Page 51 of Healing Elixirs & Wicked Crows

I hesitated.The way she watched me, her fingers hanging in the air an inch from that dimming thread, it felt as if I needed to be careful with my words.Slowly, I asked, "What kind of love?"

"Why, the only kind that matters, of course," she replied, her long lashes blinking as she held my gaze.

"Cut it out, Alena," Croela barked, "She has chosen."

"Wait!"I exclaimed, looking from goddess to goddess."What do you mean?"

Their forms glimmered, the air shifting and lifting their dress hems in an unfelt breeze.They exchanged knowing smiles as I stepped forward, grasping for answers just as they vanished.The sky turned to night as we spoke, time both racing and standing still.A sliver of moonlight cast an ethereal glow on the spot where I now stood alone.The soft shimmer danced along the purple petals of a single tall flower, the daemonacus.Only one bloomed before me, barely enough to heal Elias and break Briar's curse, but I hoped it would suffice.

Croela's surly voice drifted over me, her words coming from nowhere and everywhere."Best you hurry, dear.Your time is up."

A shiver raced up the nape of my neck, and I shuddered.The air shifted again, and the darkness began peeling away into the dawning light of day.How long had I spoken to the triad?How long had they toyed with our fate?

I dropped to my knees before the flower, swiftly and carefully probing the soil around its roots.My breath came in ragged gasps as I noticed the edge of a petal wilting.Meticulously, I unearthed the entire root system, then tore a piece of cloth from my pack.Avoiding any contact with the stem or flower, I wrapped it securely in the material.With it safe, I sprang to my feet and hurried back the way I had come.

I didn’t even dare a glance back.

A Cold Chill

ELIAS

Awild pain throbbed within my skull as my eyes cracked open one at a time.They felt stiff, as if a layer of sleep still coated my lashes as I blinked away the darkness.Dappled light filtered through the thick brush, and I sat up, grunting from the effort that tugged at the wound in my side.Leaves brushed along the skin of my cheek, but I ignored it, crawling out from the brush and into the clearing.

My breath froze like a lump within my throat at what lay before me.Grass prickled my fingertips as every muscle tensed.My heartbeat thundered within my ears, and my wide gaze locked onto the prone form.

Rosemary.

Her pack lay in a heap at her side.Her brassy blond hair fanned out around the pale skin of her face.Her fingers clutched at the ground in front of her, as if she’d been pulling herself forward, desperate to keep going.Yet, her eyes remained closed.Her chest lay still.And no breath fell from her parted lips.

I tripped over myself to reach her, my fingers reaching for the smooth skin of her neck.There was no pulse.I shook her, gently at first and then with more force, rocking her body while I cried, “Wake up!Rosemary!Wake up!”

I pulled her into my lap, not caring that tears fell from the corners of my eyes as I hugged her to my chest.So cold.So quiet.I cast my gaze around the meadow, wondering what the hell had happened.It was supposed to be me who lost my life today.Not her.Anybody but her.

The coloring of the trees ringing the meadow seemed off.The leaves hanging from the branches hung unnaturally still.No birds chirped, nor did any squirrels skitter.Everything held as still as Rosemary’s chest.The clouds in the sky didn’t even shift or drift.

As I glanced back to where Rosemary lay within my arms, her body faded away into nothingness, and I jolted, clutching at nothing but air.

My mother’s cruel voice sounded behind me.“You are nothing, Elias.Just the spare I never asked for.You’ll go to the borders and fight.Learn to be a soldier for your people.At least then you will be useful to our court.”

I spun, rising onto unbalanced feet.The grassy meadow disappeared within the blink of my eye, replaced with the throne room of the unseelie castle.“I do not want to go, Mother.Please!I want to stay,” I begged her, my eyes damp with unshed tears.

“You’re pathetic!Nothing like your brother.Only a disappointment.You always were too emotional, too wrapped up in your feelings.Hell, there have been days where I have wondered if you are even unseelie at all,” she spat the words like an insult.

I stared at the marbled floor at my feet.“I love her,” I replied, announcing the truth of how I felt to my mother for the first time.She couldn’t send me away.I would lose her forever if she did.

“You don’t know what love is, boy,” my mother muttered, her lip curled with disgust as she looked down at me.“You are like an infant.Our lives are vast.You will learn.For now, I can only pray that war will age you faster.”

I knew the words she spoke.They had repeated within my mind over the decades.Now, they faded into nothingness, just as her body shimmered away too.

An explosion rent the air at my back, and I spun again, staring out at a war-torn battlefield.Soldiers I had learned to call my friends lay scattered in pieces at my feet.My fingers gripped a sword so tightly, my knuckles throbbed from the effort.Something large towered over me, and I glanced upward, eyeing the yeti with fear.This creature, one who still visited my nightmares, had been my first kill.

What the hell was happening to me?

A massive, clawed hand swung at me, and I barely ducked in time, raising my blade while pulling for my magic.I had to kill him.I had no choice.It was either him or me.But I had already killed him, hadn’t I?

I blinked, and when I opened my eyes again, my blade pierced his heart.My heart clenched with the pain of this kill even as its blood coated my blade, my fist.The yeti’s eyes had widened even as it swiped its massive claw toward my neck.

Magic had raged through its land, poisoning them into madness.Our army had been sent out to end the threat, even though their numbers had dwindled to near extinction.After that day, none would remain.My hands would never feel clean of their murder, and my neck would forever hold that scar as a reminder.