Book 17: On the Worktable

Aris

I lift the smaller skull and balance it in my hand while Posey moves in the background. The midmorning air is scented with the herbs she uses for her potions and hand creams. Little bells and chimes ping through the air as her timer goes off. I glance at her, the sunlight casting a halo around her face. She’s pouring a cooled tincture of whistlethorne and dried cherry into a large vial.

It’s not even noon, and her fingers are already stained black.

I set the skull down and look at the tools arranged on the granite, some still cooling, sending puffs of steam into the air. “You have a whole collection now,” I muse, and her smile is soft, no teeth, just a twitch of her lips.

“I have a ways to go to replace everything from the old alchemy room downstairs.”

“I could… order some, take