Chapter 23
The next morning, Zafir was in an exceptionally good mood. “Sleep well?” he asked politely. No used bottles littered his desk.
“Not too bad. Still a little embarrassed from last night, though.”
“Wasn’t it you who told me it was nothing to be embarrassed about? It was just a reaction, same as your blood-replenishing potion. We’re even; don’t give it a second thought. Would you like help with your makeup again?”
“I should learn how to do it myself.”
“I don’t mind helping, and you’ll need it done for the Emberlight Revelry tonight anyway.
” He sat me on the usual stool and began applying the base layer.
“I’m having breakfast delivered soon,” he went on conversationally.
“If you want, we can eat together and review some flirting tips. That way, you’ll be ready when Julian calls on you. ”
“Okay.” This cheerful Zafir was a new experience for me. Was he always like this when he didn’t take the Stillheart Tonic? “Are there any side effects from the potion I had last night that I should be aware of?”
“No. It’s a potion with no side effects. Handy, right? How are you feeling this morning?”
“I think I’m back to normal.” I assessed my emotions. There was a slight giddiness I felt at the prospect of Zafir doing my makeup again, but nothing so wild that I felt the need to report it. “I think I’m back to myself.”
“Good. You may have liked infatuated Zafir, but I prefer you as a venomous little viper.”
“That works out well, then. I very much enjoy being a venomous viper with you. Oh, and I forgot to ask last night. How are the male and female potions different? I don’t even remember seeing you brew one.”
“I…I made it before you woke up yesterday.”
“That was fast.”
“Which was one of the key differences,” Zafir said in a rush, avoiding meeting my eye. “It didn’t take long to brew at all. And it needed…Wyrmsleep.”
I didn’t push the topic, but that didn’t sound right. Wyrmsleep was a sedative, even when combined with other ingredients, and I had felt anything but sleepy after drinking that tea.
“You need a necklace,” Zafir said, draping spiderweb-like jewelry around my neck. His fingers grazed my skin and I clenched my jaw, determined not to react to his touch. “You make it beautiful.”
I froze. Zafir was flirting again, but he hadn’t had the potion.
“Thank you,” I told him awkwardly. Was this his way of teasing me after I’d made his time with the infatuation elixir so difficult? Or was he genuinely developing feelings for me?
When he went to bathe soon after, I edged my way over to his desk and thumbed through the recipes until I found the one for infatuation potions for women.
There was no mention of Wyrmsleep anywhere, and it was a recipe that took four hours to brew.
I knew he was an early riser, but there was no way Zafir could have made it before I woke up in the morning.
I looked through the list of ingredients.
Several of the ingredients had potent scents I knew I would have recognized, but I hadn’t smelled any of them the day before.
I sat, confused. Had he gotten the potion from someone else when I wasn’t looking?
Had he used a different recipe? Had he lied about making it?
Perhaps he’d given me the men’s potion to test the effect knowing it would be similar.
Or…a sneaking suspicion stole into my head.
Had I never been dosed at all, and he invented the lie to give me a way to save face and I had developed real feelings for him?
I slammed the book shut. I had bared my innermost thoughts to him, praised his personality and looks and everything.
If I blamed everything on the infatuation elixir and I’d never been dosed, I was only confirming that I harbored some secret feelings for him.
But if he had given me a potion, I needed to be honest about the side effects. He had tricked me either way.
I’d rather chew glass than admit it, but after seeing how kind and helpful he’d been with my sister, I was struggling to hate Zafir.
Why couldn’t love be simple? If I were a more honorable person, I might’ve been more resentful about his deceit, but I simply admired the ingenuity.
Either way, it had been a brilliant move on his part.
My eye fell on the abandoned cup I’d drunk from the night before. If Zafir had slipped me something… I had to know, and I wasn’t sure I could trust Zafir to be truthful. At some point last night, he had lied. He’d originally said he didn’t drug me, then had admitted to doing so. Which was true?
The chain didn’t stretch far enough for me to stray too far from where it ran into the washroom, but I managed to pull out the tiny charcoal-black truth serum I’d taken and kept hidden in my bodice, then busied myself making Zafir his own cup of tea and let a droplet fall into it.
There.
Once he drank it, he wouldn’t be able to lie. All I had to do was sit back and wait.
My pocket glowed warm and I snatched up my mirror. When the fog cleared, I couldn’t see Nadia and momentarily thought that it was malfunctioning again, but then Nadia moved and I saw her shimmering outline.
“Is Zafir with you?” she asked eagerly.
“No, he’s taking a bath,” I told her. “It looks like the potion worked. Did you get out of town?”
“No, the streets are all blocked. But I made it to the worship center. Father Eldridge and his wife are hiding me, and they said that I can use their ingredients to make more of the potion if I need it. Apparently Rahil did send that donation, so they have plenty of supplies.”
“Good,” I said with a sigh. “Just stay out of sight until I get back. We can report Rahil for the murders and—”
“No,” Nadia said immediately. “All the officials are in Rahil’s pocket. The judges, the guards…he’s paid off everyone to be loyal to him.”
I sat, stumped, for a full minute. If we couldn’t prosecute Rahil… Then my mind cleared. “Then I’ll have to wish for the genie to kill him.”
I didn’t need Nadia to be fully visible to know the exact facial expression she was making. “That’s a little extreme.”
“And putting up wanted posters so he can kidnap his ex-wife and her sister to murder them isn’t?”
“When will Zafir be back? I wanted to thank him and ask him what to do. He seems smart.”
“He is,” I admitted. “But things are complicated with him.”
I heard Nadia give a wicked chuckle. “What, did you kiss him?”
“Nadia!” I spluttered. “No, we just… He’s… it’s just complicated, okay?”
“Okay, okay. I was just wondering. He seems like he’s your type is all.”
“I don’t have a type.”
“Yes you do. You always said that you wanted someone who loves potions as much as you do. And didn’t you say he’s rich and can give you a return voyage if you flirt enough?”
“No, you’re thinking of Julian, and I’m supposed to go on a date with him tonight. He’s the rich one. Zafir isn’t rich.”
The door to the washroom rattled, and Zafir entered the room.
“So then is Julian your type?” Nadia asked. “You need to give me some sort of gossip or I may die of boredom.”
“I have to go,” I said in a rush. I had no interest in discussing my love life, or lack thereof, around Zafir. “I’ll talk to you again later.”
“But—”
I turned the mirror over and sprang to my feet. “Nadia wasn’t able to get out of town, but she made it to the worship center,” I reported. “She said to tell you thank you.”
“I’m glad she’s in a good spot.” He crossed to his desk and sat, pulling over a sheaf of papers. “I have a few things to do before we start our lessons.”
“Just as well. I have some reading to do,” I said, snatching up a book and burying my nose in it.
Zafir raised his cup to his lips then paused, staring at the drink cross-eyed, then slowly lowered it. I pretended to be absorbed in the book about genies I had up to my nose, but I could see him swirling it around, examining the drink closely.
“You’ve been busy this morning,” he said, amusement in his voice.
I delicately turned a page. “I figured I ought to learn about genies if we’re going to hunt one down.”
“Intelligent women shouldn’t play dumb. It doesn’t suit you.”
I lowered my book and glanced up. “What are you talking about?”
Zafir’s dark eyebrows jumped up on his face. “You didn’t do anything to my tea to get me back for giving you an infatuation elixir last night?”
I went back to my book. “What, I made you take an infatuation elixir once and now you think I’m spiking your drinks constantly? Maybe you’re getting paranoid.”
He grinned. “I’ve always been paranoid, and if you remember correctly, you had me take the elixir twice. I vividly remember.”
I shrugged.
Zafir held the cup out to me. “If it isn’t drugged, let’s see you take a sip.”
There was no use lying. I let my book fall down. “What gave it away?”
He brought the cup over so I could look inside. “There’s a thin film on the surface of the liquid. If I wasn’t in the habit of always checking, it would’ve fooled me.” He squinted at the cup and gave a sniff. “Truth serum?”
“Yeah,” I admitted glumly.
“If you want me to be honest, all you have to do is ask.”
I rolled my eyes. “You said that you did and did not drug me last night. I have reason to be suspicious and suspect you of lying.”
“Fair point,” Zafir said. He returned the cup to the table, hesitated as he looked at his stack of paperwork, then pushed it aside.
“I’ll finish this later. I thought it would be helpful to give you some instruction about how to convey interest to Julian tonight when he takes you to the Emberlight Revelry.
It’s a more urgent need than court protocol. ”
I couldn’t stop the heat that insisted on creeping up my neck and fought to keep my voice neutral-sounding. “That makes sense.”
“Stand up,” Zafir instructed me. “Now, Julian can be charming and he knows it. Men like him are used to being admired, so subtlety matters.”
I gave a wry smile. “Subtlety isn’t my strongest trait.”
A corner of his mouth twitched. “No, it’s not. Hence the practice.”