I stooped down to pick up the Lilac flower and put it in my bag before continuing down the path. Now all I needed was Juniper berries and one of those faery apples. I found the Juniper a few feet further down the trail, and made my way toward a grove of apple trees I knew about. I froze in my tracks as I saw a flash of painfully familiar oak wood hair between the trunks. Prince Rovaki walked onto my path and looked my way, regarding me with a sneer on his lips. I stayed still as he started toward me, as if he were a wild animal that would be provoked by movement. 

"Need more fruit to satisfy a craving?" he asked. Though the question was supposed to be a mockery, his voice sounded concerned. After all, humans typically developed an addiction after tasting Faery fruit. But that didn't explain why he would be worried.

"No craving," I told him cautiously, crossing my arms over my chest. "But I do need something from this grove. How about you? What are you passing through for? Heading somewhere?"

"What business is it of yours?" he asked, sounding more like himself.

"Just making conversation," I muttered as I tilted my head back to look toward tree tops. I had to find a tree with the brightest fruit. He paused for a moment before following me down the path.

"I'm...looking for advice on how to win the affections of a maiden, who has drawn my eye," he muttered shyly.

"Oh yeah? Lookin for a future queen?" I teased.

"Perhaps," he mumbled.

My mind sparked and an idea bloomed. "What would you say if I said I might be able to help you?" I asked, finding the tree I was looking for.

"Pardon?"

"Find a way to get me an apple from the top and I can get you a love potion," I said, pointing toward the crown branches.

He followed my finger before looking back at me with furrowed eyebrows. "You have a love potion? Where did you acquire it?"

"Well, not yet. But I just need an apple from the top of this tree before I can make one," I told him.

"Why this tree? And why the top?"

"This is the healthiest of the grove. And the ones at the top have the strongest glow from soaking up the most sunlight," I answered, looking at him with my hands on my hips. "If you can't do it, no problem, I can find someone else. But I will have to charge you for the potion, instead of performing a trade of service."

"Why don't you just take one off the ground?" he asked, kicking a rotten apple by the side of the path.

"I need a fresh one with a strong glow," I explained. "Monstrosities are made with the rotten ones."

He narrowed his eyes at me before looking back at the tree. "Why don't you get it?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes at my own answer, knowing the response that was already waiting in his throat. "There's not a clear branch path. My ankle's tricky and won't be able to carry me back down."

He scoffed, "You're serious? You attend classes in trees and you travel by branch. And you say you can't climb these trees?"

"Those heights are 10 to 15 feet off the ground, and the branches are all large, and close together. These trees are over 100 feet tall, and the branches are small, and farther apart. And unlike you, I don't have wings to break my fall." I muttered the last part under my breath as I crossed my arms and looked away, but he still seemed to hear.

His head snapped toward me, snake eyes flashing dangerously. "Excuse me?"

"Relax. Just a rumor I've heard, I don't hold anything to it," I muttered. "So, are you gonna help me or not?"

He looked at me silently for a moment before sighing heavily and pointing at the top of the tree. "Get ready to catch," he ordered as the fruit at the top of the tree started to shake. I waited by the roots until a few apples fell from their branches, landing in my hands four seconds later. I put the brightest of the bunch in my bag and nodded a thank you to him. "So, when do I get this love potion?"

I nodded for him to follow me before walking down the path and toward Kindred's stronghold. "You'll have to wait a few minutes, but it shouldn't take too long," I told him as we walked through the door and I led him down a spiral staircase toward my workspace in the basement. He walked silently at my shoulder as I opened a door and walked into the small room. "You can have a seat while you wait, I'll call for some tea. Got a preference?" I asked.

He looked at me in surprise but shook his head slowly. He apparently didn't expect me to be at all hospitaible. "Uh...no, whatever's fine," he answered as he sat in one of the chairs I had by the coffee table. I nodded before going to my service bell and ringing it twice, resulting in a goblin showing up in the doorway two minutes later.

"Sorry to call you all the way down here, Nora, but would you kindly get us some Lavender tea, please?" I asked. She nodded with a smile before bowing to Rovaki and excusing herself.

I went to my work table and set to work, grinding herbs and the juices from the apple and juniper. I put the herb flakes in a sifter and set that over a double boiler as I poured the apple and berry pulp over the flakes. As the liquid mixed with the herbs and drained into the boiler, I sat at the table and went through my calculations. After a few minutes, Nora came back with a trey, holding two cups of tea, a pot of honey, and a bowl of sugar. I took an eyedropper and sucked up some of my tea before dropping it into the sifter, letting that drain through as well. I took some honey and dribbled it into the mixture and dropped a few crystals into the double boiler. I then mixed honey and sugar into my tea and began to drink as I waited for the potion to cook. Rovaki watched me silently, sipping on his own tea as his eyes followed me about the room.

"So, how is this stuff supposed to work?" he asked.

"You drink it, and when you look at whoever you want to love you, she'll feel immense attraction to you and not be entirely sure why. What it does exactly is highlight your most attractive features. And enhances your most alluring traits."

"Isn't that the same thing?" He asked.

"No. Features are physical and traits deal with personality," I answered.

"She doesn't have to drink it as well?" he asked.

"Nope."

"And this is a certain attraction we're talking about?" he asked.

I tilted my head slightly. "Well...."

"My gosh, I wasted my time coming here, didn't I?" he muttered.

"Not necessarily. Alright, I haven't perfected the formula yet, but it's not going to kill you, whatever this batch ends up being. I can always make an antidote to reverse it if it doesn't turn out how we want," I told him.

"You possibly made a poison, plan to test it on me, and expect me to trust you to make an antidote before it kills me?" he snapped.

"Yes. An antidote is much easier to make than a main potion. Faster, too since you don't exactly have to experiment to find the right formula. But, I've been working on this potion for months, I've had a lot of trial and error, and I'm near out of combinations. So, chances are very high that this is the love potion I've been trying for," I explained. He looked at me like I was insane, his eyes debating whether to leave or not. "I can promise you with absolute certainty that no harm will come to you, your highness," I told him, looking into his blue eyes.

"You're human. How am I supposed to believe that's not a lie?" he asked.

I nodded in understanding before setting my tea down on the table and extending my arms in invitation. "Glamour me. Make me tell the truth. Go ahead." I reached for my neck and pulled the string of beads from my clothes, dropping it on the ground by my chair. He looked at me skeptically for a moment before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. "Oh, wait-" he opened them again to glare at me as I reached into my pockets and pulled out the charms Kindred made for me. I pulled a protection chain from my boot. I yanked an earring from my ear made from an enchanted crystal. A beaded necklace from my throat. A bracelet from my wrist. A ring from my finger. An anklet from my foot. I dropped them all on the floor and thought for a moment before nodding in confirmation. "Okay." He rolled his eyes and closed his lids again.

When he opened them and met my gaze, they were glowing blue and his voice traveled from his lips into my ears in a melody of spring. "Is there any chance at all that this potion might harm me in one way or another?" My mind became foggy as his voice caressed my neural pathways, forcing my voice to tell the truth whether I was willing or not.

"No, there is not, your highness." I let it happen. The safest bet for a human in a place like Loor is to just have nothing to hide at any time. I was an open book for strategy, not because I trusted my neighbors. I saw the tiny vial fill up with the transparent purple liquid out of the corner of my eye, but waited for him to give me some sign of approval.

He sat back with a small sigh. "Okay..."

"You still have tea?" I asked as I stood up and went to my station, taking the vial and pushing a stopper into the neck. I shook the bottle vigorously as I walked back toward the table and opened it again, pouring a single drop into the still steaming black liquid.

"That's it?" he asked as I handed him his cup.

"That's all it takes," I said.

He took a deep breath as he slowly took the cup from me and looked me in the eye. I nodded encouragingly before he hesitantly pressed the rim to his lips and tilted it back.

"I advise you to drink it all," I told him as I watched, "Only a little will get you the potion but it'll cause a severe headache. The rest of the Lavender in the tea will ease it." In answer he kept gulping down the tolerably warm tea until his head was tilted all the way back. He lowered the cup and cleared his throat as he shook his head vigorously. I rang my hands together nervously as I pinched the vial between my fingers. Anticipation made my head light on my shoulders and the ground shifted beneath me. Was this the formula I'd been looking for? "Prince-'' he cut me off.

"Rovaki!" he snapped suddenly, before adding more softly, "Please. Just call me Rovaki."