Shadowed (Book Two of the Hollow City Coven Series): A Witch and Warlock Romance Novel by Hunter Hazel

Author:Hunter, Hazel [Hunter, Hazel]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Allure Press
Published: 2015-10-29T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

ABSINTHE ALLEY WAS lit only by pale green lanterns. It was so narrow that in some parts, Gillian could touch either wall with her fingertips. When she had asked for directions, the first person had turned away with disgust. The second had lit up with such avaricious glee that it was her who’d turned and walked away. Finally, an older man, the wispy hair on his head greased to stand up in ghostly spikes, gave her the directions she needed. Before she went, he had caught her gloved hand in his.

“Are you sure you need to go there, lass?” he asked, his voice frail and wavering. “There are other ways of doing what it is you need to do, no matter what it is.”

“No, there’s really not,” Gillian said, pulling away.

The moment she stepped into Absinthe Alley, Gillian felt a chill wash over her. In a place where everything was legal, though it might have a price, she felt like a deer staked out for the slaughter. She reminded herself of the rule about killing however, and straightened up. She didn’t need Shayne to do this. She didn’t need him for anything.

There were no shops in the alley, like there had been in other parts of town. Instead, there were narrow windows through which she could see movement. As she walked past, one opened up with a creak and an unnervingly thin man dressed in a dirty white robe leaned out.

“And what is a fine young thing like you looking for here?” he asked in amusement.

Something about him set off every warning bell in her head. Reluctantly, Gillian took a step closer so she could hear him better.

“I’m looking for dragon’s eye seeds,” she said, hoping that it truly would be this simple. “Do you have any?”

The man eyed her speculatively.

“No, I do not. If you are looking for a truly painful way to kill a lover, however, I have other options. There’s algonquia, which will drown them on dry land, and of course there is never-heal, which doesn’t kill them exactly.”

“Thank you, no,” Gillian said sharply.

The man shrugged as if it made no difference to him.

She walked on, but she could feel his yellowed eyes on her.

She walked the length of the alley twice. She stopped––and was stopped by––many people, but the answer was always the same. No, they didn’t have it. They sold it, but they were out. It was hard to get, and would she like something else that would kill just as well?

By the time she completed her second round, she felt as if she had crawled through a sewer. In defeat, she sat down on a stone doorstep, hiding her face in her hands. There were other things she could take to Cappadocia. She knew that. But somehow she knew they wouldn’t work. There were too many variables, too many ways it could go wrong. She couldn’t take that risk.

It seemed a bitter irony that after all she had done to leave Shayne, she might have to admit defeat after all.

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