Page 13 of The Mating Magic
A shrug. “Go search for it yourself. If you can get past all theclutter.”
But the kitchen, while outdated and small, was hardly cluttered. Evie watched him open cabinets and comb throughdrawers.
“If you need me, I’ll be in the living room withLacey.”
Evie left him in the kitchen. Lacey sat on the hideous orange and plaid sofa they’d found at a garage sale. She did not join her, but paced the worn shagcarpeting.
“Where did you put it, Lacey?” shewhispered.
Lacey watched her. “I told you before, Evie, you focus on taking the potion and leave the details to me. Plausible deniability if we were caught.Remember?”
Evie thought of those alligators in the swamp and shuddered. “Not so plausible if Chase doesn’t find it before Drust getshere.”
Lacey reached behind her and squeezed her still-wet braid a rueful look. “He was pretty pissed off. Doesn’t look like a goodomen.”
“Then give it up! I don’t need it. Truly I don’t. There have to be other recipes in the book that you can make and sell formoney.”
“There are. Once I read further,” Lacey agreed. “The book itself is atreasure.”
More valuable than the dragonspice potion was the Book of Shadows itself. A shiver raced down her spine. The book held mystical power, but something about it spookedher.
Even the way Lacey had obtainedit.
Last month she and Lacey had visited a store on Florida’s west coast to purchase dragon’s breath for a client, a rare herb that aided elderly dragon shifters who lost the power to breathe fire. The proprietor, an older, gentle dragon shifter with wispy brown hair and spectacles, had gotten to chatting with them. He had such a disarming air, Lacey ended up telling him all about the foster home where they’d grown up and how she dreamed of obtaining power enough to overcome thepast.
The shopkeeper had gone into a back room and returned with a thick, mysterious leather-bound book. He said the Book of Shadows contained recipes for ancient potions of power she could use to fulfill her wildestdreams.
When she tried to pay for it, he refused money and simply told her it was hers as he handed over thebook.
Though the proprietor’s words were odd, Lacey had thanked him, paid for the herbs and they headed home. She and Lacey had poured over the pages, marveling at the cramped script, the musty smell of age, and the feeling of power that leapt off the cracklingparchment.
Then Evie had spotted the recipe for a potion allowing an Other to obtain temporary power to nearly equal a wizard of the Brehon. All it took was daring, courage and the rightingredients.
Surely this was the break Lacey had longed for. Lacey had told Evie such a potion could sell for thousands, maybe even a million, on the blackmarket.
But not if Drust turned her sister into toad food for refusing to surrender his preciouspotion.
“Turn over the potion, Lacey. Please. I don’t want Drust afteryou.”
Her sister stretched out her long legs. “I can’t Evie. It has nothing to do with you. Because it was only a small vial, perhaps five drops. And it’sgone.”
Evie’s heart skipped a beat. “You already used it in therecipe.”
At her sister’s grim nod, Evie wanted to sink to the floor and moan. “Dear goddess, we are soscrewed.”
Chapter 6
Frustration filled him.An hour later, Chase still had not found the potion. He called Evie and Lacey into thekitchen.
After pulling out a chair at the kitchen table, he straddled the back, facing his lover, whose gaze kept dartingaway.
“Evie, tell me where it is or things will go badly for youboth.”
He hoped he could reason with her at least. Because he was running out of time and patiencehimself.
Lacey entered the kitchen and sat on the counter, swinging her long legs. Not very helpful. He had to find the damn potion. Not for Lacey’s sake, but Evie’s. Because neither of them realized the danger they faced if he didnot.
Drust was lenient, but he was also a powerful immortal and Chase had seen the wizard turn a dragon into a toad over something as simple as the dragon failing to obey anorder.
