King Maximus was quiet when I finished, preoccupied with stroking his beard. He glanced at the queen. “What do you say, Cordelia?”
“I say it is time to end the Non-Magic Age,” Queen Cordelia said.
“Perhaps with work, this is plausible.” The king gave a slow nod. “Then, Miss Flora, I grant you your wish.”
Cheers, mixed in with some grumbling, erupted in the throne room. I beamed and curtsied low, the applause and shouts like music to my ears.
When I turned, Elowyn and my nannies were smiling, and there were tears in Lana’s eyes.
35
My arms burned underthe weight of a crate filled with clinking containers of glue and sloshing potion bottles.
“I’m sure you could buy a cart and a horse of your own now, Aunt Lana,” I said over a bottle.
“Nonsense,” my aunt said. She was several paces away, burdened only by a light satchel. “Where will I ever put them?”
“In Papa’s stables,” I said, narrowly missing a divot in the paved road. “You know you’re always welcome at home.”
It had been four months since my hearing with King Maximus, and three months since he passed the decree ending the Non-Magic Age. All the witches in Witch Village had been above ground at least once. The bolder ones stayed and applied for work. Others emerged only for the Witch Market, which had moved next to a major marketplace in Delibera. Witches were now paid in coins and allowed to purchase from human vendors.
We were headed toward Lana’s stand in the marketplace that morning. It was ridiculously early, but there was still quite a bit of traffic. I recognized Beatrice with Rowena and Elowyn and waved at them. They were setting up a shop of their own, selling charmwitch trinkets.
“I don’t know,” Lana said. We finally arrived at her stand and I set the crates down. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Papa came home from Aquatia last week,” I said in a singsong voice.
My aunt scowled. “Help me unload, why don’t you? I have twenty orders of extra sticky glue to fulfill. No sense in keeping people waiting,” she said, unwinding her scarf. Then her expression softened ever so slightly. “Aquatia, you say?”
I nodded, setting down the final pot of glue. “He had business there. I suppose he’ll go back soon, now that Olderea is open to magic again. Perhaps magic Aquatian wares will pop up in our marketplaces.”
“Never mind the wares,” Lana said. I looked up, surprised at the enthusiasm in her voice. “Think of the books and knowledge we witches could get from such a kingdom! I don’t believe a single Olderian witch has ever step foot in Aquatia.”
“Would you go if you could?” I asked.
Lana’s eyes glimmered. “Of course. But,” she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, “I don’t see that day coming anytime soon.”
