“What was that all about?” I asked when the fairy was gone. “Why did she want to see my memories?”

Azure sighed. “Sabine is complicated,” she said. “I gave up trying to figure out why she wants what she wants a long time ago. All I know for sure is that when she decides she wants something, she won’t give up until she has it.”

“What was she doing here? She mentioned working on the doors?”

“Sabine did a favor for the Order of Shadows almost a century ago, putting a system in place that allows the witches to travel to each other’s houses by using these doors,” Azure said.

My mouth dropped open. “Wait. Sabine created the Hall of Doorways?”

“Yes. She also created this club as a personal favor to Rend,” Azure said. “He wanted his own door in the Hall, but he didn’t want any of the Order to be able to access it. Apparently, she managed to pull that off.”

I sat back, laughing. I couldn’t believe it. I’d just met the actual person who had created the Hall of Doorways. It was such an extensive network, I’d wondered how a witch had created something like that. I always assumed a group of powerful witches had done it. I’d never suspected a fairy, of all people.

“Anyway, what was it you were saying before Sabine interrupted us?” she asked. “You said there were eight girls you needed potions for?”

“Eighty,” I corrected, and Azure whistled. “I had my memories taken from me years ago when I first moved to Peachville and someone helped me restore them with this potion called the Elixir of Kendria. I was hoping—”

“That elixir won’t help those girls,” Rend said suddenly, sitting up on the other side of the room. He squinted in the light and held his hand to the side of his head. “Azure, did you really have to poison me again? I told you to stop doing that.”

She shrugged, a smile playing at her lips. “You were being bad,” she said. “You nearly killed this poor girl. If you can’t handle yourself around her now, I’ll gladly poison you again, so please, behave.”

“Sorry for that,” he said, standing and walking over to the table. He inhaled and his eyes flashed red for an instant before he regained control. “What are you? I thought I had most of my urges under control, but your scent caught me by surprise.”

“Half-Prima, half-demon-king,” Azure said, answering for me. “I think you get a pass on this one. Even I kind of want to see what her blood tastes like.”

“Thank you for not killing me,” I said, trying to ignore Azure’s last comment. “I can’t tell you how good it is to see you, Rend.”

He studied me for a moment. “How do you know me?”

“Azure said you might need to make a potion to counteract whatever she put on that blade,” I said. “Get whatever you need to help you feel better. I have a story to tell you, and then I need your help. A lot of lives depend on it. Lives of people we both care very deeply about.”

He and Azure shared a look. Azure nodded.

“I think she’s telling the truth, Rend. Even Sabine said we should trust her,” she said. “What do you need to recover faster?”

“Sabine? She was here?”

“She said she finished with the doors,” Azure said. “But let’s concentrate on this potion.”

“It depends on what you laced that dagger with,” he said. “Arsenic?”

“Among other things,” she said. “To be honest, it didn’t keep you down nearly as long as I thought it would. If we go down to the lab, I can walk you through the ingredients of the poison so you can make an antidote.”

Rend rubbed at the place where he’d been stabbed as if it was nothing more to him than a bee sting. He pulled his shirt over his head to study it, and I couldn’t help but notice the way Azure’s cheeks went pink at the sight of his muscular chest.

I’d always suspected she had a thing for him, but with Franki in his life, it was hard to tell for sure. Poor Azure. From the way she was looking at him, she was obviously in love with him, and I knew from watching Lea what unrequited love could do to a person over time.

It explained why she almost never smiled.

“No offense, but I can’t trust you in my lab and my home,” Rend said to me. “But I don’t know that I can leave you here by yourself, either.”

“She’s already been to your house,” Azure said.

He eyed me, and I nodded.

“Huge mansion in the Alps,” I said. “Gigantic stone fireplace. Elevator that leads down to your lab deep inside the mountain. I’ve seen it.”

He shook his head. “Impossible,” he said. “Very few people have ever been to my house. I definitely would have remembered bringing you there.”

“If you need proof that I’ve been there before, I can lead you straight to the right door,” I said. “I’ve been there many times.”

“I can’t believe this,” Rend said, almost breathless as he stared at me. It was obvious I was freaking him out just a little bit. “I have no idea how you know about that door or Venom or any of this, but if Azure says she trusts you, then I trust you. Come on. I’ve got a headache you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy.”

I stood and walked over to the entrance to the Hall of Doorways. I looked back, and Rend motioned for me to lead the way.

I walked down the hallway and stopped at the door clearly marked with a cobra ready to strike. I stepped aside for Rend to open the door. He was obviously surprised and confused, but he was also intrigued.

He opened the door, and I walked past him, stepping into the waiting elevator. He shook his head, but rather than doubt me any further, he stepped inside the elevator and pressed the button that would take us down to his laboratory deep inside the mountain.