Dark Love

Part 40

"Oh my Goddess!" Saera huffed. "That's your fault too." Swinging her satchel over the other shoulder, she grabbed Massey's hand, "Come on we have much to do. We can talk while we work."

Her aunt's spellwork was also sold on the black market. That money was used to pretty much pay taxes. With a mansion this old and this size, located on prime property, the tax was enough to make anyone poor. And the Shores already were that. With no means to sell the potions and spellwork Massey produced other then through the black market, they were worked to their bones trying to make ends meet.

Being once secretly wed, like Saera was now and later, a widow, Massey had done all she could to keep the Shore's hold over their property. A normal poor would have long sold off the monstrosity and reaped the payload that came with it but the Shores were not normal. The house was every bit as much a family as they both were.

"I have my powers now and together we can make enough to tied over till the next weekend." Saera tightened her clasp on her mother's hand.

Massey bit her lip, allowing Saera to tug her along towards the workroom. They descended the stairs together and then made their way towards the back. Saera pushed open the doors to the still room. The old stone walls around the place gave off a sweet warm scent of stone and dust. Something she couldn't identify with anything else. It was the scent of Shore spellwork embedded into the stone walls over time.

Settling her satchel on the worn teak wood bench, she pulled out some pastry she'd snuck away at breakfast for her aunt.

"The food there is divine!" She exclaimed, thrusting it out to her thin aunt. With an indulgent grin, Massey accepted and was biting into the crust as she leaned back against another bench to hear out her niece's explanation.

Without preamble Saera blurted out. "I am married to both a Darkling and a Pallid prince. Svennett and Darr are my husband."

Given the many years of being a receptacle to shocking news, from the death of her husband, to that of her sister and brother-in-law and on to all the monetary and societal shocks along the way, Massey Shore was by now immune. And the mocking arch to her brow said as much. "Two? Really? I thought you were pulling my leg. How is having two even possible?" It was curiosity more than anything else that held her regard.

Mischief gleamed from Saera's eyes, "Well taking turns is one way, it can happen or simply making the best of both together. The later is my favourite, I think."

The smack to the back of her head ruffled her ponytail but did nothing to the cheeky smirk riding her face.

"Don't cheek me. Explain!" Massey folded her arms and leaned back again, to listen.

"I will but lets get started first, I will need to get a batch out tonight. We can talk while we work."

Massey waved a careless hand to a cabinet behind her. "Unlike you, my darling, I've had a productive week."

Saera cast a knowing look over her shoulder at the locked cabinet that held her aunt's spellwork that she completed during the week.

"Yes, but now I can make them too." Pushing away from the bench, Saera moved towards the cabinet at the opposite end and tugged it open to study its contents. The raw components of  common spellwork filled jars on some shelves and were riding low on others, pursing her lips to study the materials available that she could work with, she pursued her lips in concentration and muttered, "Sex potion."

Turning to face her aunt, she added," We have enough pig's lashes to make a fairly potent batch. And now that I know what ecstasy should feel like I can make my own."

Shaking her head, Massey muttered under her breath,"That is not something you should boast to your aunt about."

"You married us, mum." Saera reminded with a wink.

"No need to rub it in." Reaching out for an old bronz cauldron from under the bench, Massey stacked it on the bench, ignoring the rounded bottom that tilted the cauldron on its side. She pulled out a jar of salt, next and another of call dust.

Saera begun picking out the ingredients she would need. A slab of pig fat, a jar of frog eyes, ground crickets, and a number of dried herbs. Clutching the lot to her bosom she moved back to lay them out on the bench. Her aunt was already using the call dust to draw out the pentagram on the charred surface of the bench. Murmuring a witch fire chant and the pentagram was lit. Blue fire danced on the wood, leaving a char mark but not burning through. Saera lifted the cauldron to lay it over the fire, allowing the rounded bottom to rest off the ends of the blue flame. The bronze brunt over its heat, turning the flame red. Inside the cauldron the bronze started to liquify.

Saera peered into the swirling bronze depths, frowning at the colour of brunt amber. "What was the last potion you brewed? Snefles? For nasty cough? I don't think you cleaned it out well."

Pushing her niece aside, Massey peered in, squinting her eyes at the glimpse of red that moved with the burnt amber. Shaking her head, "It won't matter, the potion will still work."

Sex potions were always in high demand. Everyone wanted to feel the ecstasy it brewed, an ecstasy that could be gained with or without actual sex. Most buyers just wanted to impress their partners by displaying a skill they didn't have. No matter who took the potion, both partners would enjoy the ecstasy. But bottling a good ecstasy depended on the brewer's interpretation of that feeling. Only a witch who had experienced true pleasure could duplicate it for sale. That made real sex potions that truly work even more rare. And where a witch made a name brewing it, the price on demand could be exorbitant.

Saera's aunt Massey could make a mean brew. But after her wedding night with the two princes and her nights with them after, Saera knew she could outpace her aunt and perhaps even dominate the sex potion market with her brew. For surely what she'd experienced in the arms of her naked princes couldn't be the norm.

"It had better work. This will be my first batch, it will make or break my name as a potion brewer on the black market. I have to get it right from the start if I want to build a client base of my own." Saera lifted amber green eyes to spear her aunt's with her fierce determination.

With an amused lift to her brow, her aunt questioned her niece's ambition," And what name will that be?" They were shunned. They sold nothing using their name.

"Sara," said Saera, simply. "Witch Sara."