Page 71 of Hell Burns Between Us

Well, he already knew he was an idiot, so it hardly bore mentioning. He forced a bit of condescension into his voice to play it safe. “I see now why your hellcat fetched me. As it happens, I’m very handy with dramatic runic problems.”

“Are you really?” She looked at him, her lashes still wet, eyes sparkling with fragile hope.

He leaned in closer, studying every detail of the rune, lost in thought. Without thinking, he traced the lines of the rune with his forefinger.

She shivered.

His eyes flicked to her face. She was looking pointedly away, but her cheeks had warmed very prettily.

“It’s a temporary solution,” he admitted, running a hand through his mess of hair. “I’m not sure how long it’ll last—or how to break the rune’s hold on you permanently.” He exhaled sharply. “We might need outside help. Someone powerful enough to break it completely.”

“We? Do you mean you’ll help me more than just this once?”

“I don’t see why not. We are a team after all.”

“You still think of us that way?” she asked. When he glanced at her again, she was studying him with such intensity that heat rushed to his cheeks. Her voice dropped to a hushed whisper as she added, “Even after all that time?”

He cleared his throat and nodded sharply, “I’ll need fire, a needle, and a bit of your blood.”

Perine’s eyes flew to his, her wild curls framed luminescent in the moonlight. Then she shook herself, giving him a brisk nod. “Right. Um, well, there’s the fireplace over there. I’m sure I’ve got a needle somewhere but… do you really need my blood?”

Oleander had managed to slip his jacket on before the hellcat whisked him away, and now, he rummaged through his pockets until his fingers closed around a tiny jar of enchanted ink—his emergency stash. Wisteria had taught him how to make this ink as children, its magic coming from the nightshade berries that grew deep within his Circle.

He met her eyes, and in a voice that was surprisingly reassuring, he said, “I need to mix it with this ink. It will weaken the power of the rune that monster placed on you, making its influence over you much less potent. Your blood is akin to your consent—which I highly doubt you gave to this evil piece of magic here on your shoulder.

“It’ll be tricky, because even though that rune seems to have just been laid upon your skin, it has already embedded itself fairly deep which means it’s too late to cancel it out completely, but this should buy us time to find a more permanent solution.”

She exhaled, tension easing slightly from her shoulders. “Alright, yes. Let’s do that then. I’ve had no luck on my own trying to break its hold.”

Oleander frowned. “Why didn’t you come to me as soon as it happened?”

She scoffed. “I didn’t think you’d care.”

Her gaze locked onto his, and he felt something inside him shift—molten, hot, and tender.

“Well, then.” He tried to keep his tone light, dismissive. “Let me reassure you that I do.”

She bit her lip and nodded. They were quiet while they worked. She made a tiny cut on her smallest finger and added the blood to the ink per his instructions. He heated a needle she’d found for him and pushed it slowly into her skin.

It was tedious work, drawing the new rune into her skin. He moved the needle slowly, with painstaking precision. Perine for her part held herself still, even as her breathing grew ragged and the tiniest of whimpers escaped her lips.

He both hated and was elated to be here. There was a thrill at being somebody that Perine trusted, that was only dampened by being the same person that was causing her pain.

“You’ll need to focus your energy on what you want,” he told her gravely. “While I work, the magic will be looking for intent. We both need to concentrate on you having your freedom.”

“Alright,” she murmured. “Should it be broad intentions or specific?”

“Mine will be broad but you should think of the one thing you want to do with this freedom.”

“There’s too many things. How could I ever choose?”

“What was your favourite?”

She hummed contemplatively. “Maybe the libraries?”

“No. Absolutely not. Pick something less boring.”

“Fine,” she said amused and hopefully distracted from the pain. “There’s this restaurant at the top of a mountain in the Fauna Circle where I heard they serve the most delicious pasta you’ll ever eat and… I’ve always wanted to go. So maybe I’ll go there.”