“Your wish is my command.” Riley snapped his fingers again, and a flame jumped to life in response.
His earlier words echoed in my head.Lizzy told me you’re the best one in the family when it comes to potions.
I sucked in a bracing breath. As a witch, I refused to let myself be afraid of my abilities. If I didn’t have potion brewing, what did I have? A ridiculous fae power that was absolutely no help to anyone. What good was the ability to “be balanced” when my sisters could go semi-invisible or glimpse the future?
With one final mental shake, I gathered sprigs of mugwort, lavender, juniper, and yarrow, as well as a few other ingredients from the cabinet for the infinite whimsy.
“You seem pretty comfortable down here,” Riley said, standing too close again.
Even thoughhewas affected by the love potion, I had no excuse for why his proximity did funny things to my stomach. I took a casual step away. “I grew up brewing potions.”
“Yet you think you might’ve made a mistake severe enough to kill Graham?”
“Let’s not talk about it.” I blew out a breath and shoved the thought away before pulling off his jacket. “Here. You can have this.”
“You sure?” His gaze lingered on me a moment too long. “I like how it looks on you.”
My cheeks warmed. “I’m good, but thanks for letting me borrow it.” I pulled on an old Halloween sweater I kept down here. Coming to the basement in the fall and winter, especially before the fires were lit, was like stepping into a giant freezer. As part of Mom’s “technology messes with our magic” crusade, she’d never had a heater installed down here.
“It was my pleasure,” Riley murmured. “But I can see why you prefer the sweater. It's cute on you.” His grinwidened as he took in the piece of zombie toast and the wordsThe Rise of the Unbread.
“I like Halloween-themed things,” I said quickly, unsure how to respond to all the compliments. I dropped my attention from him to the potion ingredients. Once everything was ready, I placed the spell book in front of me and opened it to the right page. Even though I’d made this countless times before, there was no such thing as being too careful—especially now.
Riley leaned against the counter next to me, putting his chin in one palm and studying my face the same way I studied the page. It was like with one look, he’d figured out all the most efficient ways to unravel me. “What are you going to make?”
“It’s called infinite whimsy,” I said. “It goes inside our cauldron cakes.”
“I’ve heard of those, which is impressive since I rarely come here.” He stepped closer and watched as I measured ingredients into the cauldron. “So how do you do it?”
“Do what?” The fire crackled and snapped as I lifted my favorite cast-iron cauldron over it. I rubbed my hand over the familiar pot, letting the smooth grain of the coolmetal ground me, then I poured a bottle of fresh spring water into it.
“How do you give everyone different powers?” he said. “I heard people can buy the cauldron cakes at the same time, yet their effects range from talking to animals, sensing emotions, and a bunch of other things.” His grin turned lopsided. “I suppose that explains the name infinite whimsy.”
“Exactly. The fact that the customers never know which power they’re going to get is part of the appeal. Depending on their biochemistry, a different ingredient would react more strongly—lavender to provide clairvoyance, pixie dust for levitation, star fruit for illusions, and—” I cut myself off, realizing I was overexplaining. “Anyway, the trick with this potion is the timing since the effects depend on how long it cooks and how long it cools.”
“Timing, huh?” Riley murmured, his attention on my face again. His gaze dropped lazily to my lips, then back up to my eyes. “I’ve heard that’s pretty important with a lot of things.”
I knocked over the pestle I was reaching for, and Riley handed it back to me with a slow grin. If he kept looking at me like that, this week was going to be a lot more difficult than I’d planned on—and it would have nothing to do with solving the murder.
Unsure what to say to him, I crushed lavender in a mortar and pestle until it was a fine powder, then I combined it with the pixie dust. “The potion needs to sit for at least eight hours, and after that, we put it in the different batches of the cauldron cakes.”
“That’s—”
“Shh.” I held up a hand to shush Riley and listened intently as the floor creaked overhead. Was someone going to the kitchen for a late-night snack or could they—
The basement door opened with a soft whine.
Oh no. If that was Mom, there was no way I could let her catch me down here with a man. I’d never hear the end of it. But where could I put him?
Footsteps sounded on the stairs.
My attention fell on the wooden cabinet against the wall. It would be tight, but maybe it’d work. I grabbedRiley’s hand and dragged him toward it, not bothering with an explanation.
“Is it time for Seven Minutes in Heaven?” he said as I pushed him into the cabinet.
I pressed a finger against his smirking lips, trying not to think about how soft they felt. For one charged moment, our gazes met, and I lost myself in his dark eyes.
The third stair groaned as it always did, snapping me back to the present. What was it about Riley that made me so attracted to him? It was like I was the one who’d taken the love potion. I closed the door and picked up a random bottle of herbs nearby and made my way back to the bubbling cauldron.
