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Tess glanced behind her, checking to be sure we still followed closely behind, before approaching the door to the charm shop and swinging it open.

The last time we had come here it had been the middle of the night and the shop hadn’t been open for business.

Today the shop was open. A few Shades milled about selecting potions off the shelf or ringing out with their purchases at the front counter.

Alastir was nowhere in sight. The gentleman operating the till was much younger than the seer we came searching for.

My eyes fell on the doorway in the back of the shop that led up to the apartment above, and I fell into the memories of that night.

How Donika had found me with Corian by her side.

How they had pulled me into a dream. How that same night Nik and I had given into our feelings and touched each other on the gym mats of the training room for the first time in weeks.

The voice of the cashier pulled me back from my reverie as I blinked several times to refocus.

“What can I help you with?” he asked, his eyes roving over each of us as he realized we hadn’t brought any items up to the till to cash out.

“We are looking for Alastir, is he in?” Puck asked, placing a hand on the counter and leaning against it in a way I could only describe as arrogant.

It almost made me laugh. Almost .

“One moment,” the cashier replied, moving towards the room that sat in the back of the shop. It appeared to be an office of some kind.

When the cashier returned—alone—I swallowed back the lump in my throat.

“He isn’t available at the moment,” he replied, his lips pressed together in a thin line. He didn’t offer us anything else.

“Can he make himself available?” Puck asked, a threatening note in his voice. “I’m afraid it’s incredibly important, ole chap.”

Tess rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest. I had to stifle a groan at Puck’s attempts at intimidation. He couldn’t play the part that Nik did, he was too… British.

“Afraid not.” The cashier replied, offering nothing further than a searing gaze.

“Please, Sir. You don’t understand—” I spoke, moving to the front of the counter and pushing an indignant Puck out of the way. “This is of the utmost importance and it is crucial that we speak with Alastir right away.”

We couldn’t stay in Prins; Donika’s soldiers would find us. If we didn’t find Alastir—and soon—we would have to return to the seaside cabin empty handed. And that simply wasn’t an option. Time wasn’t on our side, and I could sense the minutes ticking down.

As far as I was concerned, all plans of going to war were put on hold until we found the antidote to the siphoning spell. Or some other kind of cure. I had made up my mind about that the minute Amiyah had mentioned the spell. All magic had a balance, we simply needed to find it.

Surely Alastir had seen this. Seen that I wouldn’t go to war without Nikolai by my side, and that we would be coming to him to seek out the spell we needed.

“What is it you wish to speak with him about?” The cashier asked with a smile.

He hadn’t been nearly this nice to Puck, and I narrowed my eyes at him.

Pursing my lips I said, “you don’t have the clearance. I will speak with Alastir, and Alastir alone. If he isn’t here, I implore you to tell me where we might find him.”

I plastered a fake smile across my lips and my teeth ground together as I tried my hardest to push down the magic that surged to the surface every time I lost my temper. A wave of relief washed over me as I sensed it return to my core, to the ember of energy that lived there.

The cashier frowned. “I’m sorry then, afraid I can’t help you,” he replied, that false smile returning to his lips that never reached his eyes.

I slammed my fists against the glass counter in frustration and the beakers and potions that sat atop it rattled together.

“When he returns… will you let him know that Diana is looking for him?” I asked through clenched teeth, meeting the cashier’s stern gaze with one of my own.

Recognition lit his eyes before he leaned over the counter towards me. Puck’s arm shot out to stop him, but I gave him a reassuring nod, his arm falling back to his side .

“Are you… you’re not… Diana Kotova, are you?” he asked in a voice merely above a whisper.

“Oh, mother above…” Tess exhaled as her arms dropped to her side in a huff. “So much for staying hidden…” she muttered as she moved towards the front door of the shop and glanced up and down the street.

“Who is asking?” My eyebrow arched in question as I turned back towards the counter.

“I’m under strict instruction that if Diana Kotova came here—” the cashier began, before he was cut off by Saanvi.

“Good lord, man, stop saying her name.” Her hand grasped the blade fastened at her waist as she narrowed her eyes at him.

He had the decency to blush with embarrassment, his mouth falling closed.

“Go on,” I urged, motioning with my hand for him to spit it out.

His voice fell to a deep whisper. “I am under strict instruction that if… you … were to come here, that I give you this piece of paper.”

He rifled through the drawer on his left until he removed his hand, a folded piece of parchment within his grasp. I snatched it out of his grip, unfurling it and flattening it to the glass countertop.

1178 Wilder Way.

I gazed up in confusion.

“What is this?” I asked, uncertainty creasing my brow .

The cashier reached out, sliding the paper his direction so he could read it. “An address.” He wordlessly slid the paper back.

“But where ,” Puck seethed, appearing as if he might punch the cashier in the face at any moment.

“The Shadow,” he replied, his gaze flitting between each of us once more, as if realizing who we were in truth.

“ Where , in The Shadow, mate?” Puck asked through his teeth, losing whatever modicum of patience he had left. “It’s not as if we frequent the place or have google maps.”

The cashier took a step back, away from Puck, as his gaze moved back to me.

“It’s by the mountains,” he replied with a deep swallow.

“Mate, I am trying my hardest here not to rearrange your face. You do realize that The Shadow is completely closed in on both sides by mountains, correct? Please, please, for the love of whatever mortal God or the Mother above it is that you pray to, do not make me ask you another question.” Puck had lost his last vestige of composure and his hand curled into a fist at his side.

We were wasting too much time, and the longer we spent lingering around in Prins the greater the chances were of us being spotted and captured. The cashier held his hands out as if to calm us, but a muscle ticked in Puck’s jaw as he took a deep breath, moving forward.

“It’s on the left. The left coming from here.

You go down the stairs, past the brothel district, past the Old Cat pub and keep going, towards the Siraway Sea.

It’s near the edge of The Shadow on that side.

That’s all I know,” he spit out, speaking fast enough the words were practically running together, his palms lifted towards us defensively.

“Thank you. You have been most helpful,” Puck replied, his words dripping with sarcasm, as he retreated towards where Tess stood at the threshold of the shop.

Back the way we came, then.

Alastir had seen us coming. He had known I was going to come to Dragon’s Hollow searching for him, and he had left an address for us. What else had he seen? Was it Alastir at this address, or the answer to our questions?

Either way, we had better get going. And quickly.

I turned away from the counter to join the others on the cobbled street outside the charms shop, the crinkled parchment with the lone address tight within my grip.