Page 16 of The Witch & the Grizzly

Now, her expression shifted into one of astonishment. “Morgryn? Are you being serious?”

“Nope, I’d actually be angry if he did turn out to be my grandfather.” He leaned back slightly while she leaned forward, her body language demanding more. “But you know all the deals the fae have been making recently? Turns out it brought the isolated pocket that Morgryn was trapped in into our realm. We were able to free him. Now he’s trying to gather allies, but he wasn’t sure if you’d betrayed him or not. He didn’t want me to mention that I was directly working for him, but I think I’ve ascertained enough now to know you’re on his side.”

She let out a delighted, raucous cackle. “Incredible. That sly old bastard. Managed to get out?”

Well, he didn’t exactly manage it intentionally. However, Nathan felt maintaining an air of power might be better for Morgryn’s connections in court, so he said nothing about the accident of the prison’s discovery. “He sure did. Now he’s trying to put out feelers, find out who may still be his ally and who is a danger.”

“You must waste no time,” she said, getting up, no longer interested in teasing him with her physicality. “It’s already getting a lot worse in our realm. A couple of his allies have been assassinated. But we are still around. I can start reaching out. But I’ll need to speak to him myself.”

“That was his intention if I was able to find out the truth,” Nathan replied. “With your permission, I’ll go to this place you wish for, and then I’ll go to inform Morgryn of the good news.”

“Better tell Morgryn to open a portal to Tael’s place. He’ll know what I mean. And he was always a master at creating such portals without anyone noticing. Since they all believe him to be locked up, I’m sure he’ll be persuaded.” She grinned, rubbing her hands together in sheer glee. “Oh, this is the best news I’ve heard all year.”

“Not a good year, then?”

“No. We had agents searching for the prison. I guess we can call them all back now.” She practically danced on the spot, unable to contain her excitement. “Thank the gods. We needed this. We needed a win.” She started pushing him out. “Go, run to him. Tell him that Greer of the Weirwood stands with him. And she’s ready to reach out once we talk.”

“I will go. Thank you. I’m glad to see there are fae who want to preserve things. I doubt you do it out of love for our world but for yours, but it’s appreciated all the same.”

“What does it matter, so long as the result is to your liking?” she asked, a peculiar smile on her face. “I’ll see you around sometime, maybe.”

“Maybe,” he said, bowing to her before rapidly heading off to where the portal was located. At least he had some good news for once. A part of him felt like something else was watching, though, so he picked up the pace, not slowing until he’d made it through and back into Morgryn’s study.

Just in time for dinner.

Chapter Five – Eva

The potions book was incredible. Some of the recipes in there were twisted, vile, black as they came, and incredible. Others were somewhat innocent or practical in nature. Thankfully, the potions Morgryn had requested didn’t require her to make a Potion of Chill, which stopped a person from ever feeling warm again, and yet it wouldn’t kill them. Or a Potion of Pestilence, which infected a living being with a new kind of viral or bacterial horror.

Some of the potions were just plain evil. And yet she couldn’t help but page through some of those loathsome descriptions, very, very glad these sorts of things weren’t common knowledge. The book itself clearly came from some prominent fae library, hopefully, the locked kind since otherwise, there’d be a lot more stuff happening in their world right now.

She studied the current potion Morgryn wanted her to mix. He’d already gotten the Kiss of Truth potion from her, which used some eccentric ingredients that were of fae origin. It’d be difficult to replicate those ingredients in the human world, but perhaps in time and with much experimentation, she might be able to come up with a variant.

Now, he wished her to make a Potion of Avarice. This one dipped more into the darker edges of the book, but not quite in a way that made her squirm with discomfort. This one seemed like a stronger, more focused version of her Animal Sense potion. It unlocked greed in the individual who drank it. It could drive a soul to give in to addictions, such as gambling, lust, thrill-seeking – whatever it was they enjoyed the most, but to excess. The idea, as Morgryn had put it to her, was to clear the path ahead, but not in a way that seemed suspicious.

After all, the fae were indulging their passions. No one would fault them if they pursued them with a little more passion, even if that meant the complete abandonment of their duties and awareness of the situation.

I bet a potion like this has wormed its way through our history, too, driving people to excess.

She noted Morgryn watching her with his unblinking eyes just as she gently stirred together two ingredients into the water.

Add four of the twelve ingredients needed before infusing one-fourth of the total magic the concoction needs, the book instructed. You must always extract the same amount of magic each time. If this is not balanced, it will kill the individual rather than simply drive them to extreme debauchery and greed. The idea is not to kill them, at least not straight away. Whether their choices will lead them to death is an entirely different matter.

She hummed to herself. What a helluva potion. She felt like a dark witch, one of those malevolent ones who people liked to burn at the stake, and it gave her a heady little thrill to imagine.

How ironic that this darkness would be the kind that helped save the region.

Under the watchful glare of Morgryn’s creepy eyes, Eva brushed the vial and let her magic seep through with all its wonder. She could do this. She could –

“Fuck,” she said as she saw the potion blacken, then hiss rather ominously. “I messed that up. Morgryn. Do you mind not staring at me like that while I work?”

Without blinking, he smirked. “My apologies. It is most interesting to watch a mortal work. You made the first potion so well. This one is trickier and darker. It does require you to dig into something of your avarice to succeed. I wonder if you can manage that or if you are as pure as you seem.”

She grinned. Morgryn had just given her a useful hint. “There are those who are pure-hearted, rare, and beautiful, and then there are those who try to do their best, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t things simmering beneath the surface…”

His smirk widened. “I see. Well, I do have someplace to be. I trust you will not destroy everything while I am gone?”

“I’ll try my best,” she said before adding, “I really want to complete this potion. It’s a challenge.”

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