Page 76 of Live Love Lasso

I’ve never seen a Giant Arakna in real life. They’re incredibly rare, hailing from a small haven in Brazil—the only creature in the monster world that’s both poisonous and venomous. What’s it doing here in a cage behind Letitia’s desk?

My brain rushes to sort through what I’m seeing, but then a door slams somewhere outside. Letitia’s voice echoes along the hallway, “Everything is happening exactly as I would expect it to.”

“It’s actually not.”

Varek. Oh gods. Their voices are getting closer, and they’re in the middle of an obviously private conversation. Rykan told me I could come into this office. But as their conversation continues, I debate running out in the middle of it. They’ll know I heard part of it and⁠—

“I paid you a shitload of coin for this potion, Letitia,” Varek continues. “Nothing’s happening fast enough, and now the sheriff’s breathing down my throat.”

Oh fuck! Is he admitting to being responsible for the sickness? Despite my desire to run from the room, the need to know if I’m understanding him correctly is far stronger.

Heart in my throat, I swing the painting closed and look around. Panicked as their voices echo from right outside, I rush to the giant armoire she keeps her potioneer robes in and throw myself to the back of it, praying she won’t hear or scent me. I was in her office earlier, so my scent would be here anyhow.

Hand over my mouth to muffle my heavy breathing, I crouch behind the fabric of her thick robes, praying for the gods to smile on me for once.

The reverberation of Varek’s huge footfalls reaches me in the armoire, and I freeze. Minotaurs have great senses of smell. If he scents me, I’m super fucked.

“I need that potion now, Letitia. You’re overdue.”

Letitia sighs loudly enough for me to easily hear. “And you’ll have it, Varek. I acquired the final ingredient, and let me tell you, it was hard to find and expensive. Your potion will be done in a day or so, and then all of this will be over.”

“I’m down to the wire with the way things are progressing.” There’s tangible threat in his tone.

Letitia tsks. “Now, Varek, you can’t rush these things. Everything’s happening just as we planned. Patience, my friend. Your time is coming.”

A creak tells me he’s either rising or sitting in the singular chair in front of her desk. I pray it’s the former, and they’re both going to leave so I can escape.

“If I don’t get that potion in the next few days, I’ll be back, and it will be a less than pleasant conversation for you.”

Letitia says nothing, and I don’t hear anything further from Varek either. I hold my breath until a door slams. After waiting another few moments, I reach for the door to peek out.

Cracking the door slightly, I peer through it, and fuck me, Letitia’s standing behind her desk, staring at the painting. A bright purple decanter of potion sits on her desk. I recognize it. It’s the potion I made yesterday. What’s she doing with it?

Pieces of the puzzle start clicking into place in my brain. Varek’s waiting on a potion, and here she is, brewing it with ingredients I put together. My potion signature will be all over it, and it sounds like she and Varek needed just one final step to finish whatever they’re doing.

She’s doing something to the animals and she’s setting me up to take the blame.

Letitia grabs an extractor needle set from a drawer in her desk, then shoves the painting aside. Like with me, the Giant Arakna shoots to the back of the cage with an angry hiss. She reaches in and grabs one of its enormous legs, big around as my calf muscle, and drags it to the edge of the cage. After jabbing her needle into the soft, fuzzy side of its rotund body, she pulls venom from the pouch hidden behind its heart.

Fuck her.

Oh, absolutely fuck her.

I burst out of the wardrobe.

She spins in place, eyes going wide. Then they narrow as she turns and deposits the Arkna’s venom into my potion.

My potion. The potion with my magical fingerprints all over it.

“It’s been you hurting the animals, hasn’t it?” I demand. “Are you poisoning them with Arakna venom? That would be magically untraceable.”

She smiles and sets the syringe down. “I wondered if you’d start to suspect me, if I’m honest. Between your…association with our intrepid Ranger Zayle and your natural potions abilities, it seemed likely.”

“That creature belongs in the jungle,” I hiss. “Not in a cage in your office. You’re breaking about forty different potioneer rules with this, and I’ll see to it that⁠—”

She waves my commentary away as if she can’t even be bothered to hear it, reaching into her top desk drawer.

Cautious, I take a step backward.