Beautiful Torture *Book Two of the Beautiful series*

7) The Sorceress

The jingle of coins rattled in the small pouch Lucy had tucked away in the inner pocket of her cloak. The streets were dark and finally quiet apart from the far off yowl of a dog. It was late; people had grown tired of the festivities, or perhaps too drunk on spirits to continue.

She paused on the walkway that lined three small shops to step over a man sprawled from edge to edge, stone cold unconscious, but still breathing. Good. She thought. I have seen enough death to last a lifetime. A pulling in her gut, however, hinted that there was plenty more to come. Closing her bright eyes, she centered herself. Swallowed deep and hugged her own shoulders. It was time to focus on the present. Ahead, dim lanterns still burned within the stables. She looked between the long, low building and the storied tavern inn behind her, wondering if it would be wise to see if Hunter had returned to their room.

'No men' Lord Ossis' layered voice reverberated in her thoughts. It was one of the conditions of the task–the sorceress would not permit men in her hollow. It had been his reasoning when she had asked why he did not send Austran for the spell. 'It will require your shared godly blood and no men must walk the sacred ground of the sorceress.'

Lucy was very much on her own.

She shivered, reaching the stable doors, to think of the images that had assaulted her at the mention of blood magic. She had pictured her mother's scarred wrists. Her perpetually frail body. The spell to make Lucy a human Flame had marked Sabrina for the rest of her days, almost killing her. But Lord Ossis had swore it would not be the same for Lucy. 'She will only need a drop,' he had promised.

So it would be on trust, blind faith, that she tethered her and Alexander's joined fates.

Slipping inside, she found the stable hand reading silently in the back corner. At first she stood there awkwardly, before clearing her throat and making the small boy jump out of his chair. He stammered an apology, which she waved off, "I need the steed I rode in on." If she were to go on foot, it would take triple the time.

The boy, who she guessed could not be more than twelve, snapped his book closed, the deep green covers frayed edge pinched tight between his short fingers. "A-are you sure, Miss? The hour is late and dangers reside outside the walls."

An urge to snap at the boy welled within the deepest part of her throat, but she swallowed it down, knowing he was only concerned for her safety. But there was little time. The plan had been set into place. Lord Ossis said the twins already had Alexander drugged and bound in the dungeon of their large house, not far from his own. Who knew what the traitorous demi gods had in store for the king of Dragons? Torture, death? Perhaps ransom. Maybe they had already sent word to the queen.

Lucy shook her head, shivering away from the plague of dark thoughts. They were poisoning her very blood. Wrapped within her fingers was the roughly drawn map Austran sketched for her before she left. She had studied and memorized it in the library firelight. It would lead her to the sorceresses home, not far outside the walls.

In the scabbard strapped tight to her thigh, Lucy felt the cool press of her small dagger. The one Hunter had given her after their encounter with Endon's henchmen. "I am quite certain. No harm will come to me. My horse, please," she said in a voice resonating a sureness that seemed to quell whatever doubts the boy had. He quickly set to work saddling Flicker before walking him over with an offer of a boost up. Lucy declined, shaking her head before hoisting herself up to straddle the beast in an unladylike manner. She did not have time to sit proper and risk falling.

With a curt farewell nod, she was trotting off along the filth riddled cobblestone towards the entrance she had arrived at. The guards, having been paid off by Austran already, let her through without so much as raising an eyebrow.