Chapter 1
Fallon
Iknew, all too well, that a woman’s work was never done. Starting while the sun slept tight didn't calm the anxiety that there was always too much to do. All of it too important to leave to someone else. As I stood still, hands beginning to sweat, my spiraling thoughts only made it worse. The list grew longer as the town’s healer loomed before me, fists on hips.
“Stop being so stubborn,” she said.
I rolled my eyes, trying to pass this off like it was no big deal. “Like I haven’t heard that one before.”
It was never a good day when Lenora had to grab my tender, nick-covered hands from my apron pockets.
“Try to think of something positive while it works.”
Okay, so not my Aunt's voice telling me:You’re wasting the healer's time. She’s not about to cure your Hollow Fever.
Lenora’s magic filled my joints as I foughtnot to fall into my Aunt’s practical pessimism. Nothing cured it, I knew that, so the reminder was unhelpful. I didn’t ask for Lenora’s help this morning, or after she gave me her last round of potions to try, but Goddsdamn my hands hurt. Of course on the day I could afford it the least. “Why is this taking so long?”
The healer smirked, used to my inability to sit still. “Because it's magic, not a miracle. Breathe. Keep thinking positive thoughts.”
So not Lenora telling me:You’re going to die alone at your cutting board, burn the kitchen down, or end up in the second stage of the fever if you keep up this pace.Like she had last time. The dying alone part might have been the harshest of those because it was probably the most true.
We got along because she gave it to me straight. That was just a little whiskey-no-ice straight. I did that breathing thing she recommended to soothe those nightmares and tried again. She had come to check on me for this important day, I might as well use her.
Also not the time to start my inner monologue about my besties becoming Queens of the realm and so happily mated I trembled at their good fate. The state dinner I had to put together tonight was not at all an attempt to get back to the way we used to be before Evie was a dragon and Maggie ruled the Elven territory. How had we been closer when a psycho human bent on conquering the Harrowlands had kidnapped us? Not that I wanted Brad to make a reappearance, but still. Our dinners had gottendownright depressing when only Declan and I showed up.
“Stop twitching and this will go faster.”
I resisted the urge to curl my hands into fists. The magic was working, if slowly. I might get through the demands of the night. My heart fluttered in a dying way at the reminder. Dinner had to be perfect and I had it organized down to the minute.
Okay, a list.I needed a list. That was productive.
Fire and ovens started.
Check.
Mead barrels tapped.
Check.
Seventy-two duck innards to rip out.
I concentrated on the ducks waiting in the cold room. Perhaps I could use a little of my magic while Lenora did hers. I tugged on my gift the way I would use my hands and heard a set of organs plop onto the stone floor.
Perfect! I could do two things at once!
Then the thud of a duck. Well, I would pick that up later. I had scrubbed the floor within an inch of its life this morning, it would be fine.
Lenora shook my still-aching hands. “I don’t know how your magic and mine will interact, Fallon. Give it a rest.”
It wasn’t her fault. No one knew much about feastweavers or why I could control food, ingredients, and even celebrations in some ways but not others.I had never met anyone with this weird magic. Not even I knew the limit of what I could do. Most people just enjoyed the meals my enchantment created and left it at that.
“Are we holding hands? I want to hold hands.” Declan’s chipper voice filled the echoey room and my shoulders relaxed. In the years he spent in my kitchen, it never failed to amaze me. I responded every time. A sunny wolf and a cynical feastweaver should have produced natural friction rather than the fast friends we had become. Maybe it was because we both ended up as the third wheel when our friends paired off.
He skipped over with more enthusiasm than anyone should have at that hour of the morning, joy lighting up his elfin features like he was about to receive the sweetest treat.
“I’ll do you next,” Lenora promised. “Fallon just wanted a good luck charm for tonight.”
She was the one who’d stumbled in here checking on me. At least the healer hid my secrets well.
