“This merger will be everything we need,” she hissed as soon as the dressmaker was out of earshot. “So don’t mess this upfor us. You’re going to behave yourself. I know that look in your eyes.”
I clenched my jaw, wishing I wasn’t so damn expressive. My face always got caught before my words.
“You willnotruin this for us.” Her hand squeezed harder and I winced, pain shooting through my arm.
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. My words clogged up in my throat anyway. WhatcouldI say? I’d always loved staying under the radar, being ignored by my family and spending my time in the potions lab instead.
It was the heart of our business after all. Greyleaf’s Apothecary—our family business—was well-known for its potions. We sold them globally and I’d always thought that we’d been doing extremely well. Especially with the amount of wealth that my mother and father ran through so often.
But, according to my mother, the only way we would be able to expand into the northern countries would be by merging with Ashvale Potions. Their eldest son, Corwin Ashvale, was the witch I was supposed to marry. Our families both belonged to a long line of green witches. Our lines probably interconnected at some point, too.
I cringed at the thought that Corwin was actually one of my cousins once removed or something. It was a puke-worthy concept. Even looking at him, he wasn’t my type. Tall, dark-haired and pretentious.
If I was less afraid of my mother, I’d tell her that Corwin was morehertype than mine. I liked males who were stronger, less refined.Deeper.But instead, I kept my words to myself, as I always did.
Talking back only made her more cruel. I’d learned to keep my silence. In fact, I’d perfected the art of retorting in my head butneverout loud. The one or two times I’d done it when I was younger, I’d been screamed at, insulted and then left in my room—alone—for two weeks.
But I wasn’t sure what she expected from me when it came to Corwin. The last conversation I’d had with him had ended with him scowling at me after I asked him what the last book he’d read had been.
“Reading is for ugly witches, Hanna,” he’d scoffed. “The rest of us spend time out in therealworld.”
And by the real world, he meant out with all the same shallow, pretentious assholes who comprised our socio-economic bracket. I’d come to understand that Corwin spent his time out at parties and soirees just like my parents. That’s where they’d met after all.
I could usually get out of them by wearing a dress that was atadtoo tight. The moment my mom saw a roll, she was more than happy to tell everyone that I wasn’t feeling well enough to leave the house.
I was almost certain that the rest of the world thought I had some kind of congenital disease. Not many of them had seen me since I’d turned twelve and had put on more weight than wasseemly. Not that I minded.
Spending time with all the people working in our home, instead of with my parents, wasfarsuperior to spending the night pretending I was having a good time, while tiny little bites of food floated around that no one ever ate.
I’d never understand how earth practitioners could be so far away from our roots. Green witches had traditionally been known for their enjoyment of food, sex and nature.Myfamily barely ate,rarelyhad sex from what I could tell from my parents sleeping in different wings of the house, andneverwent out into nature. It was downright depressing.
I was different than them, though. I was a foodie—to the consternation of everyone around me—I loved to be out in open spaces as much as I could and, so far, I hadn’t had much sex but,from what I could tell, I enjoyed it.
Ilovedcreating potions, too. Something that my mother and father didn’t do either. They relied on the old recipes from my grandmother, as well as any new ones that she’d put together when I was younger. It wasn’t until I was an apprentice in the apothecary that I’d started experimenting.
Those experiments had paid off. And while my mother always had a lot to say about everything I did, that was the one area she’d actually seemed... proud.
Now there were three potions that bore my signature calling card. The green hue that was imbued by my magick. We’d put them into mass production and they were now amongst our best sellers.
I figured that with a few more potions, I would be able to make a dent in the expectations that were placed on me by my parents. Eventually they would love me, I was sure.
Andthis,I thought, with a deep breath,is why I’m going to marry Corwin. Even if I think he’s a pompous ass, he’s what they need. For the apothecary and for the family.
“I love it,” I lied, sending my mother a fake smile.
Her own smile grew satisfied and her claw-like grasp on my arm loosened. “Good,” she told me, patting my arm as if I was a well-behaved pet.
Chapter 2
Hanna
Ifelt ridiculous in my getup as I made my way up the elevator of Ashvale Potions. I should’ve known my outfit was a bad idea the moment I had to call in three of the females who worked at our home to zip it up.
The dress was red—bold, brave, and exactly one size tighter than my pride. It hugged every curve like it was auditioning for a job, and my heels were tall enough to qualify as an Olympic sport. But my mother had insisted that I start visiting the company and thatthiswould be what I was wearing to do it.
By the time I reached his building, my toes had gone numb, my thighs were plotting rebellion, and my lip gloss could’ve blinded a small animal. I caught my reflection in the mirrored doors—hair laid, skin glowing, smile sharp enough to cut glass—and for a second, I wondered if every time I looked into a mirror for the rest of my life, I’d never see myself reflected back.
Ignoring that depressing thought and focusing instead on the lunch that I’d made and packed for Corwin—although I was almost certain that he wouldn’t eat it just like he hadn’t eatenevery other mealI’d ever made for him. Instead he spent the time commenting on howhigh in fatall the ingredients were. The lunch was tucked nicely inside a little bag with the Greyleaf’s Apothecary logo on it.
