“I tried.” She scrubbed a hand across her red-rimmed eyes. “But she wouldn’t hear of it, and I was afraid to cross her. Nor could I go to Marie, because she would never have forgiven me for abusing my position.”

“You said before that she knew you were a witch?”

Catherine nodded. “Her son, Aiden, was a sickly child. She approached me and brought me into her household as his nurse at great risk to herself, given the Regent’s views on witchcraft. I involved her in my spells to help him, because the bond of blood between parent and child holds an intense amount of power. No one but Marie knew I was a witch until…” She broke off.

“Until?” I leaned forward in anticipation.

“Some four years ago, the masked woman left me a note asking for me to meet her. Of course I went, but instead of her usual request, she asked for something different.”

“What did she want?”

“A love potion.”

I sat up straight in my chair. If this woman was Anushka, why would she ask for that? The creams and such I understood – she couldn’t affect herself with magic, so she needed another witch’s help. But she was more than capable, and by my reckoning, quite practiced at making love potions herself. “To use on whom?”

“The Regent.”

My jaw dropped. The Regent? But that made no sense at all – if Marie was allied with Anushka, why would she allow such a thing?

“I was loath to do it. Marie had never been anything but kind to me and spelling her husband would be the ultimate betrayal, but the woman did not hesitate to remind me how quickly the flames would lick at my toes if it were discovered I was performing black magic.” She sucked in a deep breath. “And I knew that if she used the potion her identity would be revealed to me and she’d no longer be able to blackmail me so easily. But…” she broke off, hands clawing into fists.

“It didn’t work?” I asked.

“Oh, it worked. The Regent fell in love, but not with her.” Her shoulders trembled. “He fell in love with me. Me, whom he had never so much as conversed with in all his life. Me.” She pointed at her face.

Catherine was by no means an unattractive woman, but she was no great beauty and many years past her prime. Which is not to say an affair couldn’t have taken place if the Regent had been charmed by her personality; but if it was as she said and they had never spoken, that seemed unlikely. “What a disaster,” I murmured. “How did it happen? Did you make a mistake in the spell?”

“I’d never made an error before, and I’ve never made one since,” she said, eyes flashing. “Certainly not in this. I’d made dozens of similar potions before and countless after.”

I wanted to point out that everyone was fallible, but keeping my mouth shut seemed the more prudent course. Besides, I didn’t think she had made a mistake – I thought she’d been framed. “So what do you think happened?”