Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 101379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
He had his eyes on what his hands were doing even as he spoke. The hairs were caught up in a mini whirlwind inside the bowl, spinning wildly about before disintegrating. Amaru fed his magic into it, the warm feeling of power familiar and welcome as it left through his fingertips. He directed it to change form, into something more solid. It changed slowly, melding together into something like a paste. Ah, perfect. He hadn’t lost his touch. Even the color was right, an almost translucent white.
“Note to the viewers,” he added absently. “If it’s not this color and consistency, something’s gone wrong. Don’t use it. Banish it and try again. This looks perfect to me. All right, Sam, ready?”
Sam was back to looking nervous. Mostly around his eyes. Still, he gave a game nod. “I am.”
“Good. Dimitri, you can hold his hand if you’d like.”
Both of them seemed relieved at this suggestion. Dimitri promptly took Sam’s hand, and from the way the knuckles shone, Sam latched on with full force.
Amaru lifted off the ward over the bowl. “Now, you’ll note I’m not trying to touch this myself. Do not. As soon as it touches skin, it activates. Just lift the bowl like I’m doing now and pour it over the core area. Let it settle. It’ll usually puddle into a circular—ah, there it goes.”
The potion was indeed in a roughly circular shape over the core area, and the second it touched skin, it turned from white to a much brighter glow. Almost painful to look at, in fact, that was how brightly it shone.
Amaru couldn’t have done this better if he’d had a year to prep. He rocked back on his heels, smiling, and just waited. Any second now and—
With an audible crack, the potion split right in half, and an eerie, reddish-brown smoke hissed out. It dissipated into the air as fast as it was released.
“Potion will not only break the curse but will also purify it as it’s removed from the host,” Amaru explained, eyes still on the proceedings. Just in case. “So no one watching is in danger; it’s being purified as soon as it hits the air. Nasty looking thing. No wonder your core wouldn’t heal, Sam, with that gunk in it.”
“Tell me about it,” Sam said faintly. His expression was of a man unnerved. “Ewww. I can’t believe that was in me.”
“Looks like we’re on the tail end of it now…” Amaru paused, eyes narrowed as he examined it better. He saw little traces of it still coming out, but it was definitely slowing down. “Yeah, we’re not quite done yet.”
“How do you know when it is done?” Alric asked.
“You don’t see anything else come out, for one. For another, the potion will lose its white color. It’ll start adopting the color of the curse, whatever that is, and become inert. Notice how most of it is a reddish-brown now? That’s why.”
“Ah. And when it is done?”
“Still don’t touch it. Skin contact will transfer the curse to the next person. Best way is to use a banishing spell and nullify it altogether. Now, once this curse is fully removed—I give that another thirty seconds—the core will naturally spark to life. Cores are intuitive. They want to heal themselves. As long as nothing is hindering it, they’ll do so. I won’t need to do a blessed thing to your core, Sam, unless something else goes wrong.”
Sam’s face scrunched up into an almost unreadable expression. “Really? I know you said that, but you still think so after seeing this?”
“Yup. Trust me, your core is already fighting to heal itself. I can see the beginning stages of it.”
He’d never seen Sam happier than in that moment. And pure, naked relief was painted on his face. Then again, Amaru would feel the same in his shoes. A mage with a dragon who he was unable to do the bonding spell for? Yeah, Amaru would do everything in his power to fix his core to not leave his mates brokenhearted.
Sora had a diagnostic spell running, partially to make it more visible to everyone watching what was being done. Plus, and this was just Amaru’s opinion, but he felt like Sora was a worrier. He probably felt better if he could track everything from start to finish.
The potion went fixed and inert, obviously done. Amaru banished it with nothing more than a, “Klak gev adi!”
It disappeared promptly, as it should, leaving not even a smudge of color behind.
Sora immediately lunged for his tablet and started writing notes like mad. Amaru had basically expected that response.
Sam sucked in a huge breath like a man who’d just found air. “I feel so much better already. Can I sit up?”
“Sure. Hard part’s done.” Amaru offered him a hand and between him and Dimitri, levered Sam up to a sitting position. “Sit for a while longer, though, your equilibrium is probably off.”