Monalisa glanced down at her pocket, impressed that Van thought so much of her. “Wow.”

Van appeared at the top of the steps in the kitchen. “What is wow?”

Monalisa’s head came up. “Um…”

“Hey, Van.” Pandora waved and leaned against the counter. “I was just telling Monalisa that Charisma and I have finally talked Marigold into using an online dating site.”

He frowned. “That is not a good idea. Those sites are full of weirdos.”

Pandora rolled her eyes. “Hey, Mari’s not getting any younger. And Saffie needs a male role model in her life.”

“She has Stanhill.”

“And he’s a peach, but maybe someone who isn’t several centuries old.”

“Bring her around here. I will be her role model.”

Pandora snorted and made a face at Monalisa. “We’re not trying to frighten the child.”

He sighed. “Then what is wrong with Cole? You did agree to marry him.”

Pandora cut her eyes at him. “She needs a daddy of her own.”

He nodded. “I suppose that is true.” He grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge, then held it out to them. “Ladies?”

They both declined.

He shut the fridge, twisted off the top, and drank half the bottle before walking over to them. He gestured to Pandora with the bottle. “So, have you come to tell me you can fix my leg?”

Her happy expression faded. “About that. I’m really sorry, but we’ve hit a dead end.”

Van’s heart sank. “This is bad.”

Pandora held her hands up. “I know, it’s not what I wanted to tell you, I promise, but we’ve scoured the books in my mom’s library, we’ve talked to the rest of the coven, even consulted Alice Bishop—”

“Who’s that?” Monalisa asked.

“She’s the oldest, most powerful witch in town. Pretty much works exclusively for the Ellinghams. Namely, Elenora Ellingham. They’re the family that founded Nocturne Falls. Anyway, Alice is kind of Elenora’s assistant, seeing as how the grand dame saved Alice from the Salem trials way back when.”

Monalisa’s brows shot up. “Old and powerful. Got it.”

He growled softly to get their attention. “I am going to lose this fight. How is it not possible for you to fix this?”

Pandora sighed. “It’s like this. If you were a normie—” She glanced at Monalisa. “That’s a nonmagical human.”

Monalisa nodded.

Pandora continued. “If you were a normie with the venom of a supernatural, we could extract that without too much fuss. If you were a supernatural with some kind of regular poison in your system, we could most likely deal with that too. But you’re a supe with supe poisoning. The only spell that we thought remotely might work also carried the risk of you ending up no longer a dragon.”

Van jerked back. “Unacceptable.”

“That’s what we figured too.”

The spot between his brows was starting to throb. He rubbed it. “I will lose again.”

Pandora put a hand on Van’s arm. “Listen. I know things seem bleak, but we have a theory. First, I need to ask—you’ve tried to shift into your dragon form, right?”

“Yes.”

“So what happens?”

He shrugged. “As soon as the change begins, the pain intensifies. It’s like I’m being bitten all over again. I cannot complete the change.”

“What stops you?”

He looked at Pandora and wondered if she’d heard anything he’d just said. “The pain. Did I not explain that well? It was bad. I blacked out.”

She sighed, pursing her lips like she was a little exasperated with him. “That’s awful, but I get that. Is that all that stops you, or is there some supernatural shutdown that happens?”

He frowned right back at her. “Is that all? The pain caused me to pass out. I do not think you understand what I am saying.”

“No, I get it. Intense pain. And you’re out like a light. But no other supernatural reason? At least nothing you can sense?”

“Pandora.” Monalisa wrapped a strand of hair around one finger. “Where are you going with this?”

“Well…” She put her hands on the counter behind her and pulled herself up to sit. “We think you can shift. And by shifting, you’ll force the venom to run its course. That’s why it hurts so much. It’s burning itself out of your system.”

He dipped his chin to stare at her. “You want me to try to shift again?”

“Absolutely.”

“I will just black out again.”

“How long ago did you attempt to shift?”

“Right after the fight.”

“Then it shouldn’t be like that now. Time has passed. There’s less venom in your system.”

“But maybe I pass out because shifting would be worse. It could be my body’s way of protecting me. Shifting now could be worse.”

Pandora’s smile went slack. “That probably won’t…I mean, there’s no way—”

“Wait a minute,” Monalisa said. “Could his trying to shift injure him more? What’s the worst-case scenario here?”

Pandora sucked her bottom lip under her top teeth. “That’s the tricky part. We don’t really know.”

Monalisa shook her head. “Then he can’t do it.”