The Perils of Pernicious Potions (A Wags to Witches Cozy Mystery Book 1) by Cordelia Rook

Author:Cordelia Rook [Rook, Cordelia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-07-31T23:00:00+00:00

“Well, I am so glad you came.” Lavender topped off each of our iced coffees—I’d drunk mine at Trelayne speed—then set the pitcher in the middle of her kitchen table. “And not just because of the cookies.”

I’d skipped the muffins and gone straight to walnut lace cookies. All walnuts, all the time for Lavender. I wanted her in a good and receptive mood. She wouldn’t be so glad we came once she heard what we had to say.

I’d texted her that morning and asked if Trevor and I could come by. I would have dearly loved to include Gravy too, but by the time I got up Aunt March had already taken him almost an hour away, for a playdate with her friend Ethel’s new puppy. Ethel wanted to socialize the pup. It had been on the family calendar for at least a week, but I’d been distracted, and forgotten.

At least I didn’t need Gravy to tell me Lavender Petras wasn’t trustworthy. Not this time. I already knew.

My text made mention of a delicate discovery that I wanted to talk to her about before I brought it to the Inquisitors. What I really wanted was to get her to admit that Esme had found out she was a swindling thief, and that she—Lavender—had somehow caused Esme’s accident to make her forget it. Which was, obviously, now our prevailing theory about what had happened between the two women.

It was a risky move. Esme almost certainly wasn’t supposed to have those backups, and who knew what Lavender would do if she figured out that was where we’d gotten our information. But let her try, if she was fool enough. It was just more fodder for the Inquisitors if she did. I was pretty confident that between Trevor and six Trelayne witches, we could protect Esme.

And it was our only hope of making Esme better. After so long with no hope at all, that had just become our top priority, even over finding out who wanted Lavender dead. If Lavender told us exactly what she’d done, if she gave us the specific spell that had hurt Esme, point for point, line for line, we could try to figure out how to counteract it.

But to do that, she first had to admit it was her spell.

“I read my cards,” Lavender went on. “And there is more strife in my future. The worst is yet to come.” She nibbled at the edge of a cookie. “The sooner they find this psycho, the better. So if you’ve got information about the case, I am all ears.”

“Wait, you what now?” I stared at her, momentarily distracted by this confession, so casually given.

There’s no rule about reading your own future, in a legal sense, but it’s very much a taboo among witches. Prognostication is strictly for big-picture stuff: world events, business and financial matters, elections. Some witches with a certain amount of ethical fluidity around the matter of illegal gambling even use it for betting on sports.

But never, ever for us as individuals.

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