two witches talked about classes, other people’s drama, and what Isla needed for the potion she was creating.

In the past ten minutes, they had talked more than I’d probably talked to anyone in the last month.

It wasn’t a bad thing, but it was… different.

“Bones, what do you think?”

I blinked a few times, unprepared for the interruption of my thoughts. Isla was staring up at me with what I thought was an earnest expression. Over her shoulder, I couldn’t make out Wells’ face, but I could almost sense his slight amusement at my confusion.

“Think about what, mate?”

“Why don’t we continue the conversation in the greenhouse?” Wells suggested as he tapped his ear.

My intrigue was instantly piqued. Just who did he think could be listening to us? What had I missed while my thoughts wandered?

“You’re right,” Isla agreed after a moment, then she let out a long breath before turning to me with what looked like a grin on her blurry face. “You ready to see my greenhouse?”

“ Your greenhouse?” I raised my eyebrows at her claim of ownership. “Anything here is part of Greywood, witchling.”

“Not this,” Isla answered, and there was a dark rumbling of power under her words that made every part of me come to attention. “This place is mine.”

“It’s… Well, you’ll see,” Wells interjected smoothly, gesturing toward a small opening in the woods ahead of us. “Why don’t you show him?”

Isla looked back and forth between the two of us before rushing ahead.

“There are no buildings out here, witch. Where are we going?” I asked Wells as we watched Isla easily pick her way through some overgrowth.

“It’s a magicked greenhouse,” he replied in hushed tones. “Only Isla could see it at first. I’m honestly not sure what kind of place it is, but it’s strange. That says something considering the places I’ve seen.”

I looked over at him and saw him studying me instead of Isla.

Wells Hawthorne.

I was familiar enough with the Hawthornes to know they were a powerful witch family.

His fathers were influential members of their government, however, it was his mother that was the one to watch out for.

They were barely tolerable people to ones they considered outsiders, meaning anyone who wasn’t a witch.

“You’re not like your family. ”

“My parents,” he immediately corrected me with a hardened voice. “My siblings and I are nothing like them, much to their disappointment.”

A sentiment I could definitely relate to.

“Your parents,” I corrected myself with a slight nod. “We should go after Isla.”

“We should.”

Wells led the way without another word, though I noticed that he took his time, carefully picking his way through the blur of tangles and roots. At first, I thought he was just a slow walker, but after a second glance in my general direction, I knew for certain that he was doing it for me.

My chest burned with resentment, but I stopped myself. He didn’t point it out or make fun of my inability to see. No, he just adapted and helped without calling attention to it.

My pride didn’t allow me to thank him directly, but I tried to come up with a sufficiently fae equivalent as we reached my mate.

Isla was standing in the middle of a forest clearing in front of a structure I’d never seen before. My lips parted in shock as I approached it slowly. Carefully, so as not to touch the building, I reached out a hand to let myself feel the magick that was pulsing around the structure.

“This is the greenhouse?” I asked, immediately clearing my throat at the rough tone.

“Yes,” Isla replied with happiness. “I’d be careful though. She doesn’t like to be touched unless invited.”

“She?” Wells asked before I could.

“Feels like a she,” Isla answered off-handedly. “Let’s go in. Heads up, she’ll feel you out as you go in.”

“What if she doesn’t like me coming in? ”

“Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.” Wells clapped my arm, then they led the way inside.

Warily, I ducked down and entered.

Awareness surrounded me. An ancient, powerful magick began weaving through my illusion until my bones began to ache.

Looking down, I could see my skin thinning until my full bone fae form was all that remained.

I was assessed.

Judged.

Seen.

The building shuddered around me before it settled. The only things I could hear were my blood pounding in my ears and my shuddering breaths as I tried to find my bearings again.

I waited for the inevitable horror or fear from Wells at my full bone fae form, but my transformation was met with silence.

Glancing around, I saw that they were both looking around at the building instead of focusing on me.

Their distinct lack of fear was more disconcerting than I was prepared for, though the hint of nerves I could feel from Wells made me feel a bit better.

Bone fae were supposed to be feared after all.

Isla’s voice broke the silence. “It’s bigger.”

“The door is too,” Wells observed.

“What the fuck was that?”

“The magick felt you and approved,” Isla answered as if it was the most obvious and normal thing in the world. “Follow the stone path when you’re coming through. There’s a few plants that would poison even you, fae.”

Taking her warning to heart, I slowly made my way through the greenhouse, approaching what appeared to be some kind of study room where Isla and Wells were unpacking their backpacks. I could make out a small desk, some books, and a bed shoved into the room as well. Just what was this place?

Settling on the bed, I let out a long breath and focused on bringing my illusion magick back up so that I would look like a normal high fae once more. Without asking, I pulled out a cigarette from my pocket and lit it while pointedly ignoring the slight tremble in my hands.

“Okay, so I’ve finally decided on the potion I’m going to make for the new professor,” Isla said. “It’s something I’ve wanted to brew before, but the academy felt it wasn’t something I should dabble in.”

“I’m almost afraid to ask what,” Wells joked.

“What potion?” I asked, blowing out a large cloud of smoke.

“It’s a potion of decay,” Isla replied with glee.

We were close enough now that I could see her black lips spreading in a vague grin.

“And the biggest trick will be brewing it in three days. Everything I’ve read about it says it takes a week or more to finish.

Depending on the moon and weather, obviously. ”

“Obviously,” I deadpanned, then rubbed my face. “I don’t have time magick, witchling.”

“The greenhouse will help us,” Isla said confidently.

“You can’t know that,” Wells retorted.

She shrugged. “I can feel it.”

“Before you start ordering us around and go into potion-making mode, I think we should discuss something.”

“What about?—?”

Wells cut my mate off, his voice harder than I’d heard it before. “Mainly that you somehow erased Allison’s mouth.”

“Using my magick, Isla,” I added before taking a long drag of my smoke. “Which isn’t something that should be possible since you’re not fae.”

ISLA

My head whipped up to look at Bones, who was lounging back against the head of the bed, a cloud of smoke reflected in the black lenses of his glasses. Wells looked between the two of us, his concern growing with each passing second.

“Fae magick?”

“ My fae magick,” Bones replied smoothly, one eyebrow arching.

“Fae magick in general, especially illusion magick, can actually become permanent.”

“If the wielder wishes it,” he said, acknowledging Wells' statement. “I’m thinking it will be since you’re inexperienced.”

“Fuck,” Wells cursed.

“Sounds like fucking karma to me,” I muttered.

“She’s going to die!”

“Aren’t we all eventually?” I sassed back. “That bitch had it coming.”

“She said a few things?—”

“About people I care about,” I snapped, challenging Wells with a glare. “She’s lucky the only thing I took was her mouth.”

“It will take her days to die.”

“She could live without a mouth, witch,” Bones mused, his tone neutral. “The fae have tested it more than a few times. With medical advances, it will be even longer than before. ”

“You’re talking about murder and torture.”

“Actions have consequences,” I said stubbornly.

“So do yours, Isla, and that’s not something you should forget about,” Wells pointed out. “Plus, not only is this torture, but you’ve cut her off from a huge part of her magick.”

“Why should I care about her inability to use magick, Wells?” I shot back. “Tell me one good reason why I should care about Allison at all.”

“Because she’s a person, Isla!” Wells yelled before pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes as if to calm down. “What makes you qualified to determine if someone is worthy enough to access magick?”

“Are you on my side or not, Wells?”

“If I wasn’t on your side, I wouldn’t be pointing this out to you,” he retorted calmly. “But I can’t be your friend without arguing all the sides. When news gets out that you did this, with power you can’t even control?—”

“Accessed through a new mate bond,” Bones added in.

“It’s going to be bad ? — ”

“Even for Greywood.”

I swallowed my commentary about Bones and Wells finishing each other's sentences. This was insanity… but they were right. My emotions had gotten the best of me, and I lashed out.

“I have no idea how I accessed it. Mate bonds don’t work this way. At least, I’ve never heard of it happening like this,” I replied, much calmer than before.

Wells shook his head. “But I can look into it. This can’t be the only time it’s ever happened.”

“Could it be because you’re fae and I’m a witch?” I looked toward Bones. “Has there ever been a mate bond between different supes? ”

“Potentially,” he answered after a beat. “We’d have to ask someone who has been in our position before, or something similar, to see if it happened to them too.”

“There have been mixed mated bonds,” Wells replied as he pulled a face. “I hate the description, but that’s how others say it. Most witches only tie themselves to other witches right now, so if that’s the case, we need to research it.”

What the fuck is my life?

‘I’ve never heard of anything like this, beastie. This never happened with Julian and me,’ Cas said quietly. ‘But that doesn’t mean much. Why don’t you turn your attention to something you can control, like the potion?’

“Let’s focus on what we can control. For now, that’s the potion.” I rubbed my hands together as I repeated what Cas had said to me. “Because I’m going to have to watch this for the next two days and during any free time on Monday to have this ready for herbology.”

Bones and Wells exchanged a look at my change of topic, but before they could try to divert things, I stood up.

“We can’t do anything about the magick right now, but I can make progress on this potion.”

“What do you need, witchling?”

“I need an animal skull, doesn’t matter what kind to be honest, but the essence of death is essential, so somewhat recent if possible.

Then I’ll need to find some moss or fungus grown on a corpse, which shouldn’t be too hard to find, and water that has been brewed with flowers of a poisonous plant.

I’ve read a few variations of that part, so I might try a few to find the best fit with what other ingredients we can gather. ”

“You brought me here to help you find a skull?”

“I mean… yes?” I smiled widely at my mate. “It ma de the most sense when I thought of it. Plus, I really wanted you to see this place.”

“You should be able to find it from now on,” Wells added when Bones didn’t say anything. “But I had a question, mainly about the plants found growing on a corpse… How is that going to be easy to find?”

“Lots of the plants here need corpses to thrive,” I replied. “Without a regular gardner maintaining the beds, it should be easy to find what I need. Oh, you guys will need gloves!”

“Yes, that’s the most urgent thing we’ve talked about so far,” Wells joked.

“You’d agree if you worked with some of these plants without protection of some kind. Make sure you keep your shoes on too!”

“Says the one who has no gloves or shoes on.”

“Poison is my specialty, so the plants never affect me.” I clapped my hands together. “So… Can you both help me?”

“Yes,” they replied after sharing a long look. What is it with the two of them already bonding?

“I’ll look for a skull after I finish my smoke,” Bones replied. “But just for the record, I don’t have some kind of bone sensor simply because I’m a bone fae.”

“You don’t use animal bones?” I questioned.

“Children do,” he answered.

“How do they?—”

“By killing them.”

I nodded and hummed. “That makes sense. Wells, you want to help me get the fungi?”

“Sure, but I’m not going to touch the corpse for you.”

“I’ll give you the bag.” I laughed and tossed him a cloth bag along with gardening gloves .

We started going out into the garden, but I whirled around to face Bones when I remembered something.

“Can you bring me a couple skulls? Just in case I need extras! It’s always good to have some on standby anyway.”

“For you, mate? Always.”

“You say the sweetest things.” I blew him a kiss then rushed out into the garden to find what I needed for the potion.

Being here with Wells and Bones felt right. The garden called to me, welcoming me, as I walked barefoot on the dirt to explore the plants.

Maybe Allison would die, but with the comments she’d made? She was lucky dying was all she was going to do.

I could think of so much worse.