Chapter 18
Night fell, and crackling embers continued consuming the charred wood where the cold wind brushed over them.
Wrapped in a thick wool cloak and a hood pulled over her head, Anelize stood in the alley across the street, staring at Yarrow’s Apothecary & Remedies, or what little was left of it.
She’d thought—when she insisted to see it for herself—that, at the very least, she would have found something of the place she’d once grown-up in. She’d been wrong.
The scent of smoke filled the air, clouds wafting up to the starless sky.
“Why would they do this? I don’t understand,” she heard Idris murmur from behind her, where she knew Aeric and Adan were lingering, along with Henry.
It hadn’t come as a surprise that they’d insisted upon coming along once they realized she would go one way or another, regardless if they agreed or not.
Henry said, his voice low and disapproving, “Fear is an unpredictable foe. Those who fear what they do not understand resort to doing anything they can to preserve their lives as they once had.”
“This isn’t fear. This is pure hatred,” Adan rasped.
“Do you think they even know the difference, son? They are merely doing as they’ve been encouraged by the king. Do not forget who the true enemy is here, why we are all divided in the first place.”
“They know. Unless they’re all just fools.” Adan said in answer.
She could feel their attentive eyes boring into her.
Try as she might, she couldn’t bring herself to look away from the remains of her father’s shop.
His most prized possession. A place once filled with memories.
All of his journals that she’d kept in her room.
Enid’s belongings she’d loved dearly. All of it was gone.
Only a black stain left behind in its wake.
Footsteps approached as they stepped over the snow.
“Anya.” When Aeric spoke her name with such care, she closed her eyes, warding off the sting from the smoke in the air.
“And Magda? What of her?” she asked, glancing over her shoulder. They were the first words she’d brought herself to utter since leaving the tavern.
“Gabriel didn’t make any mention of seeing her leave the shop,” Adan replied, his dark eyes nearly black as he watched her where he stood leaning against the wall.
“I’m sorry, we don’t know if she survived. It would seem…” Henry said, hesitating.
“I see,” she murmured, her voice sounding too far even to her own ears.
She could feel Aeric’s weighty attention on her as she turned away from the shop. She did not look any of them in the eye, not wanting to see the pity or even their anger. There was no need for either. It wouldn’t change what happened here.
“Let’s go back. I’ve seen enough.”
The moment they returned, Anelize spoke to no one. She merely walked up the stairs and slid past her door before closing it behind her. No one came to see her, nor did she want them to as she went about washing up and changing out of her dress, before sliding beneath the covers.
Sleep hadn’t come to her, so she stared at the ceiling, thinking about all that she’d lost and just how much more she could take.
The next morning, she hadn’t gotten out of bed.
In fact, she found it was much easier to sleep the day away.
There was no talk of conjuring, or the Loom, or even how she was going to find her sister.
There simply was…nothing. And it was so easy.
Easier to give up than to try and fail, over and over again.
Find a way to get up, only to be shoved back down.
In between her dreamless sleep, she could have sworn she’d seen a shadow beneath the door.
Standing there far longer than she expected, before it faded away.
As if whoever had been on the other side had contemplated knocking before ultimately deciding against it.
And so, she drifted off to sleep once more.
Later that evening, she stirred awake in time to hear footsteps hurrying down the hall to her door.
“Wait, we can’t just disturb her,” came Zara’s soft voice.
“So, you would leave her to wallow in self-pity for the rest of her life?” a voice she, unfortunately, knew all too well challenged next. “That is not going to happen.”
Releasing a groan, she pulled the covers over her head and urged herself to sleep once more.
“We all have our ways of coping, Adan. Anelize has lost her sister and now she’s just lost her home. If she wants to be alone for a time, she deserves to do so.”
“Sorry to disappoint but we don’t have a few days, Zara.”
The door suddenly swung open, crashing into the wall. Footsteps stalked right into her room and stopped only when they reached the foot of her bed. Anelize gripped the covers tighter in preparation, before the most irritating man in all of Elvir said, “Get up.”
“Go away,” she rasped.
“What was that? I couldn’t hear you behind all your cowering.”
Anelize gritted her teeth, saying louder, “I said, go away.”
The footsteps moved once more, closer this time. Something made the mattress near her head sink, a hand. A moment later she heard Adan’s voice in her ear as he leaned down. “Get up, Anya. Or I will make you.”
When she didn’t do as he said, she gasped when the covers were suddenly yanked off her.
“Have you gone mad?” she yelled, fumbling to cover herself when she became acutely aware that she was wearing nothing more than her chemise. The sudden cold made her shiver and the hairs on her arms stand on end.
Adan’s eyes didn’t so much as rove over her before he regarded.
“Don’t flatter yourself.” Dropping the covers over the edge of the bed, he turned to head for the door, as if he hadn’t just invaded her space like a storm.
“We have work to do. Get dressed and meet me downstairs. Your lesson starts in ten minutes. Zara will give you something to wear that isn’t a damn dress. ”
Anelize sneered. “I’m seriously debating killing you one of these days.”
“I’d love to see you try. Ten minutes! Or I’ll be back here to drag you out,” he called before leaving her seething with Zara, who merely granted her an apologetic smile.
Adan had taken one look at her upon stepping into the stables before he nodded in what looked to be approval. Zara had given her a tunic with long sleeves, black pants, and a pair of boots to wear for her training today.
Anelize muttered under her breath, trying to push away the haze along her vision that seemed to last longer the more she conjured every day, and was surprised to find that Aeric and Idris were both there when she stepped inside.
They appeared to have been sparring long before she’d arrived, their shirts clinging to their backs as their swords clashed and ricocheted in their quick movements as they dodged and rushed each other.
A wide smile reached Aeric’s lips as he shoved Idris back before landing a punch to his gut.
He looked entirely too comfortable wielding a sword that she couldn’t help but watch him.
His dark hair had been tied back, a few strands hanging loosely around his face.
Idris faltered only for a second before sending a series of attacks that Anelize was sure she’d never be able to defend herself from.
They at least appeared to be enjoying themselves.
Anelize and Adan, however, looked to be entering their own personal hell.
“Imagine I’m one of those guards who tried to take you.
You stopped them in a brief moment of panic where your power did the work for you, the instinct to survive having kicked in.
Do it intentionally now. Concentrate on moving my arm.
Direct it to where you want it to go. Just like you did to the guard, but without breaking any bones, yeah? ” Adan challenged.
Anelize blew out a sigh before drawing a line of blood on her finger, a crimson droplet falling to the hay strewn across the floor.
Conjuring her gift, she focused first on hearing his heart.
Idris and Aeric’s were pounding like rain falling across cobblestones, too quick to keep track of whereas Adan’s was calm.
Opening her eyes, she looked at him before slowly tilting her hand up.
His heart leading her to his blood, then his arm as she concentrated.
Willed it to move. It felt as though she were trying to move a stone pillar by pushing it with her bare hands.
The sound of her own heartbeat reached her ears as she pressed once more, coaxing her power.
For a moment, she caught sight of his hand twitch then it moved, reaching forward in a trembling manner. Adan frowned as he watched her bring his arm up right. As if he were reaching his hand toward her. When she pulled her gift back, she felt out of breath.
Adan nodded and his terse approval sparked satisfaction within her. “Good. Go again.”
Again, she managed to move his arms and legs. At times, she’d grow impatient and would yank him suddenly, which earned her another scowl. Not that she’d cared so long as she could conjure and do something for a change.
“If the guards attack you, how would you stop an attack from coming? Say, if they rushed you?”
“I don’t—”
Adan was before her in a blink, his long legs consuming the already short distance between them faster than she could anticipate. She stumbled back, only for him to grab her arm and steady her.
His grin was strictly self-indulgent. “Let’s go again, this time anticipate me. Always expect an attack to come your way, never let your guard down.”
Stopping his attacks were far more difficult than she wanted to admit. Adan never harmed her, but his fist hovering mere inches away from her face told her all she needed to know about how, if this had been a real fight, she’d be dead.