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“What are you doing?”
She wasn’t exactly sure, but she did know one thing. “This is something for your wolf. Don’t worry. Sheba approves.”
Braden drew close on the left side of the table and petted the cat. Once more, Sheba purred at the wolf’s touch.
She approached the glass containers and let the spell talk to her. She drew mint from the shelves, no surprise there. She went down the rows one by one and kept pulling them to the counter.
There were nine in all.
She quickly worked through the compound. Her witchy senses knew what she was doing, though she couldn’t say she understood the purpose of the potion or what exactly the result might be. All she knew was that this was for Braden.
She felt his tension and glanced at him. Then she understood. “Don’t worry. I’m not adding emerald flame.”
She spooned or tweezed the required quantities into her mortar. When she had the right combination, she ground the elements together into a fine powder. She added water but this time, she heated the brew just until warm.
She poured it into a small red ceramic dish-like cup and tried to hand it to Braden. He even held out his hands, the willing man that he was.
Instead, she felt the familiar resistance and understood. For some reason, though she was certain the result was meant for him, she was supposed to drink the potion herself.
She always trusted her witchiness. Unlike just about everything else in Five Bridges, she never went wrong when she stuck with her instincts. She brought the dish to her lips.
“Hey. I thought it was for me. I don’t get it.”
“I thought it was, too, but I’m supposed to drink it. Though, I’m sure this is intended for your benefit, so we’ll have to see what happens.”
He eased back and she drank the potion.
She barely tasted it, but by the time it reached her stomach, images began to flow through her mind. She wasn’t exactly seeing a future event as she was receiving instruction on what she was supposed to do.
She took his hand once more. Near the writing table was a small, arched wooden door. She never took anyone inside with her, not after the workman had finished. She’d made all the adjustments and improvements herself.
The room was dark to begin with since there were no lamps in the space. But when she closed the door behind them, it was pitch black and dead quiet. “Stay put, or can you see in the dark like this?”
“Well, I’m good, but not that good. I need a speck of light. What is this place?”
“I meditate in here.” And other things which she might tell him about if the moment presented itself.
She felt her way to the inset stone shelf to the right of the door and lit the lone candle.
Everything she’d experienced in Five Bridges converged in her mind in this moment. Right now, especially with a new potion moving through her blood, she felt the mystical nature of their world.
Braden looked around. “You’ve got a garden down here.”
Vines hung from the walls. Shrubs and flowering plants lined the space on all sides except the door wall. A broad bed of furs, where she often collapsed after her night’s work, took up the center of the room.
Earlier, when she’d brought the faux furs to use on the stone floor in front of the fireplace, she’d taken them from here. She’d never quite understood why she’d created this space in the first place. She had recessed gro-lights that ran on a timer during the day and every vine and shrub was planted in the earth. She mulched, she watered, she tended.
She’d called this place her sanctuary and loved the oxygen rich air. But the walls were still stone and way under the earth.
The same blankets formed a thin mat between the numerous furs and what was a stone floor. Otherwise, the space was as close to nature as if it was outside.
“You created a burrow.”
“You mean a wolf burrow? I guess I did.” The reality of it stunned her, but her newly developed wolf senses now confirmed the truth. Very mystical.
She turned toward him and let the towel fall to the floor. “Braden, did I know you were coming? Did I create this for you?”
“I don’t know.”
