The Mist-Torn Witches by Barb Hendee

Author:Barb Hendee [Hendee, Barb]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Tags: Mystery, Fantasy, Contemporary, Fiction, Romance, Science Fiction, General
ISBN: 9780451414151
Google: WjBWLgEACAAJ
Amazon: 0451414152
Goodreads: 15808272
Publisher: Roc
Published: 2013-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

Céline had a bad feeling that her three hours were almost up. It had taken longer for them to get down to the village, break through a window at the shop, and harvest the poppies than she’d expected. Only the youngest, nearly unripe heads would work for what she needed.

Then she’d had to go back inside the shop to boil the heads down properly to make a white, milky syrup.

She knew she was endangering her chances of ever achieving ownership of the shop, and the thought pained her, but Inna’s life mattered more. And for all his good intentions, Jaromir was wrong.

Once back inside the castle, she and Amelie had hurried up to their room. Helga always left a jug of cold spiced tea and two mugs on their dressing table, in case one of them should become thirsty in the night. Without hesitation, Céline poured two mugs of the tea and unstoppered the vial she’d carried from the village.

“How much will you use?” Amelie asked.

“All of it.”

She poured half the vial of the milky substance into one mug and the rest in the other.

“All of it?” Amelie repeated, watching her.

“It has to put them to sleep.”

Amelie glanced down at a chair. “We could just break a leg off this, and I could put them to sleep.”

“Both of them? I doubt you could reach Pavel’s head. And anyway, it would just give Jaromir an excuse to lock you up if he catches us.”

“Oh, and drugging them is so much better.”

Strangely, even after her painful confession, things between her and Amelie seemed unaltered. They might argue, but they had always worked together. Perhaps nothing would change after all.

“So how are you going to get them to drink it?” Amelie asked. “Use your charm?”

“That’s the general idea. But we need to hurry. If Jaromir takes watch, we won’t have a chance. Not even if you offered it to him.”

“Not even if I…,” Amelie stammered. “What does that mean?”

“Come on,” Céline said. “We need to go.”

Carrying both mugs, she led the way back downstairs, past the great hall, and to a stairwell leading up again, inside the west tower, toward a section of the castle that housed permanent residents.

Before stepping off at the first landing, she steeled herself. “You’d better stay here out of sight,” she told Amelie, “and let me handle this first part.”

Without waiting for an answer, she started down the passage, spotting Pavel outside the assigned door in the same moment he spotted her coming.

His face registered shock at first, and then a flush of pleasure. She was still wearing the lavender gown.

Céline had little understanding of feminine wiles, but she didn’t need them here. She knew what most men responded to, what most people responded to really: nurturing kindness. Pavel’s predisposed attraction to her should do the rest.

As she approached, the other guard turned to face her as well…What was he called? Rurik?

“It’s late, miss,” he said.

She offered them both a tired smile. “I know, but I couldn’t sleep.

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