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“A month is all I need,” I said. “The drakengate will be done by then and I’ll be back home without a gaggle of stunning alphas to tempt me.”
Eli cleared his throat. “Perhaps now is the time to remind you that no potion is completely effective, even the most skillfully made ones...”
“I understand,” I said. “I’m familiar with this stuff.”
“I’m curious about something, but maybe it’s too personal.”
“Don’t be shy, ask,” I replied. “We’re flight mates.”
“Why did you wait until now to ask for this? Haven’t you been… sampling the local delicacies since you arrived?”
“Oh, I would’ve been,” I said. “But there’s been no time, with the drakengate, and making sure Enry is looked after. It won’t be long before he drops that egg.”
I was making excuses. Enry didn’t need any looking after, I had nothing I could offer Shen in the way of assistance, and Visir was fully preoccupied. I knew damn well I’d spent a good part of a week sitting around by myself on the beach watching the way the sea birds plucked little armored creatures from their shells. Fascinatingly brutal.
The problem was I hadn’t been putting in effort, because I didn’t quite know what effort I needed to put in. At home among the Othos, it was an honor to lay with a Protector. There was a line of betas vying for the slim chance I might decide to take them as a mate. And since my cousin Thran, the most skilled of our convent, was taken off the market, it meant all of his betas migrated in my direction. I had to do more than just exist if I wanted to “sample the local delicacies.”
“You’re not having any luck,” he said.
“I’m not having any luck,” I repeated sullenly. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”
I gave Eli a hopeful look, like a puppy hungry for scraps—scraps of wisdom on how to attract alphas.
“I’m afraid healing is where my expertise ends,” Eli said.
The sound of Theo’s footsteps on the deck creaked through the wood, and I pointed at the ceiling.
“But you have that hunk of an alpha up there.”
He smiled and wound his fingers together. “And that was a situation that, by all rights, should never have happened. I fell into his arms, quite literally.”
I huffed and cupped my cheek with my palm. “Dammit. That’s what I need.”
“Perhaps you’ll find your opportunity tonight. A big mating celebration creates a certain mood, I’d imagine.”
“You’re right. I’ve already decided that things are going to change from tonight on. That’s why I asked you for the medicine.” I sighed. “You’d think alphas would be lining up to have their cocks sucked. I never thought it could be this challenging just to get laid.”
Eli smiled sympathetically and slowly tapped the table with his finger. After a moment’s thought, he said, “If it’ll ease your mind, maybe there is something else I could do to assist you. There’s a certain potion which uses very similar ingredients to those in the fertility medicine.”
“What potion?” I asked.
“In the right circumstances, it could make you irresistible to unbound alphas. Raise your luck, I mean. Of course, there’s absolutely no guarantee it would work…”
“If you’d be willing to make it for me, I’ll take it,” I said.
“Sure. I already have everything ready.”
He reached behind him and unlatched a small drawer, from which he drew out a jar of green powder. He tapped a small pile of it into the scales and balanced it, then poured the powder into the mortar. From another drawer, he got out a box filled with bark from a tree I didn’t recognize and used a knife to scrape a piece off into the stone bowl. He pounded the mixture together until it’d become a dull gray and struck it with a tiny bolt of lightning from his fingertip. A thunder dragon’s touch. The powder sparked and smoked, and the air filled with a pungent aroma that reminded me of a forest fire. Eli poured the resulting medicine into a third packet.
“Mix each with water, separately,” he said, handing it to me.
“Thank you, Eli. If you ever need anything from the Othos, I’ll make sure you get it.” I tucked the medicine into the inner pocket of my robe and stood up. “See you at the celebration tonight?”
“But hopefully not for too long,” he said with a wink.
“And breathe out,” I said, placing the scope against my cousin’s back.
Kai exhaled, and his broad shoulders slumped forward. Everything sounded clear and normal.
