Page 25 of Untethering Dark

“Tochter, how many different types of Plätzchen did you make him?” Perchta’s tone was accusatory and teasing all at once.

“Two,” she mumbled, cheeks heating. A gift to thank him for bringing home her little loves. For honoring his promise.

While she might not rearrange her plans for a spark of possibility with Altes Geweih, after, once she was a hag...who knew. Anything could happen.

“Two! You’re spoiling him.” Perchta sucked her teeth, but there was a wicked glint in her eye. Their courting methods might not be the same, but a daughter acting sweet on a god-monster still had the potential to achieve the same end.

Apparentlythirteengrandchildren from Dahlia weren’t enough.

And yes, it had been a very long time since any of them had been babies, but Mutter wouldn’t get any sympathy from her.

“On the off chance you change your mind,” Perchta began slyly. “I’m going to send along another spell you might find useful. Do with it what you will.”

“Mutter,” Astrid warned.

She waved a dismissive hand. “Just a little contraceptive spell, just in case. I doubt the local market carries rubber sheath things big enough...”

Condoms. Mutter was talking about condoms.

How the ancient winter hag even knew about them when anything post–Industrial Revolution eluded her was beyond Astrid.

Perchta smirked, just a little too pleased.

Astrid narrowed her eyes. “How effective is it?”

“Don’t be put off by its simplicity. Complicated isn’t very practical in the heat of the moment, now is it?”

While frequency of use didn’t always equate to a spell’s difficulty level, there was a correlation. Common household remedies and spells were easy and quick to cast. Bigger feats of magic like teleportation or banishing a malevolent spirit were more complicated and took more power and time, but they also weren’t needed as much.

Knowing that eased her paranoia some.

“Lay your worries to rest,” Perchta continued. “It is a simple method, but a very effective one, too.”

Sounds reasonable...

“However,” she drawled, “if you change your mind, that tea blend I gave you last Yuletide is good for promoting conception...”

“Mutter!” Wasting was heinous, but she’d burned that pouch to ash.

Perchta snickered. “Sunset quickly approaches, Tochter. Better tidy up.”

Wiping her hands on her apron, Astrid rolled her eyes and ended the spell.

As irritating as Mutter’s brand of encouragement may be, it assuaged most of her fear. Outright foolishness would’ve been commented on. But even so, there were no guarantees andhaving a fail-safe on hand was just a prudent self-preservation measure.

Scratching at her front door caught her attention.

It was distinctly animal—paws swiping up and down, impatiently demanding to be let in.

Oskar.

Speedy fellow.

She let Perchta’s fox familiar in.

He shook his orange fur free of snow, spraying her with melting droplets, before trotting in, two scrolls in his mouth.

“How did you get here so fast?”

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