A Hero of Realms(31)

What the…

Arron addressed me. “Uma asks for a rather unique way of payment. She keeps an updated list of ingredients that she requires. In return for treatment, three items from the list must be provided by each patient.”

I looked down at the list again, feeling intimidated. The first was bad enough… but the scale of a dragon? And what was merflor?

“Merflor is a type of rare plant that grows in The Cove,” Arron said, as though he’d read my thoughts.

“And scale of a dragon,” Julie murmured.

We had dragons back in The Shade who might be willing to shed a scale for me, but going back there wasn’t an option. Even if I sent Aisha, or perhaps even Julie on my behalf, it would mean explaining what was happening to me—and I just wasn’t willing for my family to know how bad things had become since I’d last seen them. They would be worried enough as it was.

I continued to stare at the list disbelievingly. Those who sought out Uma were supposed to be ill. I couldn’t help but wonder how she expected them to procure such fantastical items. I could only suppose that this was simply the price of her treatment. Apparently if one couldn’t provide it, then it was just tough luck.

“Make sure you have them for your appointment,” the witch said pointedly. “I’m afraid if you don’t we will have to turn you away.”

Aisha looked at the witch with deep disdain.

I had no choice but to thank the redhead and turn away.

“I’ll be with you in a moment, Benjamin,” Arron said.

I looked back at him. “What?”

“I need to pick up a personal health item while I’m here.” He turned his focus to the witch. “Uma owes me a small favor, I’m sure you recall?”

The witch nodded. “Come with me to the apothecary,” she said. Standing up, she led him through a door behind her desk. I remained in my spot, straining to hear their conversation as they walked away, but I picked up on nothing.

“We might as well wait outside,” Aisha murmured, glaring at the warlocks seated in the waiting room.

We exited the building and stepped outside onto the windy hilltop. I heaved a sigh, clasping the list in my hand.

Then I turned on the jinni. “You cured River’s brother of autism,” I said. “Say somehow we got a suitable heart… Are you certain that you, Nuriya or anyone else in The Oasis wouldn’t know how to perform this operation? Would it really be that much different than treating a human? You seem to be well-versed in human illnesses, even mental ones.”

Aisha shook her head. “If you were a human, we wouldn’t hesitate to use our powers. But you’re not. And swapping the heart of a vampire… Well, it’s kind of unheard of. Even though we could try, I don’t think we would want to risk it. Nuriya wouldn’t, I’m sure. Just in case we did something wrong… As much as I despise the idea of relying on a witch to do this, Ben, I think it might be the safest option.”

“Assuming this witch actually has Ben’s best interest in mind and doesn’t deliberately jeopardize the procedure,” Julie added darkly.

“Well, I will be by Ben’s side observing closely,” Aisha said.

Arron emerged from the castle and approached us. My eyes roamed him suspiciously, searching his hand. It was empty. He stepped forward and took the witch’s list from me, glancing over it as though he hadn’t left us.

I looked back at Julie. “Haven’t you had enough of all this by now?” I felt uncomfortable that she was still trailing along with us. I’d hoped that she would want to back out after what Aisha had wanted to do to her—and what Aisha had made clear she still wanted to do, if I would only let her.

Julie paused, shifting her gaze from Aisha to me. There was a look of determination in her eyes, and also what I believed to be sincerity. “I’ll stay,” she replied. “I’ve come this far… I’m anxious to see how it all ends up.”

Hopefully not in a pile of rubble.

“Tooth of werewolf,” Arron interrupted. “I suggest we procure that first.”

We?

“You’re coming with us?” I asked. I had been half expecting him to ask to be returned after fixing me up with an appointment.

“Like Julie,” he said, “I too am anxious to see how this ends.”

There was an unsettling glint in his eyes as he glanced up at me before resuming his focus on the list.

Tooth of werewolf. I could hardly believe that we were doing this. All just to get a private meeting with a witch, whom I still didn’t know could help me without requiring me to murder someone. Heck, for all I knew she might not be successful in helping me even with a fresh heart. And now these items… “Tooth of werewolf and scale of dragon. We need to procure them without killing,” I said. Even if I wanted to, I doubted we’d be able to pull off slaughtering a dragon anyway…