“Don’t be. It was an accident. You’ll learn how it works soon.”
“You really think so?”
He gave me the smile that always calmed me down. “Iknowso. There’s nothing you can’t learn when you put your mind to it and...” He lifted the book gingerly from my lap. “Now you have this book and the others from Smith. I won’t be offended if you prefer the company of a good book tonight, Poppy.”
I took the book back from him, power tingling across my fingers as I set it aside. I wasn’t sure who reached for whom first, just that I was in his arms moments later. Under his hands, his drugging kisses, I felt beautiful. Wanted. Incredible. This was what it was like to be with someone you loved unconditionally and who loved you unconditionally in return. So why did I get so nervous whenever he was away from me?
“Should I take this as an invitation to move upstairs?” he asked with a husky laugh.
The sound was enough to stoke the ember that had flared to violent life in my belly. I felt warm, my skin too tight, as though I needed to loosen up with a few dozen erotic stretch routines.
“Well, I can’t read German,” I started with a smile. “And I think it would be rude to consult Olga Fischer at this hour.”
Andre chuckled. “Very thoughtful of you.”
“I thought so.”
I pulled him down for another kiss. There was no more talking after that.
Chapter Seven
Olga Fischer was the very definition of aging gracefully.
She looked somewhere north of sixty, which meant she was a few centuries old. Witches could live up to four centuries, barring sickness or outside intervention. Her hair had faded from the customary black to a color that resembled fresh snow. White, with just a touch of something else peeking through in places. Her eyes were deep and knowing as she took me in. She was perched on the edge of the sofa, a steaming cup of tea in one hand, and an iced tea with a lemon wedge in the other. This one for me.
I smiled, though it felt lopsided and false. “I take it I was expected?”
Her lips quirked into a small smile. “I had a feeling zis morning, ja.”
Olga possessed the gift of second sight, something she’d manifested in her later years. It had caused her no end of trouble with her former High Witch. Celestine Depraysie had been the bane of everyone’s existence for longer than was comfortable. If I’d known half of what she’d done when we’d first met, I’d have waded into the crowd around her, fists flailing. There were lines you didn’t cross, and Celestine had stepped over every single one when she’d hurt Maverick and Astrid. Not to mention the damage she’d dealt her own daughter. And every other warlock who had had the misfortune of crossing her path.
I took a seat across from her and pulledAlchemie für Anfängerfrom my purse. Handing it to her, Olga’s expression brightened immediately, and she snatched it from my hands as soon as it was offered.
“Ah,” she sighed, and the tone of her voice sounded almost envious. “Klaus Schwarzkopf. A rare find indeed. He guarded his vork quite zealously. I only met zee man once. But he vas alegend, to be sure. I’m surprised he vrote any of his information down. He must have been training a student before he died.”
I almost asked if she knew Schwarzkopf in the biblical sense. Olga’s cardinal sin (well, according to her coven) had been loving too much. She had a tendency to fall fast and hard with her male suitors, much to Celestine’s displeasure. Witches weren’t supposed to fall for men. They were supposed to use the male sex for procreation and that was it. But Olga was a romantic. And now? Wanda and the rest of Scapegrace looked the other way most of the time, but I could tell at least Betanya found Olga’s affairs with men distasteful.
“I was gifted this book and a few others by a…” I paused, trying to think of how to explain the relationship between Smith and me. “Erm… a business associate.”
“For your business?” Olga asked.
I nodded. “He’s working on building me a laboratory where I can work on my alchemy magic without… incident. In return, he wanted me to create a gemstone for him. Do you, uh, know anything about creating gemstones from ashes?”
“Oh, ja. It is a very old practice. It requires the highest level of training to turn somezing into somezing else.”
My heart sank, just a little. “But… this book should give me the basics I need to start moving in that direction, right?”
Olga nodded. “Most certainly. You vant it translated, ja?”
I nodded back sheepishly. “Sorry to bother you with this, but I wasn’t sure where else to turn.”
Olga waved my protest away with an unconcerned hand. “Oh, nonsense. I can write out zee lessons as long as you let me keep zee original copy safe here. I’d like to take a look myself.”
“Deal,” I said, and couldn’t keep the relief from my voice.
“It vill take some time,” she warned. “Zere are defenses on zee book. I’ll have to make inroads wiz zee varding.”
“Warding?”
