"Yes, a daughter…"

"Then why didn't you have one?" Darya asked with a shrug. "I've got five children. Two of them went into the army-the eldest. One daughter's married-she's nursing her baby now. The other's studying. And the youngest, the wild one…" She waved her hand through the air. "Sit down, why don't you…"

Natasha reluctantly lowered herself onto the stool, holding her purse firmly on her knees. Trying to seize the initiative, she said, "It's just the way life worked out. Well, I would have had a child for him, but you can't ruin your career for that."

"That's true too." The seer didn't try to argue. She rubbed her face with her hands. "It's your choice… Right then, you want to bring him back? But why did he leave? Your rival's already carrying his child… and she made a real effort too. Listening to him, and sympathizing with him, and getting up to all sorts of tricks in bed… You had a good man, the kind every woman wants to get. Do you want to bring him back? Even now?"

Natasha pursed her lips.

"Yes."

The seer sighed.

"We can bring him back… we can."

Her tone of voice had changed subtly, become heavy and emphatic.

"… Only it won't be easy. Just bringing him back isn't all that hard; it's keeping him that's the problem!"

"I want to anyway."

"All of us, my daughter, have our own magic inside us." Darya leaned forward across the table. Her eyes seemed to be drilling right through Natasha. "Simple, ancient female magic. With all your ambitions, you've completely forgotten about it, and that's a mistake! But never mind. I'll help you. Only we'll have to do everything in three stages."

She knocked gently on the table.

"The first thing. I'll give you a love potion. This is not a great sin… The potion will bring your man back home. It will bring him back, but it won't keep him there."