How to Poison Your Husband [COMPLETE! Cozy Romantasy With A Dash Of Murder]

Step 12c: ...and living happily ever after in the home of your dreams

Someone was knocking on the door to the shop. The knock was loud and insistent, the sort of knock that echoed through the foyer and up the stairs. It was a knock that meant business.

Normally, a knock on the door of Ivelle's hardware shop meant one of three things. Either the visitor was a paying customer requesting Ivelle's services, or they were a visitor from Castrena's palace, or—in rare instances—the person doing the knocking was no visitor at all, but Eirifold, having locked himself out of the hardware shop because he'd been too busy kissing Ivelle goodbye to remember to grab the keys off the mantel before he left.

Today's visitor didn't fit any of these categories.

She was tall and buxom, with rivers of curly black hair, vicious black eyes that could make even hardened mercenaries tremble, and a red-and-black dress with a slit nearly down to her navel. The apricot poodle at her side seemed to radiate an uncanny, barely-contained violence, her lips drawing back to reveal canines sharp as blades.

Up and down the street, people were pausing to stare. Mothers pushed their children behind them and hurried to the opposite side of the street, shooting scandalized glances over their shoulders.

"Mum!" Ivelle hustled Ascoria inside the shop, pausing just long enough to flip the sign on the door to 'CLOSED'. "Not that I'm against body positivity, but next time, maybe save the fishnet stockings and waist-high thigh slits for a neighborhood that isn't full of children?"

She beckoned Ascoria past a shiny new display of hammers, down an aisle full of faucets, and through the door at the back of the shop, which led to the house she shared with Eirifold. "I didn't think you'd make it," she said. "All the pigeons I sent either didn't return or came back with their feathers frozen."

Ascoria shot Ivelle a shifty look. "I saw you making wedding preparations in my crystal ball," she said, "and thought I should investigate."

"What she isn't telling you is that she fretted for days over whether to come," the poodle said snidely. "She was all in a tizzy. Not sure if you actually wanted her there, convinced there was no point in showing her face. A few times, she stormed out of the house after resolving not to go and nearly moved us both to the Northern Wastes!"

"You—!" Ascoria shook her fist at the poodle. "Don't think I won't muzzle you, because I will!"

Ivelle smiled. "Glad to see you two are getting along."

Ascoria had left Estrella shortly after Mariel was crowned queen. She had taken Yselya with her, along with—to Ivelle's resigned consternation—half the funds in the royal treasury. Mariel had not been pleased, but there was not much she could do when the thief was your long-lost aunt and a powerful sorceress.

Partly out of guilt at her mum's thievery, and partly because she wished to be helpful, Ivelle had stayed in Estrella for over a year, living in her old carpentry shop while she and Eirifold helped rebuild the palace. The ceiling of the royal wing had collapsed due to Ascoria and Yselya's magical duel, and considerable repairs were needed—repairs which it fell to Ivelle to direct. Mariel had been so impressed by Ivelle's work, she'd given Ivelle a medal and a public proclamation of thanks. Word spread through Estrella of Ivelle's expertise, and even filtered into the neighboring kingdom of Castrena, which needed carpenters to help with rebuilding in the wake of its rebellion and subsequent separation from Estrella.

Mariel hadn't been happy when Ivelle and Eirifold announced they were moving to Castrena, but Eirifold had put his foot down. Many nobles were unhappy with Mariel's ascension to the throne, particularly after Mariel tried to establish a system of checks and balances to curb their power, and they kept trying to persuade Eirifold to lead a rebellion to overthrow her. It was becoming impossible for Eirifold to show his face in public without getting mobbed. To make matters worse, Saffron—who still hadn't gotten over his puggification—kept trying to press charges against Ivelle, even though the matter had been settled in court twice already.