Page 23 of Queen of Vengeance

“It’s not just about the book. I had recipes in there… Potions of things I can’t get back. We need to find my book… Please.” Lea pleaded with him, and Zane couldn’t deny her.

“Fine. It couldn’t have gone far. The flume powder only allows travel for up to 100 feet.”

Zane and Lea searched high and low for her potions book, but it was nowhere in the school.

Lea was beginning to lose hope, but Zane wasn’t about to give up on her.

“We haven’t checked outside. She likely dropped it in a bush.” Zane suggested, which lit a dim candle of hope in Lea.

She heartily agreed and followed Zane to the outside courtyard, right outside where the supply room was.

There were only a few bushes along the side of the building, making it easy to find the book.

The only issue was the book was not in pristine condition.

Zane fished it from a mud puddle and held it out for Lea. “Well… we found it.”

“Oh, no!” Lea grabbed it and flipped through the pages.

Some of the words were running, and the pages were already warping.

Zane looked curiously at the intricate potion recipes. He’d never seen someone his age with such potion writing prowess. He realized that if Lea had been able to enter that contest with them, she would have smoked the competition.

“She would be a worthy opponent… Or partner.” The gears turned in his head as he hatched a plan.

“I think I can still salvage some of these recipes.” She carefully opened each page and hung it upside down by the spine of its books so the pages could dry.

Zane stared at her intently, biting his bottom lip in deep thought. “I need to get going, so I’ll leave first. I hope everything works out with your book.”

He offered her a quick smile before rushing out of the room and to his first class, which he shared with Jax. He ran up behind an unsuspecting Jax and almost successfully scared the daylights out of him.

“Dude! What the hell?” Jax griped at him as he fixed his coat.

“I was here early and ran into a certain someone.”

Zane raised his eyebrow and smirked, waiting for Jax to guess, but it was too early for Jax to give any kind of shit about who Zane saw this morning. “Lea. I saw Lea. More importantly, I saw her potion book. She’s got to be one of the most skilled potionists in this school.”

“She helps me out here and there with projects, but I don’t know if she’s the most skilled.” Jax was annoyed at Zane’s accusation.

Even though Lea was considered a friend to Jax and Zane, Jax never really cared to learn much about Lea… Other than how useful she could be to him.

“This isn’t time for an ego check, Jax. Do you want our potion business to take off? We need to start working with Lea.” Zane was so set on this plan that Jax could not shoot it down now.

“Fine. We’ll discuss it with her, but I barely want to share the glory with you. You want me to share it with another person?” Jax sneered.

Zane was surprised that Jax would talk about a friend like that. “Without her potions, there is no glory.”

“It’s difficult enough to get potion patents… Even if we had all the money and connections in the world—which we don’t—they might just turn us away based on status alone. I have my talents, but it’s nowhere near enough… Lea possesses a unique intuition and understanding of potion mixing. It’s almost as if she could see the potions play out in her head before she begins. She is the only person who can get us where we want to go. How can he not see that?” Zane would love nothing more than to say these things out loud, but he knew Jax well enough not to bring up their poverty-stricken status. It was decidedly a sore subject.

“You really feel that strongly about this, huh?” Jax blinked a few times before giving way to the idea.

Zane had never been so forthright about their business before. Was he so convinced Lea was a safe bet, or was it because he had a helpless crush on her and couldn’t figure out another way to be around her all the time?

“I do.” Zane nodded assuredly.

After class, Jax and Zane fanned out around campus, looking for Lea.

Jax was the first to find her, hiding in the auditorium, and Zane joined moments after. “There you are. I’ve been looking all over for you.”

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