The bright yellow drapery hanging from the corner of the stage swayed as someone passed, and I took a deep inhale of the ale-and-smoke scent of the tavern. I replayed Tempest’s transformation in my mind. My gut knotted at my failed interpretation of our connection. Why was I constantly failing? Why was I the only Bellator without a caeluma?
As if reading my thoughts, Lyvia gently gripped my shoulder, forcing my attention back to her.
“We will find your caeluma. You move fast, Drystan,” she signed. “You always have. And I don’t mean you move fast because of the Advetis… Everything you do, for as long as I’ve known you, you’ve mastered quickly. From school to the field work at the excavations. To wind and water whispering, spell work… It took longer to master the Advetis power. Don’t rush this. Your caeluma will find you.”
I crossed my arms, irritated with the truth in her words. I’d grown up with a need to master new skills quickly. It was survival for me…in the streets of Krestwood and again, in my studies. I had to be the best, to learn quickly, for the world around me to make room for a man without working ears. I unclenched my jaw as Aeriden stood. His finger swept between his sister and me, presumably asking if we wanted another.
Jon Pavel answered for him, and Aeriden left the three of us alone.
“Aeriden tells me you’ve successfully transformed a non-caeluma horse,” he began, turning to Lyvia.
Heat rushed up my neck, and Lyvia darted her eyes away as she nodded.
“Then you have work to do. There may not be agrippa on the Islands of Votruvia, but there are plenty of horses. And we’ll need a winged cavalry.”
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
LYVIA
Doors hidden beneath the water, unlocked with power passed from mother to daughter.
– Eghan Family Stone.
Lyvia – Borva, Votruvia
The giggling of children had at last quieted as Mother Eghan finished putting them to bed, and the doors of their rooms were all shut as I tiptoed down the hall. My lower abdomen ached, and I grimaced, the first day of my time with the moons always the worst. While they only pulled from women twice a year, they were dreadful.
Kellan was due back any moment from the forge, and though I’d been relieved, I realized in an absolute panic what I’d been forgetting these past months upon the arrival of my blood.The barren tea.
I slipped into the warm kitchen and storeroom, quietly closing the door behind me. Blue moonslight filtered in from the small window, and I rolled my eyes.
Like I needed a reminder.
I opened various cupboards, searching for a tonic for the pain and the contraceptive herb I could begin drinking on a regular basis. Isla reminded me that the Starlings had obviously been able to reproduce with elves if several of the original Bellators had been elves.Stupid, stupid, stupid.I rapped my head with an invisible stick.
Footsteps padded outside the door, and I jerked upright, closing the cupboard partway as Kellan stepped into the kitchen. I blew out a sigh and he cocked his head, his lips quirking to the side.
“What are you looking for?” he asked.
A flush crept up my neck, and I returned my focus to the rows of herbs and vials of liquid.
“A tonic,” I murmured.
Kellan tensed, his hand reaching for my arm. “Are you all right?” he asked as he moved closer.
“Fine,” I muttered, something warm slipping over the pain in my lower abdomen at his reaction. “Just my time.”
Kellan nodded, his eyes dipping to my lips before darting to the cupboard and plucking a small vial from the top.
“Here,” he murmured, handing it to me. “Mum usually gives this to the women who come asking.”
His fingers brushed against mine as I took it from him. I popped the cork with my thumb before taking a quick swig.
He moved to another cupboard below, reaching for a cotton sack of rice before placing it on the hot bricks nearest the dying coals in the oven.
“Does she have any barren tea in stock?” I asked after a moment, scanning the stacks of herbs.
“Yes,” Kellan answered, returning and reaching around me to pull out a sack of dried herbs. The loamy scent of sparkroot and goldleaf crinkled my nose as he handed it to me.
