Chapter 13 – Sera
Chapter Thirteen
SERA
Summer solstice will be here in a few short weeks. Time has flown faster than I thought possible, and I’m no closer to finding a cure for my curse. Perhaps I never will.
I worry my bottom lip between my teeth as I make my way to Alex’s wing.
I don’t even know when I saw him last, and it’s been torture keeping my distance.
The faint tug of the bond reminds me of his presence every day, allowing me to avoid him in the halls and the gardens.
Seeing him would only make it worse, so I’ve stayed away.
This? Coming to his room? It’s a terrible idea. I never should have—
Alex swings the door open, and I back up a step, my hand going to my throat. I take in the dark circles marring his eyes, his sallow skin, and blurt out, “You look like shit.”
“I feel like shit,” he replies.
“The vespira finally catch up with you?” I don’t even know why I’m asking, but I overheard Kian mention it to Rae, and I’ve been worried sick. I had no idea how bad it was until this moment.
“Something like that.” He tilts his head and curves his lips into a half grin. “Spitfire.”
I try to ignore the slight flutter in my stomach at the nickname I haven’t heard in months.
“To what do I owe the pleasure of your presence? I was beginning to think you left again.”
“Kian sent me.” I purse my lips, shoving down the guilt at not checking on him sooner.
“Of course he did,” he grumbles. “Why are you actually here though?” He backs into the room, and I follow at what I hope is a safe distance.
“He told me I need to take you to visit Margot.”
He should have sent me sooner. Alex is a mess. The curtains are drawn, giving the room a bleak feel. There are piles of clothes and books everywhere, so unlike the usually tidy male before me.
“And since when do you take orders from him?” Alex runs a hand over the back of his favorite chair, the fabric frayed thin.
“He’s the prince, isn’t he?” I avoid Alex’s gaze, not wanting to admit I volunteered. “He gave me no choice. I couldn’t say no.”
“Sure.” He nods. “Makes perfect sense.”
Alex clearly doesn’t believe me, so I roll my eyes and sigh, trying to act unaffected. “Well, are you coming or not?” I gesture to the door.
“I still don’t understand why you’re dragging me to Margot’s, but I guess I don’t have a choice if the prince wills it,” he replies, voice dripping with sarcasm and an undercurrent of hurt.
“Kian said your withdrawal symptoms have been horrible.”
“How would he know?” He puts on a wrinkled summer waistcoat and walks past me.
“It’s pretty damned obvious,” I retort, following him out to the hall.
“I look that bad, huh?”
“Yep.”
Worse. Gods, it breaks my damned heart to see him struggling, but I can’t fix him. I really hope Margot can help.
Alex puts a hand exaggeratedly over his chest. “My lady, your honesty cuts like a knife.”
“You’d rather I lie to your face?” I shake my head.
“Kind of.”
“You look dashing, my lord, but perhaps a trip to Margot’s would be of good use to you.”
He rolls his eyes at my pathetic attempt at humor. “Fine.”
When we finally get to the stables and the carriage awaiting us, I pull the door open before he can get to it.
“In you go.”
“I still don’t understand why you’re coming with me,” he says.
“To make sure you actually go this time,” I retort. “Kian said he’s asked you to visit Margot twice already and you’ve never gone.”
“Is he having me watched?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Margot told him,” I reply.
“Of course.”
We ride in painful silence into Elsmont. I stare out the small window at the trees exploding with life and flowers, another reminder of how much time has passed. Will I spend an entire year trapped with this curse? Another winter isolated from everyone I care about?
The carriage rumbles down the road, and we finally pull up in front of Margot’s apothecary. After what she did for Papa Johnny, I only hope she can work some of that magic on Alex.
I reach for the carriage door, but Alex beats me to it, jumping out before me, then holding his hand out in offering.
While I don’t need his help, I take it, giving him a nod of thanks. Is it terrible that I miss the easy banter we used to share?
The bell at the door jingles as we enter the warm and inviting space.
“I’ll be right out!” a matronly voice calls from the back, and I take my time examining the room.
The shelves lining the walls are filled with tiny jars and pouches while herbs hang from the ceiling like garlands.
My eyes can’t help but drift over to Alex, who stands with his arms crossed tightly in front of him, looking rather nervous.
“You okay?” I drop my voice low.
He nods. “I’m fine.”
I frown, not quite believing him. Is that sweat dotting his brow? Maybe Margot has some water. He doesn’t look well, and I note how he squeezes his eyes shut, his hands clenched into fists.
The dark-haired healer finally enters the front of her shop, drying her hands with a small towel.
“How might I help you, dears?” she asks brightly before recognition lights her eyes. “Alex and Sera, right?”
“Correct,” I reply. “Nice to see you, Margot. Thanks again for taking care of Johnny. He’s a completely different person since you treated him.”
“Of course, my dear,” Margot replies with a warm smile. “He’s a sweetheart.” She sniffs the air curiously, and Alex stiffens beside me. But when she approaches me instead of Alex, her eyes gleaming with curiosity, I back up a step.
“We’re not here for me. I’m just accompanying Alex.”
“Quite right,” Margot chirps. “That doesn’t mean you’re not in need of help too.”
“There is no help for me,” I say, trying to tamp down the hopelessness of my curse.
Margot raises a brow. “Not with that attitude.”
Before I can retort, Alex cuts in. “Margot, Kian told me you’re descended from the goddess Galyna?”
Margot chuckles, waving him off. “So they say. I think I just have a knack for healing.”
She finally turns away from me and approaches Alex. “May I?” she asks, raising her hands toward his face.
He shrugs. “I guess?”
Margot closes her eyes, a crease forming on her weathered brow as she rests her hands on his temples. The tension in Alex’s body seems to completely melt out of him, and he takes a deep, shuddering breath. What did she do?
With a gentle tap on his cheek, Margot makes unnerving eye contact with Alex.
She’s so close to him, the oddest pang of jealousy rips through me, which is ridiculous.
It’s Margot, and I’m fairly sure she’s bound, though I’ve never met the man.
This damned mate bond is pissing me off.
I should have never volunteered for this.
“Alex, my dear, I can give you a tonic to help stave off the cravings, but this journey will be one hard fought by sheer force of will,” Margot finally says after spending far too much time staring into his eyes.
Alex wilts, disappointment clouding his features, and I can’t help my own distress that there’s not a quick fix for him.
Margot places a hand over his heart. “Until you fix what’s broken in here”—she pats his chest—“you’ll find the lure of vespira root hard to withstand, even with the medicine I make for you.”
He nods stiffly, and Margot turns back to me, laying a hand on my shoulder. “The answer to your curse isn’t in this realm.”
“What?” I blink in surprise at the chill her words evoke. Did Kian tell her about my curse?
A sly smile curves Margot’s lips, and she brushes a strand of hair behind my ear. Alex looks shaken, his gaze darting between me and her. Oh no, did my glamour slip?
“Just what I said, dearie,” Margot croons. “You’ll not find your answer here. You must return from whence the curse came.”
Anger bubbles up inside me at her words. Does she even know what she’s talking about? “That’s just cruel, Margot. I’ve been trapped here for nigh on a century. If I could return home, don’t you think I would have?”
Margot tsks. “When gods return to the forsaken realm, doors once closed will reopen.” This time, Margot pierces me with her unearthly silver stare. “A new goddess has risen. Answers lie with her.”
Did something change? When Rae and Kian returned from their travels, they told me about her disastrous meeting with the gods on Celestia and how she had no new information.
“How do you know all this?” Alex blurts out. “How do we know there’s any truth to your words?”
“Believe me or not, I just call it like I see it. I’ve been around a long time. Wait here, my dears. I’ll be right back with a tonic for Alex.” Margot disappears into the back of the apothecary with a grace that belies her age.
Irritation flares at her cryptic messages and disappointing diagnoses, and I pace back and forth.
“You’ll wear the rug thin,” Alex remarks.
“It’s already thin, ” I retort.
He drops his voice to a whisper. “Do you think she actually knows what she’s talking about?”
“She knows something,” I whisper back, playing her words over in my mind. “I don’t think she’s telling us everything. And I’m not convinced she is who she says she is.”
“That’s odd.”
“She’s odd.” I frown. “I’ve always thought she’s far too powerful to be merely a descendant of a goddess.”
Something about Margot hints at otherworldly.
I don’t believe for one second that she’s a distant relative of Galyna.
She’s either from another realm like I am, or another demi-god has been hiding in plain sight for the last few centuries.
Her appearance gives me pause; the fact that she’s aged at all means she’s either really old or she’s hiding behind a glamour of her own.
The faint shuffle of feet draws our attention to Margot’s return. She holds out a handful of vials filled with a shimmering green tonic to Alex.
“Here you go, my boy,” she says, handing them over.
“Take half a vial every morning and night for a week, and then switch to half a vial every other day for another week. Once that’s complete, keep some vials on hand in case of severe cravings.
I’ll make up some more and have them delivered to the palace. ”