I bit my lip against the familiar retort rising in my throat. Although I was reasonably skilled at chopping ingredients and identifying plants and herbs, I had no talent or love for herbalism. Mother had always pushed me to follow in her footsteps as a healer, because herbalism didn’t require innate magic to master, but to me it was a chore, not a labor of love.
She didn’t know that I planned to sneak out and participate in the tryouts tomorrow. And I had no intention of telling her, because if I did, she would do everything in her power to stop me.
“Let’s finish chopping up the gillyroot so I can get to bed,” I told her, rising from my chair. “I’m tired and I want to go to sleep early.”
We went back into the apothecary shop, and continued the task while Mother quizzed me, asking me to identify the various herbs and ingredients that hung from the ceiling and lined the shelves in glass jars. As I did, she took the shredded roots into her hands and held them briefly to infuse them with magic. The pieces of root began to glow lavender after just a few seconds, perfuming the air with their potent scent, and then she put the activated roots into a second bowl before repeating the process.
No matter how many plants I memorized and how many recipes I brewed, I wouldneverbe able to make potions as potent and effective as Mother’s. I hadn’t inherited her special talent for enhancing the natural properties of plants, or any other earth magic that would help me.
We were nearly finished preparing the roots when the door opened, and a male walked in. I stared at him with open curiosity—he was obviously a traveler, judging by the heavy pack he carried and the sturdy, dust covered boots he wore.
“Good evening,” he greeted us, tipping his hat respectfully. “Do you have any everbright potion for sale? I was told you brew it here.”
“I do.” Mother wiped her hands on her apron, then moved to one of the shelves. She reached for a row of bottles filled with a golden potion that shimmered like liquid metal. “How many do you need?”
“Five.”
Mother paused. “That’s going to cost you.”
“I know.” He sighed heavily. “But there aren’t too many healers around that sell the stuff, and I don’t know when I’m going to find it next. You can’t travel without it these days, not with all these shadow creatures roaming about.”
“How bad is it out there?” I asked, a little apprehensive of the answer. If this man was traveling the roads alone, surely that meant it couldn’t be too dangerous. But the lines of worry around his eyes and mouth told a different story.
The traveler turned to face me, his eyes sharpening with interest. They were a stunning green, with a gold ring around the pupils I’d never seen on any earth fae before. “A water fae,” he said, looking me up and down. “Don’t see too many of you in small villages like this.”
No, there weren’t. In the nineteen years I’d lived in Fenwood, I’d only seen a water fae once—a female who’d come to the village when I was only four years old, at the behest of my mother. I didn’t remember her name or where she’d come from, but she’d worn fine clothing and had a powerful aura around her, marking her as a Greater Fae.
Most fae in Ediria were lesser fae—males and females who could only control one aspect of an element. For example, Mavlyn could command plants to do her bidding, while Dune had the ability to manipulate the earth itself. But a Greater Earth Fae was able to do both, as well as anything else once could think of using earth magic for.
I didn’t know how Mother had gotten a Greater Fae to come and assess my magic, but the fae had spent an hour with me, and then told her that there was something inside me that was blocking my magic, twisting the pathways so that very little of it could come out. And that until that blockage was resolved, I would never be able to use it.
Unfortunately, I’d never been able to figure out what the blockage was or how to remove it, no matter how many hours I spent meditating or practicing control. And at this rate, I didn’t think I ever would.
“This is my daughter, Adara,” Mother said. “Her father was a water fae. And my name is Chaya. What did you say your name was, again?”
“Kiryan.” His eyes never left mine. “To answer your question, it depends on where you are. Here in Domhain, shadow creature attacks are still rare, because the air fae are doing a pretty good job of killing them before they can make it past the Gaoth Aire mountains and into the rest of the kingdom. But their numbers must be increasing, because more are slipping through. I was attacked by a shadow nymph a few days ago, and I was out of everbright. If she’d managed to bite me, I would have died.”
I winced. Shadow creatures were actually normal creatures and animals who’d been corrupted by shadow magic. The nymph who’d attacked this man had probably once been a peaceful wood nymph before the taint had warped her into something malicious and unrecognizable.
No one knew exactly why the shadow magic had infected our world, but we all knew the infection had started in the Deadlands, where the dragons had once lived before King Aolis had wiped them out. Some suspected that maybe the dragons had been dabbling in shadow magic, and the taint they’d left behind simply multiplied, running rampant through the Deadlands. The leaders of the three elemental houses—Air, Water, and Earth—combined forces with the king to create a wall around the Deadlands to contain the shadow creatures. But the Air Mountains ran directly into the Deadlands, making it a weak spot that required constant defenders. And sometimes, creatures made it through.
“Well, let’s load you up with a few bottles, then.” Mother grabbed six off the shelf, then brought them to the counter.
“I asked for five,” the man pointed out.
“Yes.” She smiled. “The sixth one is on the house.”
“Are you sure?” the man hesitated. “I know how costly these are—”
“The cost of these is nothing compared to the value of your life,” she interrupted. “I’m sure you have your reasons for braving these roads alone, and I would hate for you to find yourself at the mercy of a shadow creature again with no potion to help you.”
The traveler inclined his head. “Blessings upon you, then.”
He gave my mother four silver coins from his money pouch, then took his pack off so he could put the potions inside it. Everbright potion was a funny thing—originally used by deep divers who wanted to illuminate their surroundings, it lit you up from the inside out with a temporary glow that lasted up to three hours. But someone discovered that the light effect was also a cure for shadow magic infections, provided that you took the potion right away. If you waited too long, or were bitten too many times, the shadow magic would become too potent for the potion to work. But if you were fast enough, it saved lives.
Unfortunately, the herb that was used to make the potion was hard to find, because the stuff only grew near seawater. Mother had to have it imported from either Talamh, which aside from being the capital, was the closest port city to Fenwood, or from Lochanlee, the Water Realm. So as much as she wished she could make it affordable for everyone, she had to charge top price for it.
The traveler wished us well, and Mother locked the door behind him as he left. “He is either very brave or very foolish to be traveling the roads in this day and age by himself,” she told me. “Honestly, Adara, it’s a good thing that you and Dune weren’t serious. He’s going to go off and get himself killed, all in service to a spineless king who’s done nothing to protect our kingdom.”
