Chapter 36
Chapter
Thirty-Six
Ifill my basket entirely with remedies for Hazel’s practice. I thought with winter truly giving way to spring, the sickness around Tarragon would tamp down, but it has only increased.
People aren’t getting the treatment they need soon enough, meaning illnesses are spreading far more than they ever have before.
Hazel and Elara barely have time for a tea break these days with their patients pouring through the doors by the hour. Which means I’m constantly replenishing their remedies to keep their patients healthy and stepping in to help whenever necessary.
But today I have an ulterior motive.
The vials sit at the very bottom of my basket.
I picked them up from the library this morning.
I want to see if they still shine when Elara touches them.
We need to figure out what this god’s blood is for, why my mother kept it for all these years.
Maybe Elara is a key part of figuring all of this out.
I make my way through the forest quickly, my feet skipping over toadstools and vines of ivy. I don’t know why I am rushing, though perhaps subconsciously I don’t want any lurking shields to see me.
They have been out in these woods even more since the night of Alice’s funeral. As if they need to keep a close eye on what is going on out here. No doubt it results from Hawthorne’s orders.
I can’t stop thinking about the day he threatened me, telling me to be careful with my shop. What will he do the next time I rub him the wrong way?
I gasp as a swallow cuts me off, flitting around right in front of me.
His wings flap gracefully as he performs a dance. It almost feels as if he’s trying to catch my attention. The thought lingers as the bird does in front of me, almost as if it’s waiting for something to happen.
“Go on,” I whisper, gesturing with my hand for him to move along.
He turns, gliding down the very path I am following to get to Hazel’s place.
I frown as I follow him. The closer we get to Hazel’s house, the less this feels like a coincidence.
It reminds me of the day that the hare led me almost exactly to where the purple mushrooms were, and that sparrow that pecked the spine of the book in my father’s study.
Two times is a coincidence. Three times is a pattern.
The bird banks around the last corner before Hazel’s practice and shoots up into the canopy, disappearing into the green wonderland above.
I shake my head as I take another step forward, ridding myself of the feelings of uncertainty floating around inside of me.
I’ve always had a connection with animals, but it’s never been so obvious that if someone was watching me, they could realise what is going on. But that just now? If any shields were hiding behind the bushes, I would be in chains within seconds.
I close my eyes, trying to settle my mind so that I can be a source of comfort when I get to the practice. They need my help, not my confusion.
That’s when I hear a scream.
I look up to see men in black pouring out of Hazel’s front door, two of them dragging her behind them.
My heart beats erratically in my chest as the swallow swoops back down, flying around one shield’s head, distracting him as he tries to bat the bird away, but the swallow dodges every swing of his hand.
I drop my basket, trying to figure out how I can get over there without being seen. I need to do something. I have to.
But that’s when my eyes catch Captain Barton’s large form as he strides over to his horse and pulls an iron contraption from his saddlebag. He walks straight back over to where Hazel is kicking the guards around her, her hoarse screams coming from the pit of her stomach.
My heart stops cold at the sound of her desperate cries, but before I can move any closer, I trip over a vine that my feet somehow got tangled in. I lose my breath as my back slams into the ground. For a moment, I see nothing but stars before I force myself up.
I yank at the vines, frantically trying to free my feet.
I look up with patchy vision in time to see Barton fitting the contraption over Hazel’s face before locking it in place and leaving her with something akin to a bridle over her head.
She still tries to scream, but the piece of metal covering her mouth muffles her voice.
My breathing is loud in my ears as I grunt and finally pull myself free of the vines. I move to run after her as soon as I stand, but I only manage a few steps before I am being dragged back.
A hand covers my mouth as I thrash against my captor and helplessly watch Hazel do the same as the shields haul her towards their horses.
My breathing is frenzied, my mind a flood of panic. I open my mouth before biting down hard on the palm that covers my mouth. With a hiss, my captor pulls their hand away, but they don’t let me go.
“Hazel!” I scream, but she can’t hear me from where she is being thrown over the back of a horse.
“Evie!” My heart stops at the voice in my ear. “Stop fighting me.”
I yank myself out of Silas’s arms just as Barton kicks the belly of his horse, sending it careening through the trees. The rest of them follow, including the shield that has Hazel draped in front of him.
My breath gets stuck in my lungs as my legs give out, leaving me on my hands and knees staring at the empty space they left.
This has to be a nightmare—this isn’t right. I throw my palm against my cheek, trying to wake myself up again and again, but it's no use.
I’m awake. This is real.
“Evie,” I feel a hand on my shoulder.
I jerk away from his touch. “Don’t you dare,” I growl before whipping around to face him. “What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Silas rears back as the curse flies from my mouth.
I stand up on wobbly knees, and throw myself at him, my hands pushing against his chest. “Why would you stop me?!” I scream at him. “I could’ve helped her!” My breath shoots out of me as I step away from him.
His face draws into a frown. “Are you serious?” he yells back. “What were you going to do against eight Royal Shields, Everleigh? Ask them to let her go?”
I let out an exasperated laugh as I glare back at him. “I wouldn’t have just let them take her without trying!” Tears flood my eyes. “You know exactly what is going to happen to her!”
“Yes!” he screams. “I do. And I don’t want the same thing to happen to you and that is exactly what would’ve happened if you ran over there!”
I shake my head, feeling sick as I look at him. “Who are you?”
“Evie,” he pleads.
“No, Silas.” I hold my hand out, forcing him to keep his distance, before picking up my basket. “Don’t call me that.”
I don’t spare him a second glance before I’m running back through the forest, the world around me a green blur as I sprint faster than I ever have back to my cabin.
A million thoughts run through my mind as I jump over upturned roots and careen around corners, my heart beating faster within my chest with every passing second. A smudge of brown whizzes past my face, the swallow cutting through the trees next to me until I meet the grassy clearing.
I push my cabin door open, empty my basket onto the floor and hide the vials beneath the cushion on the lounge before I sprint back outside.
Not bothering with a saddle, I grip Merlin’s mane and swing myself onto his back, kicking him into a gallop as we take off back into the trees.