The afternoon class ended and I left there with my hair slightly damp. I went right to the potions classroom and Mage Marks was already there. I didn't ask her what other classes or students she taught, or if she ever left the room when she didn't have to. It wasn't really any of my business what she did.

I also had another long list of ingredients, the ones being grown in the Botany workshop, and I took out my lists from the library and the Advanced Potions book, to see what they could be used for or if they were able to be used at all. I suspected some weren't viable, just because of the artificial environment, and wouldn't know until I tested them.

Mage Marks didn't comment at the piles of papers on my desk and she would only smile when I glanced up myself to catch her looking at me. I took out the maps next that I had copied over at the library and cross referenced them with all of the lists I had.

It was a time consuming process, so for the next several hours, I worked out where a lot of the ingredients could be found. Roughly, anyway. I wouldn't be able to pinpoint anything until Eludora and I dug out the more detailed maps of each region. I was sure that Mage Julia King... Victoria... would be delighted when I showed her my work.

My detention ended and I went home to get something to eat. As soon as I was inside the mansion, I asked Hope if she bothered showing up today for lunch.

Hope shook her head. “I don't want to keep taking the chance that they are going to keep finding ways to stop you from eating.” She said. “Please, don't keep trying to figure out ways to sneak better food from the other tables.”

I thought about arguing that I had a few more tricks I could use, then sighed. “I have to agree. They haven't learned anything that I've tried to teach them. I'll refuse to go from now on.”

“We can make you lunch, too!” The kitchen helper said from the closed kitchen door.

Hope laughed. “The walls have ears, apparently.”

“All right. I'll come back here for lunch every day.” I agreed and there were two cheers from the kitchen.

“I think they are both enjoying showing off their acquired skills.” Hope said and the front door opened and Sara came in. “Speaking of which...”

“My lord.” Sara said and handed me a sealed letter. She had a serious face on for the first time in a while, so I opened the letter without waiting until later. It was from Helena.

My dearest David,

The antics of the students and staff at the academy have come to my attention and I've already sent inquiries to both the Mages Guild and the Director of the Academy. I refused to contact my father directly over this, so I went behind his back and filed formal complaints that have been officially registered.

I am both happy and nervous over this. Father won't be pleased about his role in what's going on at the academy coming to light. I'm not sure anyone else has the authority to change anything that's happened; but, at least it's all on the record now and no one can hide what happened anymore. Please be sure to send me word with Sara of any more incidents. I'll register them as soon as I get them.

My uncle has contacted me, practically out of the blue, about studying the full movement enchantment from you. I refused. We both know it's my father trying to work his way back into my life and also trying to get your secrets before the wedding. I think he believes if you don't have any leverage, you'll give up on this whole endeavour. Little does he realize how tenacious you and I are. Neither of us will be letting the other go.

Vanessa's family has contacted me and we have a tentative meeting set for when the academy shuts down for the king's birthday next month. I want you here for any negotiations that involve you, since you are as much a partner in this venture as I am. I also want to see how she acts around you to gauge her sincerity. If she truly only wants a child, I may have to refuse.

When I rescued you from the army, I promised you that no one would use you again. I intend to keep that promise and I won't allow anyone to take advantage of you. You are not a stud to be rented or loaned out to every mare that wants to breed. I know that you probably won't object to being treated like that, especially if it gains us much more influence as a family, so I'll do my best to balance our needs with the requirements for that need.

I've practically sold out of both the potions and the fancy tables, with only a few crates of potion and half a dozen tables left. Our accounts at the bank have grown exponentially and I've had Carson visit us personally to thank us for choosing him to handle our affairs. He embodied a boot-licker persona yesterday and if I hadn't stopped him, he might have stayed on his knees for the entire visit. It was quite amusing to the staff, I must say.

Mother has had some of her house staff over practically every day to ask me to come visit. I refused, since a Henrietta always keeps their word and I won't ever step foot back in the main family mansion. I am the lady of my own house now. If she wants to see me, she needs to swallow her judgment of you and defy my father to come here. I suspect she will cave in when the baby starts showing in my belly.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Did you know that my father nearly destroyed the parlour when he heard I was pregnant? Oh, the delight that gave me. You were right, dearest. Having the paperwork filed and him getting the notice at the same time as the rest of the mages council was a stroke of genius. I've had two healers here to confirm the pregnancy, one from the Mages Guild and one from the capital.

They were quite shocked that the baby would have the Henrietta name and marked it in their ledgers. It's quite rare for a non-concubine to have a child with their own family name. You are turning society on its ear and it's quite amusing to witness their reactions first hand. I'll remember all of their normally stoic faces filled with shock and surprise for quite some time.

I think that's all I have to talk about for now. If anything else comes up, I'll be sure to send it along with Sara. She's been diligent in her duty to you and making sure that we stay in contact with each other, which is more than I could ever ask of her. I am so glad that you're doing well, despite the actions of the academy, and it has eased my heart. As long as we persevere, nothing can stand against us.

All my love, Helena.

I folded the letter and tucked it into my bandoleer inside my academy coat. “I think I need a quick bath before supper.”

Sara's eyes seemed to light up. “Yes, my lord! I'll start it right now!” She took off up the stairs and we heard water running almost immediately.

“I'll let Sara handle it alone this time and I'll help the kitchen helper instead.” Hope said with a knowing smile and walked down the hallway to go into the kitchen.

I went upstairs and Sara helped me undress, making sure to keep everything properly folded. Some water splashed onto the floor when she tilted the coat up a bit and she laughed.

“You had Botany today and you left your coat on with all that moisture around?” Sara asked with a huge smile and I nodded. “I'll have Hope dig out the dirt and soil from the cracks and crevasses in the fabric later.”

I had a very nice bath as Sara was quite diligent in cleaning me up. She scrubbed me everywhere and left her favorite place for last, which she was quite vigorous in cleaning today, then her ritual was over and she helped me dress in comfortable pants and shirt. I slipped on my bandoleer and we went down to eat supper with Hope and then it was time to study again.

This time, there was a change. I now had access to a lot of information that I had written out, so I opened the vault in my room and took out the potion and ingredient book I had in my old pack. Both Hope and Sara stared at the large and very expensive looking book. Neither of them commented as I closed the vault and went to my desk and then I laid out everything that I had gathered.

Hopefully, I now had exactly what I needed to complete the potions listed in the book and to actually read the words under the ingredients, since a lot of it was written in mage language. I spent the rest of the evening and a lot of the night going through the book and matching it to the lists and maps I had. I also confirmed the ingredient preparations that the book had. They almost completely matched what I had, with only a few slightly off details, like the times to dissolve if using pre-boiled water.

I sat back in my chair at three in the morning and stared at the latest list that I had compiled. I had to check the front of the book several times to confirm how old the book was, because some of the ingredients in the book were so rare that they didn't exist anymore. That was all right, because both my own experience with the ingredients in the marsh and the lists I had gained from the library and the advanced potions book, let me make the needed substitutions.

The best part, it actually made the potions simpler. That made them less powerful than the original; but, I'd rather have a slightly lower powered version than none. Plus, with my catalyst and an extra powerful infusion, I could compensate for the substitutions.

“David... you should... go to bed.” Hope said, her voice barely above a whisper. She was half-asleep on the bed and looked quite comfortable. “Early day... and... zzzzz...”

I took my time and packed everything away into the vault. I wasn't going to carry the new things around with me, because no one was going to know what I wanted to do. I tucked the blanket over Hope and left my room to go to my potion brewing room. I had some work to do for Eludora and the library.

With my newly acquired knowledge, I had almost no trouble at all adapting the waterproofing potion. I didn't start brewing it, however. I had to adapt the fortifying potion first. Thanks to my copy ingredient trick that let me save on ingredients, I wasn't bothered by taking several tries to successfully brew the altered fortifying potion.

Once it was done, I filled six of the other pots with waterproofing potion and added in a vial of fortifying potion into each about midway through the brewing process. They came out perfectly and I discovered another problem. I didn't have many empty vials left to use. I had used up nearly all of what I had to load up the work crews that were back at the Henrietta Longshore Estate and were still building the retaining wall around the entire property.

I'll need to grab a few dozen crates from the potions classroom. I thought and looked out the window. It was starting to get light out, which meant that I had stayed up all night. I dug a general health potion out of my bandoleer and drank it. It had been a while since the last time I had one and I let the energy flow through me as I filled the empty vials in my bandoleer with the new fortifying waterproof potion.

The general health potion perked me right up and I closed and locked the room, just in case. I didn't want anyone to potentially hurt themselves if they entered the room to see what I was brewing. I had left the potions on a low wildwood flame to keep them viable. I went to my room and Hope was whimpering a little and clutched my pillow tightly.

I ignored her antics and changed for school. I had basic biology and creature studies for first class and had the rest of the morning off. I also had Civil Construction all afternoon and smiled at the thought of what that was going to entail, especially if the teacher started to lecture me over the proper way to build things. I ran my hand over the row of number ten potion vials I had in my bandoleer and nodded.

I'll show him how to build properly. If he asks. I thought with amusement as I picked up my small bag with my school books and then I left my bedroom to go eat a quick breakfast. I was going to be very early for class today.