Starfire (Grim Gate 2)

“I suppose it wouldn’t hurt. Is that something you can make and keep on hand? It wouldn’t hurt having a vial or two in the cabinet.”

“I’m not sure how long it lasts for, but if Nikolai can lead me to other witches, I’ll be able to find out. I’ll be able to find out everything.” I can tell my eyes are glimmering, making Ethan worry even more that I’m not going to think about this rationally.

“You could,” he stresses. “Or you could not. Do you have what you need to make the truth potion?”

“I think so. It’s surprisingly simple but it only lasts for about an hour. Get my book and I’ll ask Nikolai if he minds being drugged.”

“And if he says no?”

“Then we’ll kick him out.”

Ethan holds my gaze and nods. He goes to get the book and I head back into the kitchen. Nikolai is talking to Hunter, and they both look amused.

“Would you be open to taking a truth potion?” I ask him, taking my seat at the counter again. “It’s nothing personal. It’s been a weird few weeks and I need to be careful.”

“I don’t mind at all as faeries aren’t good liars to begin with. It goes against our nature.” He gets up to add more honey to his tea, and a bag of rice I left out on the counter falls over and spills. “But you might want to remove that bad luck spell first.” He puts the tea down and starts sweeping up the spilled rice with his hands. “Do you have a broom?”

“Yeah, I’ll get it.” We get the rice cleaned up and Ethan comes back, flipping through the book to find the truth spell.

“Oh, my stars.” Nikolai’s hand goes to this chest. “That’s Estelle’s book.” His eyes get a little misty and he looks away, blinking rapidly. My gut tells me I don’t need the truth potion. He’s not going to hurt me. But for Ethan’s sake, I’ll do it,

“Bottoms up.” Nikolai raises his shot glass of truth potion and then downs it. “Nice touch with the fruit juice.”

“Thanks. The spell said you can mix it with anything.” I tap my fingers on the counter and then take a drink of my own truth potion—red wine. “Okay…do you, um, feel any different?”

“You shouldn’t feel a truth potion take effect,” he explains. “It’s a giveaway you’ve been dosed.”

“Oh, makes sense.”

He smiles. “You’re doing a great job giving how little you know. I can’t say Estelle would be proud because she’d probably be pissed as fuck knowing you’re doing magic when she didn’t want you to.”

“Is that the truth potion talking?” Ethan asks.

“I would have told you that anyway.” Nikolai shrugs. “But go ahead. Ask me anything.”

“Why are you here?” Ethan doesn’t waste any time cutting to the chase.

“I slept with my girlfriend’s sister and then they both teamed up and cursed me—which I already told you, and I wanted to see Estelle so I could sleep with her after she removed the curse.”

Nikolai looks to be about thirty. “She was like eight-five.”

“In my mind, she wasn’t a day over seventy and what she lost in youthful good looks she made up in experience.” He wiggles his eyebrows and I just shake my head.

“And you had no idea was dead?” I ask.

“No,” he tells us and gets a little teary-eyed again. “Time really does evade you when you’re in the fae realm. It moves differently there, or perhaps it feels like it does. When you think about it and try to explain it, it tends to make your head hurt.”

“Are you going to hurt Anora?” Ethan asks, putting both hands on the table.

“No,” Nikolai says, taken aback. “I have no intention of bringing her any harm.”

“What about telling anyone else about her so they can bring her harm?”

“No,” he repeats.

“Do you know why Estelle would have bound my powers and taken my memories?” I can’t help myself.

“I don’t, though if I were to guess, it’s because she was either afraid you’d get hurt. If I remember correctly, you showed the promise of being a natural at fire magic.”

“I am.”

“Fire magic can be dangerous, though with her being a professor at Grim Gate Academy, I don’t see why she’d think you wouldn’t be able to control your powers. Unless your own parents wouldn’t have let you attend?” He tips his head. “It’s been years and I apologize for not remembering much.”

“My parents don’t believe vampires are actually vampires.” I raise my eyebrows, almost laughing at the thought of my mom getting a real-life version of a Hogwarts welcome letter. “They wouldn’t have believed I was a witch unless they say proof, which wouldn’t have been hard since Aunt Estelle was who she was.”

“No, it wouldn’t have been hard at all.”

I look at Ethan and lean back, letting out a deep sigh. This is all I need to know that Nikolai isn’t going to attack me in my sleep.