1. CHAPTER 1 #3
Over time, I had built an immunity to the poisons.
I had studied plants all my life, and I would be damned if I was ever taken out by my own trade.
The castle was a dangerous place, and I needed to be mindful of that.
We were human, without the benefit of common magic at our fingertips.
We needed to craft our own advantage. Mother had shown me how to titrate the poisons when I first began studying herbcraft as a young girl.
We had both been taking them to safeguard ourselves ever since.
They had no effect on me now.
Despite its dreadful taste, I was now immune to the harmful side effects stirring within.
Enora reappeared, the seashell curtain rattling in her wake as she reentered the main shop.
“This one?” she asked, holding up the worn navy coverlet. Its sun-bleached pages were visible between the grip of her long, elegant fingers.
“That’s the one.” I gave her a tight smile as I moved toward the door, slipping the tincture into my dress pocket.
This would be enough to get me through the next week, at least. Possibly two.
Enora watched as I pulled the shades down on the shop window, her gaze assessing.
She might not have seen what I had done—but she knew.
I tried my best to hide it from her lest she try to stop me, but I also didn’t relish her judgment.
She simply didn’t understand. In a world ruled by fae, poison was one of my only armors.
Despite growing up together, she could never understand what it felt like to be human in the realm of Aeloria. The kingdom of Myros might not be as cruel to humans as the others, but we were certainly at the bottom of the social hierarchy.
Right above goblins and sprites.
“Shall I escort you back to the castle, then?” she asked, watching me close up the shop with her arms crossed tightly over her chest.
She could certainly smell it on me, even from this distance.
“If you wouldn’t mind,” I answered, closing the last blind and moving toward the door.
I pulled the shade closed across the stained glass embedded in the oak.
As I reached to search for the shop keys in my satchel, an ear-piercing screech rent the air.
I fell against the door in shock, my hands pressing over my ears to cover them as the keys fell to the floor.
Enora had fallen to one knee, her expression scrunched in pain.
Fae hearing was far superior to that of a human. If the sound hurt my ears, I couldn’t imagine how it had felt to her. My hand was quaking as I reached toward the window shade on the door, wrenching it back up.
Mere moments ago, I had been gazing at the storm over the sea. The skies had been empty save for the thundering clouds that threatened from above. My hand reached for the deadbolt, sliding it into place and only releasing my heaving breath when I heard the bolt slide home.
“What is it?” Enora asked, falling to both knees to crawl across the floor, joining me beneath the window.
If we stayed here behind the heavy wooden door, everything would be fine.
We would be safe. A staggering breath lifted my chest as my gaze locked on Enora’s.
I clutched my satchel to my chest in a false sense of comfort as the screech sounded once more, filling the skies with a reverberating cry that I could feel deep in my bones.
“Aveline, what is that? What’s out there?” Enora’s voice was insistent as she curled her fingers along the bottom of the colored windowpane. She pulled herself up only enough to peer through the dusty, colored glass.
She fell back to the floor with a startled utterance, scrambling across the floor to tuck herself behind the long oak counter, out of sight. There was only room for one of us to safely hide beneath the solid oak door.
Those cries.
I knew what I would see before I even looked, but I couldn’t stop myself from turning to peer through the pane above me.
I knew that King Faris had thought Gothryn might attack—but Kallias was under the impression that we had arrived at a truce.
Hadn’t he told me only last week that we were at peace with Gothryn for the first time, after decades of rivalry and negotiations?
My eyes searched the thunderous sky above. My mouth fell open as black scales filled my vision, far too close for comfort.
They were flying right over the port.
I sucked in another heaving breath as more scales skimmed across my vision, soaring overhead.
These weren’t the colorless obsidian of the first beast, but a deep crimson, the same shade as dried blood.
Another screech tore through the air, setting my skin aflame with gooseflesh.
My eyes were wild as they latched onto Enora’s from across the room.
It had been a decade since they had breached the shores of Myros.
Maybe longer. I had hoped that in my lifetime I would never gaze upon them.
Never experience the fear that stirred in my belly at the sound of their war cries.
Never set my own eyes on their colossal, scaled bodies.
Their sharp, daggered tails. Their sinewy wings sharpened to pointed claws.
The curfew.
The soldiers of Myros had known…that’s why they had started to usher everyone inside. Our scouts must have spotted them off the shore.
They were here. After all this talk of war…they were finally here.
The princes of Blackwater.
Dragons.