“I have several methods in mind,” she replied, then suddenly laughed. “Do you doubt my capabilities. 

         Suga relaxed. “Which guise?”

         “I’ll begin as a serving girl, I think. Big eyes, thin cheeks. His tongue is rough with women, and his anger will stoke mine. Perhaps,” Rizla actually giggled, “I’ll go as the young lad that serves alongside Dr. Sugallus in the Apothecary Shoppe.”

         “He tried to buy you the last time you looked like that,” said Suga, flatly.

         “He won’t make that mistake again. As for your task with the bottles, I was thinking that if the Cursed Blessed received all of them this year, including the Blue . . .”

         “The Blue Bottle will be filled. Now, come to me, you’re shooting sparks. You can’t fly like that.”

         She stepped between his legs and sat down on one giant thigh. He started with her neck. 

         “Bloody bones, your neck is full of knots. Lie flat.

         Suga rose and she took his place on the chaise. He worked with her neck, then pressed his thumbs on either side of her spine. He rolled her shoulder blades under his palms. Heat was gathering in her body, the way it always did when she was readying herself for change. Some sparks passed from her to him; he felt them only as stings for his fat absorbed them. Changes were hard on her, and Rizla changed often. Yet the ability to change, as well as the gift of flight, had been awarded to her by the Curse-Blessed. How like him to mar a gift, he thought. I can change pure water into poison and understand every language in the world, yet have no stones.Rizla’s yelp and the sound of a bone cracking caused him to ease. He willed his thoughts into a blank canvas. 

         “Enough, Suga.”  Rizla was waving a hand for him to stop. “That last crack straightened my spine for the next month. I must rise.” 

         “Did I hurt you?” He had to know.

         “Of course not, but the power will soon be upon me and I must change. One last question. How will you get the blue bottle from Bridon?”

         For a moment, Suga toyed with telling her the truth, but his plan had a flaw, a rather large one, and she’d recognize it at once. Then her own fears would expand, at which point anything could happen. No tumbled castles, no Earth Skyll burst to a crisp, no snakes protruding from the King’s head.  He couldn’t risk it.