I uncapped the bottle. The smell hit me immediately, warm and complex, the butterscotch and caramel notes that I'd catalogued during long nights in the Sanctum when Belle was underneath me and the taste of her was the only thing that mattered in the universe. My body recognized the scent before my brain finished processing it, something in my blood chemistry responding to Silver-tier essence the way a dehydrated person responds to water.
I drank.
The first mouthful coated my throat like silk. My stomach accepted it, and then something happened that I'd experienced dozens of times before but never in a combat scenario.
The warmth started in my core and moved outward through my veins, a gentle pressure that wasn't heat and wasn't pleasure but occupied the space where the two met.
