Page 33 of The Prince and His Stolen Throne

Delilah entered Bottle Me Up and bounded over to the front counter. “Hello, I’m looking for the things on this list,” she said, handing it over to the salesperson.

The salesperson took the list, their eyes sparkling. “Right away, miss.”

“Wait.” Angelica stepped up next to Delilah and looked down her nose at the salesperson. “We need prices for each item first, including any quantity discounts. I’ll also need samples of each potion before we confirm the purchase.”

The sparkle dimmed from the salesperson’s eyes. “I can certainly explain our pricing structure to you, however, I’m not able to provide samples—”

“A pity,” she said, cutting them off. “I suppose we’ll see if Findabhair’s Solution will accommodate us.” She turned on her heel and walked out the door without looking back.

When Delilah didn’t immediately follow, the salesperson laughed uneasily. “You seem more level-headed than your companion.” Their eyes flicked up to Delilah’s ears briefly and their smile widened. “The cost of these potions will be—”

“Written down,” Delilahsaid.

They blinked. “I’m sorry?”

“I need you to write down the price of each potion, with the discounts she mentioned.”

“Yes, of course.” They pulled out a piece of parchment and carefully wrote everything down.

Delilah took it from them and said, “I’ll return if you have the best prices.” Then she walked out the door.

Angelica waited outside, arms crossed and expression mulish. Spotting Delilah, she straightened and asked, “Well?”

“Here’s the price list,” she said, handing it over. “Let’s check the other apothecary.”

As she read it, Angelica’s lip curled. “Did you watch them write this for you?”

“Yes, why?”

“When a shop doesn’t have prices posted, it means they’re negotiable.”

“Isn’t that a good thing? Then we can argue the price down.”

“Where does the price begin?”

Delilah’s brow furrowed but she didn’t know how to answer.

“We are two well-dressed women shopping for premium items. You handed them a list with half-a-dozen potions on it that no average citizen would buy. The rest of the list includes weapons and expensive books. We’re not carrying any shopping bags, which means Bottle Me Up was the first shop we’d visited, and we have our full budget to spend for the day.”

“So we don’t want to haggle with them?”

“Only once we have a baseline.” They arrived at Findabhair’s Solution and Angelica said, “I will speak to this one, you wait here.”

“Why do I have to wait here?” Delilah demanded. She refused to take orders from the prissy princess just because the other girl was a better shopper.

“Because you are wearing a magical collar.” Though Angelica didn’t outright insult Delilah this time, her tone remained judgmental. “Although the magical market has had a resurgence in the last decade, only someone wealthy would waste money on a purely aesthetic item.”

Delilah protectively covered her collar, her tail swishing in agitation behind her. “My uncle made this for me.”

“Do you plan to explain that to every shopkeeper? They want to sell you product, not hear your life’s story.”

She mulled over this explanation, then said, “Fine, you can handle this shop.” Then she found a bench to sit on and waited for Angelica to complete the task.

Several minutes later, she came out empty-handed.

Delilah arched an eyebrow and hopped to her feet. “Are we going back to Bottle Me Up? To see if we can haggle them down?”

Angelica scoffed. “Of course not. Here.” She plucked a small pink leather pouch off her belt and passed it to Delilah.