“I always want a place to brew potions. Besides, I can only heal people. What if I want to make some weaponized potions?”
Nadia quirked an eyebrow at him.
“I’m joking,” he hastened to say, then added in an undertone, “sort of. You never know when you might need more essence of lockjaw.”
I ran a hand over the spot where the dagger had plunged into my heart. There was no mark, no pain, nothing. I didn’t even have my old scar from Rahil’s original attack.
“You got your wish,” I told Zafir with a smile as I pulled him down the hall to the alchemy room. “And it seems that I owe you a new stock of supplies after you sold everything to bail me out of jail.”
“I was glad to do what needed to be done. I won’t miss Parliament or Julian or any of it.”
“What if Julian misses you?”
Zafir raised a dark eyebrow.
“Maybe he’ll miss ordering you around,” I amended.
“That sounds more like it.”
“If you want to be ordered around, I could take a stab at it,” I teased.
Zafir slid his arms around me from behind as Iapproached the alchemy room door. “The difference there,” he told me, “is that I like when you order me around.”
I opened the door to the alchemy room and looked back to see Zafir’s reaction.
I wasn’t disappointed.
His mouth fell open and his eyes widened. If anything, the room was even larger and grander than before, with more shelves of ingredients, more cauldrons simmering over fires, and a greater number of differently colored vapors wafting through the air.
He took down a clay jar and brushed his finger across the label. “Powdered hen’s teeth,” he breathed, then took the lid off, his eyes shining with enthusiasm. “This room has everything.”
“I knew you’d like it.”
“I love it,” he breathed. He reverently ran his fingers along the shelves of potion books and stared at the ingredients neatly labeled and organized.
“It seems I owe you some sea serpent mucus, as well. There are replacements over there,” I told him, pointing down the row. “As far as I can tell, the ingredients replenish themselves, so you’ll be able to make as many potions as you want. There are also some dragon scales, phoenix feathers, wyrmsleep and?—”
Zafir cut me off by kissing me. “It’s perfect.”
EPILOGUE
Zafir and I glowed with pride as we watched our five-year-old daughter mix her very first potion. Zafir covered her hand with his own. “A little slower when you stir.” He shot me a grin. “Your mother still has the same habit.”
“Maybe Mama does it right and you do it wrong,” Jasmine chirruped in her sweet little voice. “She makes more potions than you do.”
“That’s because Papa takes the easy way out when he heals people. He just uses magic. I actually do the work.”
Jasmine giggled and Zafir gave a long-suffering sigh. “It seems that my sister’s love of antagonizing me lives on. I’m very well respected everywhere except here, apparently.”
“Isn’t that why we named her for your sister?” I stroked her hair fondly, then told her, “Aunt Nadia made your hair pretty today.”
“We got ready together,” Jasmine said, carefully stirring the potion while sprinkling in some feverfew. “She is going to see her friend today and she wanted to look beautiful.”
“Which friend? Karis or Callahan?”
“Callahan. She said he’s taking her to the beach.”Jasmine’s face knotted in concentration as she dipped her ladle into the potion. “How long do I wait until it’s done?”
“About ten minutes,” Zafir answered. “Do you want to go visit Julian while you wait?”
