Double, Double

double, double

C onvincing Kimiko that Iggy was truly repentant wasn’t easy. She’s not stupid; in fact, her IQ is genius level and if she were human, they’d label her some type of neurodiverse. That meant appealing to her empathy wasn’t an option—she’s not great with emotions and the one she’s been holding was hard to overcome. With a few funding promises, I convinced her to work with us.

I think the Wolfenberg name helped, too. Their foundations control a lot of grant money.

“I still think we should have pulled rank rather than let her believe she won,” Iggy grumbles as he turns the car into Morgana’s driveway.

I hold up the two pouches of ingredients the Prince told Morgana we needed. “Do you honestly think we would have gotten all this without her? I don’t. And making an enemy of her doesn’t benefit Morgana. She needs more staff on her side, in case you forgot.”

He rolls his eyes and gets out of the car, leaving me to hope his typical bristly arrogance doesn’t end up pissing off a Fae Royal. Grabbing the bags of our stuff, I made him stop to pick up in case this takes longer than we expect; I jump out and follow him up the steps. Iggy doesn’t knock. He opens the door and strides in like he owns the place. It makes me cringe a little, but I let him lead because his confidence eases my worry. Channing’s call included the information that Lucas’s lawyer, the great Jackson Thorne, will be here soon as well.

If we fuck this up, we’re all going to be in the shit. Knowing my dad, this could start a minor war.

“Who the hell are you to walk in here unannounced?”

The growl has the timbre of a dragon—a powerful one—and I realize this must be the Prince’s Guardian. Iggy snorts and crosses his arms over his chest, taking an aggressive stance. I watch as the dragon balls his fists and the swell of power in the air makes me shiver. This is going to go bad quickly if?—

“What the fuck are you knuckleheads doing in here?” Morgana stomps in from the back of the house, her eyes glowing bright blue. “I told you to work with Iggy and Slade, you overgrown gecko, not threaten them!”

I smile sheepishly, rubbing the back of my neck as Morgana’s eyes light on the spell pouches in my hand. “We’ve got what we need, though I may have made deals you’ll regret later.”

She shrugs. “I’ll deal with the Professor when Lucas is safe and healed. Whatever you did was worth it to save my mate.”

Her conviction makes my heart thud a little—will she ever feel that strongly about me? Will anyone?

“You say that now ,” Ignatius grumbles as his shoulders relax. “I’m not convinced of this Fae shit, either.”

The dark, glowering dragon snorts at him, his lips curled in a sneer. “In our lands, you could be imprisoned for doubting the future king of the Daybreak Court.”

“Thanks for the travel advice, but you’re here in the human realm. Your Prince has political clout, but he’s also held to our laws, as are you.”

Ignoring their posturing, I walk over to Morgana. The strife is upsetting her; one of her snakes is hissing just shy of her ear. I know little about gorgons, but they’re typically very good at keeping themselves under control. If they aren’t, the rules say they have to wear eye covers. Morgana hasn’t, so I know she’s usually under control, and this entire situation is pushing her limits.

“Hey. Let’s take this stuff back to the Prince and see what he needs Iggy to do with it. Would that make you feel less edgy?”

Her face brightens at my muted question, and she tosses a last glare at the two assholes. “Yes, it would. I’d prefer not to reconsider who I’m allowing in my circle because they can’t behave like adults .”

Iggy pales and I grin a little—hell, even the dragon snickers. I enjoy her putting everyone in their places more than I expected. Taking her hand, I let her lead me out into the garden where it appears a tall, beautiful Fae is manipulating strands of dark energy as they exit Lucas’s body. His face is twisted in a grimace; that has to mean this is bad. My expression turns to concern as we come closer and I can see Lucas writhing in pain.

“Uh, are we sure about this?” I ask, my voice full of uncertainty.

There’s so damn much at risk here, and I doubt any of them have considered it. But I was raised by a chess master who ran his gang with an iron fist and was always five moves ahead of the other factions. Looking at the larger picture is in my blood, so I have to wonder if involving the Daybreak Royal, a mobster’s kid, two members of major supe families, and a convicted murderer is a smart plan. Not to mention the damn lawyer—he’s also way up the food chain. This is a disaster waiting to happen.

Supes have started major wars all throughout history for much less.

“I am,” the Fae turns and I realize he’s dropped the more humanoid glamor most of them wear when living on this side of the Veil. It makes him even more gorgeous, and I blink for a moment.

“Stop staring at the Prince.” The bark comes from his pet dragon but there’s a sniff from Iggy as well.

“Don’t be ridiculous, dude.” Lucas lifts his head, a forced smile on his lips. “His Highness’ hot factor quadruples when he lets his hair down. Even I know that.”

Morgana’s eyes widen, and she rushes over to scold the bear. “You don’t have to be the funny man while he’s doing all this shit. We can tell it hurts.”

Iggy nods, dropping into a chair and scooting it closer to the table by the Daybreak Fae. “How can I help? We got all the ingredients.”

“First, call me Liam, and that surly fellow is Kaspar. No need to be so formal. I’m not my father or even my opposite brethren who rule the other courts.” He smiles and I swear to hell, the damn sun shines right on him like an angel painting.

“Okay, Liam. Walk me through the steps. Slade can assist with tasks requiring additional help, while Morgana will divert the bear’s attention.”

“Not a child,” Lucas grumbles.

“We know, growly pants. But I assume this will continue to hurt and maybe even hurt worse before it’s better. They want me to keep you calm.” Morgana scoots in, kneeling by his head and brushing hairs off his forehead. “The sooner we get this healing, the sooner we can move to the couch, so when Jackson gets here, you’ll be clearheaded.”

He rolls his eyes. “Fine, go ahead. Magic me up.”

The Prince smiles briefly, then looks at me. “You’ll need standard grinding and mixing supplies, then we’ll have to steep it. Can you handle doing that part after the Professor does the proportions?”

I nod. “I’m well versed in casting. Living with Iggy for years has served me in that respect.”

An irritated huff from the corner pulls my gaze back to the dragon. He’s obviously weighing the cost of failure; he’d be bad at his job if he wasn’t. He must have served in their military with the Prince as well because I can see it in his posture. None of this is protocol, and it’s making him lose his grip on the power of his beast.

The electricity in the air definitely says storm dragon.

But I don’t have time to mess with him, so I brush past to get the equipment Iggy will need to cut, measure, and prepare the various plants before he grinds them. I prefer to bring our mortar and pestle instead of relying on the possibility of finding one here. Once everything is gathered, I return to the patio and spread it on the table.

“Excellent.” Iggy looks at Liam, waiting for instructions. Potions are his forte and he knows better than to mess with anything prior to having a recipe.

“Trim off the stalks from the cestrum. Place blossoms in mortar bottom. Then add the Antarachnia. That one can go in whole because the stems are filled with a liquid with natural anti-venom properties.”

I watch as my friend carefully does as he was told, his brow furrowed in concentration. Ignatius Briarton is not one to be hurried, but I can tell he’s moving as quickly as possible. I’m not sure if that’s because he senses we have a clock on our efforts or because he’s trying to impress the Prince. Either way, he’s in his element. When the Antarachnia stems burst, a lavender liquid mixes with the crushed cestrum and after a few moments, a poof of rainbow sparkles explodes from the bowl.

“Was that supposed to happen?” Iggy looks at the Fae with a panicked expression, his shoulders sagging when the man nods.

“Don’t worry, my friend. Often Fae magic produces dramatic results. This was normal, so you can pop the Elysian Bubbleberries into the mix now and start whipping it all together. It’s a little like baking a cake, no?” Liam turns to wink at me and I flush.

“Not that I spend my time baking ,” Iggy grumbles as he glares at the two of us. “I’m a wizard, not a chef.”

Morgana’s lips quirk up and she leans in to whisper something in Lucas’s ear that makes him laugh loudly. The sound eases the tension and suddenly, I don’t feel as afraid. If she can joke with the dying shifter, we can all unclench a bit. It would probably help to make the vibe out here less… angry . I could help with that, I think.

“Liam?” I ask quietly. “Would it help if I lower the tension? I can use my powers to calm everyone down if it would assist with Lucas’s healing.”

His dark gaze turns to me, and he gives me a slow smile. “I think it would, Slade. It will take your friend a few minutes to get the right consistency and I’m still unweaving the curse. Making the vibe less spiky would be a gift.”

“Got it covered.” That said, I sing softly. It’s an old tune my mom used to sing me to sleep with as a kid and I’m not sure what race it comes from. We were surrounded by so many, and my mother was the glue that held the spouses of the gang together. She attended whelpings, helped with assimilation for new members, and often played the role of head honcho of the families. Her songs could belong to any species, from sirens to demi-gods.

This one was always soothing and I can sing it without mesmerizing anyone unintentionally.

“Dude, I don’t know what you’re doing, but this is the best I’ve felt in days ,” Lucas mutters. “We should have asked you to do this much sooner. It’s like the pain is being wiped away by a warm breeze.”

Iggy pauses, smacking his forehead. “Damn it. I didn’t think about Slade’s powers. He tries not to use them so he doesn’t accidentally put people under.”

“Put people under?” Kaspar narrows his eyes at me. “He’s a fucking siren? Since when are there male sirens? What the hell is this?”

Morgana stops his rant with a look that could kill even without her gorgon side. “Look, you cranky dick. Hybrids often have a primary and recessive side if they show more than one supe when they emerge. Because of that, they’ve been found to have unusual traits, rare genders, and sometimes, mixed power sets. Few gargoyles with snake hair, right? But I have it and my snakes are sentient—something rare for gorgons as well.”

He blinks, staring at her for a moment. “Let me get this right. You have a transformation that can either make you a winged, tail swinging gargoyle that can turn to stone or you can morph into a snake woman with smart snake hair? Are you serious?”

Iggy snorts, not stopping his mixing as he answers, “She’s pretty fucking special, right? If you hear hissing, you made her mad.”

“Truth, bro.” Lucas holds a fist out and my stodgy roommate bumps it.

What is going on here?

“What color is the paste?” Liam interjects. When Iggy confirms it’s purple, he nods sharply. “Time for Slade to go steep the leftover leaves and the unicorn hair. Once it’s done, we’ll mix it all and it will turn into a smooth liquid. That’s what our patient needs to drink.”

Lucas frowns when I stop singing. I feel bad, but I’ve been given a task and I have to do it. “Don’t worry, bud. I’ll be back once this shit cooks.”

“You can sing for your supper later, siren. Do as the Prince said.”

Glaring at the dragon, I take the items from the pile and stalk off.

That fucker makes Iggy look humble, and I hope we don’t have to deal with him ever again.