“We... we did it.” Vanessa breathed as she stared at the completed potion. “On the first try. We did it.”

Mage Marks had stood beside our table and she stared into the potion, too. She actually looked a little shocked. “Mr. Drake, you... you...”

“What is it?” I asked, a little confused about what she was shocked about.

“I'm going to ignore your ease with sharing magic for now, because I desperately want to know what you used as a catalyst. That is not the right color for the finished potion.” Mage Marks said and went back to her desk to get an empty vial. She came back and handed it to me. “Please give me a sample to examine.”

I gave her a questioning look and she sighed.

“I want to use some testing spells on it to grade it. I'll return it if you want it back.”

I glanced at Vanessa and she shrugged.

“It's for class and we did use her ingredients.” Vanessa whispered.

“Good point.” I whispered back and let her hand go, then I ladled out some of the potion to fill the vial. “I don't need it back.”

Mage Marks took the vial. “It's not the right consistency, either.” She walked over to her desk, sat down, then wooden panels popped out and blocked her off completely from sight. I immediately sent out my Sense Magic feeling, just like I had back on the Addams farm, and felt several small spells be cast nearby. I couldn't tell what they were, though.

“Do you think we should try it?” Vanessa asked. “If Mage Marks says it's okay, I mean.”

I smiled at her and poured a vial for her and one for myself. “There's no need to wait.” I said and upended the vial. I felt a significant mental enhancement right away and it felt somewhat familiar. It was then that I made the connection between the effect and my number seven potion for mental enhancement. This potion wasn't anywhere near as powerful, which was probably why there was no accompanying headache.

Vanessa watched me to see if I was going to suffer any ill effects, then she drank her own vial. She let out a squeak and dropped the vial.

I caught it a split second later, since I was still right behind her and my body was pressed against hers. “Are you all right?” I asked.

“I... I... I don't know.” Vanessa said in a normal voice and looked at her hand with wide eyes. “Oh, my god... aren't fingers wonderful? They're so versatile and can do so many things...” She started to list everything that fingers could do, almost in a constant stream of words, and everyone in the class stared at her. None of them had heard her normal voice before, for more than a few seconds, anyway.

The wooden panels over the teacher's desk folded away and Mage Marks stood up. “This is much more powerful than the original potion. You shouldn't consume it until...” She stopped talking when she heard Vanessa's continuous list of things fingers could do. “Oh, damn.”

“What's wrong with her?” A girl at the next table asked.

“There's nothing wrong with her.” Mage Marks said. “She just... her mind's focused on her fingers. If she had been sitting for a test, she would be focused on that instead.”

“What does that mean?”

“It's a mental stimulation potion. She focused on the closest thing she could find.” Mage Marks said. “It's a good thing she didn't look at Mr. Drake first, because he would be her focus for the next hour and a half.”

“What? I thought the potion only lasted half an hour.” Lorna said.

“It normally does.” Mage Marks said and looked at me. “I guess we just have to wait for it to wear off.”

“No.” I said and took out the healing potion. I put it in Vanessa's hand and she gasped.

“Oh! The color and clarity is phenomenal. The topical effects alone on my fingers made me feel so much better.” Vanessa said.

“Drink half of it.” I said.

Vanessa opened it and drank exactly half, corked it and handed it back. “Oh, my god... the... the feeling... your magic is so strong.” She said and closed her eyes. She took a very deep breath and let it out very slowly. She opened her eyes and took half a step away from me and turned around to face me. “You're a killer, aren't you?” Vanessa asked.

“Yes.”

“You've maimed and hurt people, haven't you?”

“Yes.”

“You're going to keep doing that, aren't you?” Vanessa asked.

“When significantly provoked, yes.” I responded.

“It doesn't matter who they are, does it?”

“No. I even took the arm of the first princess when she robbed me of several hundred thousand gold crowns.”

Every single person in the room let out a squeal of fright, except for Vanessa and Mage Marks.

“Why didn't you kill her?” Vanessa asked, her focused mind unphased by my words.

“She wouldn't learn from her mistakes if she was dead.” I said and the room fell completely silent. “I also wanted her out of the army before she ruined the foothold the Gulf Kingdom had in the Eastern Empire.”

“You know that most of the army and a lot of the navy love her for what she did over there.” Vanessa said. “The war changed when she beat back the retaliation strike from the Eastern Empire and then had the construction crews rebuild the port for the navy to establish a foothold there.”

“Did she tell everyone that it was my tens of thousands of potions that made it all possible?” I asked.

“No, but the soldiers and workers know.” Mage Marks offered. “There's also word that the Eastern Empire is suing for a cease fire, now that the new claimed lands there have been reinforced with several brigades and the navy sent over several of their larger vessels to enforce the peace in the local waters.”

“You mean they are bombing the other enemy ports to stop them from building more ships.” I said.

Mage Marks nodded and looked at Vanessa. “How are you feeling?”

“Thanks to David, I'm feeling fine.” Vanessa said, still talking in a normal voice. “He's an amazing man and I'm seriously considering petitioning to him to become his concubine if he goes through with his marriage.”

Nearly every girl gasped.

“You might want to rethink that when the potion wears off.” Mage Marks said, wisely.

Vanessa laughed normally and that surprised everyone. “It's a mental enhancement potion, not a hypnosis or love potion.” She turned to look into my eyes and took my hands. “David, I'm never going to find someone else like you. Even Mage Marks said she's never met anyone like you and she's travelled all over the kingdom.”

“What will your family say if you become a concubine to someone that's lower in social status than a commoner?” One of the girls at the next table asked and some of the others gave her stern looks. “It's true and you know it. Everyone's talking about him now, especially after what he did at lunch yesterday.”

“That was disgusting.” Lorna said and then clamped her mouth shut when Mage Marks looked at her.

“I'll have to talk to my parents and see if they are okay with me being one to the future Mage Henrietta.” Vanessa said with a smile. “It might be odd for a mage to also be a concubine...”

“It's not uncommon.” Mage Marks said and I looked at her. “Some women would become adjuncts to a main family, bear children, and return to their families with heirs they never would have had.”

“Yes, that's what I was thinking. I'm sure that after David is married for a few months and his wife becomes pregnant, he can start trying to get me pregnant, too.” Vanessa said. “I think my mother would be overjoyed to have a grandchild in three years.”

“Helena's pregnant right now.” I said and the entire room was filled with shouts of disbelief.

“How? How could you...” A startled Mage Marks started to ask.

“We've been having sex for a while. It wasn't until we agreed to have a baby that she told me she had been actively using her magic to not get pregnant. When we cooperated and infused our magic together, she was instantly pregnant.”

Mage Marks stood there, her mouth open in shock, and it mirrored a lot of the students. A few of the girls had odd reactions, though. One fainted and was caught by her potions partner, two of them let out moans before they could stop themselves, and quite a few of them let out squeaks of delight.

Vanessa was the only one that remained calm. “I'll talk to my parents tonight about becoming your concubine after your marriage.” She smiled at me. “Once they know you can guarantee a grandchild...”

That sentence shook Mage Marks out of her shock. “This isn't something that should be discussed in class.” She said and looked at everyone else. “Is everyone done infusing their potions?”

A chorus of 'yes' came back to her, so she went to each table and gathered a sample and wrote the names of the students on them. She went to her desk and looked at the students again.

“No one else is to drink David's potion. It's too potent without taking a proper primer first.”

“I'm fine.” Vanessa said.

“Too fine. You've been talking with a normal volume of voice for the last fifteen minutes.”

“I have?” Vanessa asked and looked to my face for confirmation.

I nodded. “It's still the same voice, just louder.”

“I'm going to sound normal for more than another hour?” Vanessa asked and then laughed. “David, you're wonderful!” She said as she put her arms around my neck and kissed me briefly. “Thank you!”

Quite a few of the girls gasped at her boldness.

“I think there might be a bit of an intoxicating side effect to the potion, too.” Mage Marks said and that piqued the interest of some of the other students. “No, you still can't drink it yet.”

“Would our normal potion count as a primer?” Lorna asked and eyed the large pot in front of me.

“If brewed properly and I check it for...” Mage Marks couldn't finish her sentence before Lorna drank her own potion. She took in a deep breath and we could see her eyes intensify slightly, then she walked around her workbench and came over to me. Vanessa let me go and stepped back to allow her to approach.

“Mr. Drake... David... I sincerely apologize for my disparaging comments before. I've been envious of your apparent popularity with the girls of the class, despite your background and all of the bad things we know you've done. Them liking you is something I couldn't accomplish myself.” Lorna said. “I meant getting them to like me. I couldn't help but lash out at you for doing something I can't.”

I didn't say anything and she smiled.

“You know it's not the potion talking. It's just focusing my mind on what's in front of me.”

I looked over at Mage Marks and she shrugged. I held a hand out and Lorna gave me her empty vial. I filled it and handed it back. She didn't hesitate as she drank it all and then she put the vial on my workbench and braced her hands on the edge.

“By... the Son's... Light.” Lorna said as she took several quick breaths. “I need some of that healing potion, please.”

I took out the half empty vial and gave it to her. She drank half of what was left and handed it back. It left a quarter of the original amount that was inside and I tucked it away again.

“Thank... ohhhh.” Lorna shivered as the potion went through her and combined with the other two potions. “Oh, wow.”

“It's nice, isn't it?” Vanessa asked her and Lorna nodded. “My mind feels so open and free right now.”

“If I wasn't betrothed myself, I might ask to be a concubine as well.” Lorna said and looked at me. “David, I look forward to seeing what you can do in the Advanced Potions class.”

I looked down at the simple potion that my gland extract and magic had significantly increased the power of. “We both are.”

Lorna smiled and nodded to me, as a sign of respect, and she went back to her table. The girl who fainted came to on her own and Mage Marks made sure that she was okay, then the teacher had the wood panels pop up to give herself privacy again and went to work grading and assessing the potions of the other students.