pprentices, and they crossed the threshold with slow, careful steps. They knew the

silence was more intimi

ver hair, and upon his head sat the skull of a werewolf, its hollow brow resting there like a crown of bone. He drew the blanket back from her shoulder

did you examine her blood?" Adrian broke t

hands still

room dropped by several degrees.

No, my lord. Her injuries were too severe at

d right away." Adrian

as a werewolf, and three to four days should have been more than enou

er the brazier until the carvings glowed a faint silver. He set it mouth-down over the place on Estella's shoulder where his obsidian lancet had already opened her skin. As the stone cooled, it drew a slow vacuum, and her blood r

re had settled, on the unconscious wo

irth, had watched the wailing infant grow into the majestic man who now sat across the

woman more than

s heart. He had looked on most of them as spoiled, gild

ad Gavard seen him give a woman

lly let someone in his heart? Or was he reading too much into a single look? What

her wounds properly. He tilted the cup toward the firelight, and the blood inside swirled slowly against the pale stone. It was dark red,

oonlight caught in water. He tipped a few drops into the blood. They sank through the red like f

ood. It uncurled through it like ink dropped into still water refus

shen. Even Adrian's expression shifte

ing to Estella exclaimed. "How is she still alive? It's no small am

d when you first treated her?" His voice was calm, almost pleasant, but one could sense the anger in his tone. He called Gavard because

d low, and the wolf skull on his brow dipped wit

I believe it was masked with Rainflower, which hides a venom as a quiet morning hides

nflo

even. But paired with a poison, Wolfsbane above all, it turns lethal. It tricks a werewolf's immune system

nconsciously. "How long w

e correct dosage administ

strange." he murmured, mostly to himself. "The concentration is significant. Had she been given this much all at once, she would be in a far worse state

his chair. Then something else caught his attention. A sub

his gaze on the woman lying stil

drian's eyes flicked to him. The latter brought a finger to his lips, sign

ps, and his eyes held a cold, calculating glint. Yet his voice stayed light and almost idle

cunning Alpha was trying to do. He obliged with relish, his voice rising a tad

is throat,

with no clear cause. Hypersomnia, unexplained thirst, muscle spasms, on occasion. And over ti

the silence from that corner of the room had changed. It would have slipped past any

curved, ju

wasn't quite as skilled at f

g to hear it. He didn't need to look at her to know t

en rushed. Gavard packed away his tools last, straightening without any stiffness for a man of his age. "Make sure she takes the treatment daily,

defiance for a vial of medicine. This was the woman who, not too long ago, made it painfully clear that she sought death more th

enough to belong to someone truly asleep, unless... She was having a nightmare? Surely not. Then he got up from the

ong ago. Isn't that right, Estella?" He waited, his gaze steady on her face,

to speak again when a knock sounde

oice on the other side said,

n necessary before turning towards the door. Then

the medicine when

he wa

ractice for drawing blood. It's called Wet

t poison in food, water or blood, no ma