Chapter 40
Forty
Lira stood back from the metal baking sheet after pouring hot glaze over the four large cookies. “There they are.”
Vaskel, Sass, and Iris stood on the other side of the wooden work table, eyeing the knobby, glossy cookies. Lira had packed them with dark chocolate, tart cherries, and a potion that would hopefully break a soul bind, before smothering them in a chocolate glaze.
Both Crumpet and Bramble were sitting on the sill of the open window, as if prepared to depart hastily if anything went wrong. The flutterstoat narrowed his eyes at the cookies, wagging a finger at his raccoon friend, presumably warning him not to steal bites of these baked treats.
Sass shoved up the sleeves of her puffy white blouse. “What now? Do we taste them?”
Lira arched a brow at the dwarf. “You didn’t get enough earlier?”
“You asked for a taste tester,” Sass grumbled. “I was trying to help.”
Iris tapped a finger on her chin. “I don’t suppose it would harm someone who doesn’t have a soul bind to ingest the potion, but I honestly don’t know enough about it to say for sure.”
“Isn’t this your uncle’s potion?” Sass asked. “Shouldn’t we ask him?”
Iris blew out a breath. “That’s a fine idea. Erindil didn’t mention the potential dangers of the potion or even how much should be taken.”
Sass spun on her heel and headed for the swinging doors. “On it.”
Lira frowned. “That would have been helpful to know before I put the potion in the batter.” She took a flat spatula and lifted one of the four cookies from the tray. “I used all the potion in the bottle and didn’t make a large batch.”
Vaskel picked up the cookie that Lira had placed on an earthenware plate. He raised it to his nose and sniffed it. It didn’t smell foul. The only aromas he could detect were the richness of the chocolate and the kick of the apple brandy. “They smell delicious.”
Lira nibbled the corner of her lower lip. “I hope that doesn’t mean they’re too weak. We can’t count on Marina eating more than one of these.”
“I think it’s a good sign,” Iris said. “If they had enough potion in them so you could smell it, I doubt we could get her to eat more than one.”
Suddenly, Vaskel was struck by something he hadn’t bothered to consider before. He braced his hands on the table as he dropped his head between his arms and groaned. “How are we going to get her to eat any?”
“What?” Lira asked.
Vaskel looked up, meeting Lira’s confused gaze. “I mean, how do we give Marina cookies without it seeming suspicious? I can’t walk up to her and offer her one. She’d see through me in a second.”
“Son of a wand waxer,” Lira cursed.
I strangled laugh escaped Iris. “I guess I was so focused on brewing the potion that I didn’t think that even if we snuck it into something more palatable, we still had to find a way for her to want to ingest it.”
“I’m not opposed to force-feeding the hellkin a cookie,” Lira said, sliding the rest of the treats from the pan to the plate.
“It’s too late to ask Pip to lure her into his shop and offer her a free cookie, and so far today, she hasn’t shown her face inside the tavern.” Vaskel muttered some choice hellkin curses under his breath. “And she probably won’t if she’s preparing to leave.”
He didn’t say the part that they were all thinking. She was preparing to leave and take Cali and him with her, since his three days were nearly gone.
“We still have options,” Lira said, her voice more shrill than usual. “We’ve faced more dire situations than this, Vask. We just have to think.”
Vaskel didn’t remind her that when they’d faced those dire situations, they had the strength of their entire crew. They’d had Malek’s talents and Pirrin’s blade, Cali’s stealth and Rog’s bravery. Now, it was just down to them.
The doors swung open again, and Erindil swept into the kitchen with the gravitas of someone being announced at court.
“Greetings, my friends. This delightful dwarf tells me you require my assistance.”
“Sass,” the dwarf in question said as she rolled her eyes.
“Yes, yes.” Erindil bestowed a glorious smile on her. “Dear little Sass.”
Sass bristled, but before she could show Erindil her displeasure at being called little, Lira cleared her throat.
“We added the potion to the cookie batter, but now we don’t know if it will be enough to do the job.”
“Ah, yes.” Erindil bent over to examine the cookies, squinting one eye. “How much potion went into the batter?”
Lira held up the empty glass bottle. “This much.”
Erindil nodded thoughtfully. “I see. Very good, very good.” Then he counted the cookies on the plate. “From what I can remember, it doesn’t take a lot of potion to break the bind.” He held up a slender finger. “It does, however, require both those bound to consume it at the same time.”
Vaskel bit back another groan. So they had to contrive a reason for Marina to eat at least one cookie while he was also eating one. All without arousing the suspicions of a naturally suspicious hellkin.
Iris put a hand on his back. “Don’t worry. We’ll come up with a way to trick Marina into eating one.”
Sass looked from Iris to Vaskel and shook her head. “Is that why you look like you just stepped in dragon dung? Well, it’s simple isn’t it?”
Lira stared at her friend. “Is it?”
“Aye.” Sass jerked her head toward the great room. “We get Thrain to take them to her. He can pretend he’s trying to win her back. He can even say that Pip made them. No offense, Lira, but everyone knows the halfling is a baking genius.”
“If your plan works,” Lira said, “no offense taken.”
Erindil scrunched his lips to one side. “And is Thrain a good liar?”
Sass grinned. “He’s never met a tall tale he couldn’t make taller.”