She shrugged and went back through the curtains.
Hervé leaned toward me and whispered: “Not your biggest fan.”
“Yeah, I get that. Sorry. I hope my coming here doesn’t make things difficult for you.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Who left the bag, do you know?” I asked as I peeked within the first paper bag. There was a little figure in a coffin, and a hexing candle. They weren’t from Hervé’s shop but from thebotanica—a sort of Mexican herb and magical-supply store—across the street. The second bag held various dried herbs.
“Wind Spirit, I believe she’s calling herself.”
“Wind Spirit?”
“She used to go by Amy.”
“Yes, I know she did. I didn’t realize you knew her.”
“I don’t know her well. She comes into the shop from time to time.”
“I don’t know why that surprises me.... A lot of people come to you for supplies, right?”
“True.”
“What does she buy from you?”
“Last time it was a cookbook, if I recall.” He took a copy off a nearby shelf and handed it to me.
“I didn’t know you sold cookbooks.”
He grinned. “Very special cookbooks. Look up voodoo bread pudding and love sauce.”
“What’s love sauce?” I asked as I flipped through the pages. “Or... do I want to know?”
“Basically it’s a slightly sweet bread with sauce. Orris root gives the bread a subtle violet aroma. The sauce is made from brown sugar, butter, and rum.”
“Nothing not to love about that.”
“Indeed.”
“But when you say it’s a voodoo recipe...? Does that mean it’s harmful, or special in some way?”
“You tell people it’s a love potion, and they’ll bake anything.”
I smiled, but his words made me think of Renee with her cupcakes.
“Besides, you know as well as I do that if one is able to focus one’s intent through true belief, one might just infuse that bread pudding with actual feelings of love.”
I flipped through the book. “There are a few negative recipes in here as well.”
“Sometimes love goes wrong,” Hervé said with a grin.
“Are they actually poisonous?”
He shook his head. “No, of course not. Just contain a few nasty ingredients... but I have the sense you’re used to things like that. Anyone who brews knows that things can get a bit pungent, from time to time. A secret ingredient, secret revenge.”
“Remind me not to get on your bad side,” I said, glad in that moment that Caterina didn’t have her husband’s powers.
He smiled. “We all have our ways, Lily.”
