“I told you I’m fine, Markus,” Evren snapped. The spinning in his head worsened. The call for ale while they sat in the tavern, distracting.
Markus watched him, his dark eyes scouring Evren’s face before he nodded and rose from the table. He clasped his shoulder, giving it a quick squeeze as he walked by.
* * *
The sun wasbeautiful this morning despite the bitter cold. Plus, the first full moon of Winter was tonight. Evren had had luck the past year finding Enchantresses on the night of the full moons. Perhaps tonight would be no different.
He pulled his flask from his coat pocket, blessing the barkeep for pulling a dusty bottle of whisky from the larder before he’d left the tavern. His shoulders unclenched as the liquid settled warm in his belly.
Walking out of the city proper, Evren found himself among the snow-laden trees of the Trinity Forest that edged along Davenport. He’d spent so much of his life lost in the woods of the Jade Guild. Running and climbing, living freely and wild as children should.
The trees were different today. Their branches were heavier, not just from the snow. The wind hissed, blowing mists of white into his path. He continued his trek with no destination in mind when he halted in the middle of the forest, clutching his stomach. Something tugged at his middle. Pulling him to the east, farther away from Davenport.
He recognized the feeling immediately. The tug and pull in the core of his being, guiding him tomagick. The tonic he drank last night, bitter and foul, now tasted like freedom. His feet moved, his instincts heightened, and he followed that tug all the way to the edge of the forest, where he found two hunters gasping for air on the icy ground.
Three
After the encounterwith the hunters earlier that morning, Tallulah felt somehow more confident than she ever had in her life and equally more terrified.
Never once had she used her magick in that way to save someone. She also had never used her magick to hurt anyone, either. She was always told a Florecas had no other purpose than tending to the royal gardens and grounds. But now she saw her magick for what it really was.
A weapon.
She mourned briefly, thinking of all the Enchantresses she could’ve saved in Valebridge before she’d fled. If she’d thought to use her magick this way, she could have been more useful. She brushed the thought aside, knowing it wouldn’t do well to dwell on the past.
The sun had breached high in the sky by the time she was bold enough to venture out of the greenhouse. Her water supply was low, and since she abandoned her morning chores early, she needed to fetch her rain buckets.They were likely frozen from the dropping temperatures, and it would take time and patience for them to thaw.
The glass door of the greenhouse creaked as it opened. She peered through the sliver of a crack before opening it farther. The sun remained covered behind thick, white clouds, but the brightness of the snow made her squint through the doorway.
When she didn’t hear anything out of the ordinary, no hunters chattering, no weapons being drawn, she piled up her long sage skirt and stepped out into the snow.
Tallulah spottedthe buckets right where she left them against the back of the small storage shed next to the greenhouse. The mossy covered roof was now painted white. The wind whipped at her cheeks as she trekked across the grounds toward the buckets.
She tugged the first one forward and huffed out a labored breath, wiping the cold sweat from her forehead. It was heavy from being frozen solid. She’d have to come back for the other.
As her boots crunched atop the frozen snow, something in the air heightened her senses. The wind picked up again, whipping her dark strands into her eyes, biting her cheeks and bringing forth a few rogue tears. But something was wrong.
Off.
Abandoning the bucket, she sprinted toward the greenhouse, hoping whatever watched would miss her completely. She let out a sigh of relief when she reached for the door.
A heavy hand wrapped around her arm, her scream frozen in her throat.
“I don’t think so, Enchantress,” a gruff voice said behind her.
She whipped her head. Every small moment of her life the last year raced through her mind. The greenhouse and the birds. The seedlings and the ivy. Every small accomplishment threatened to vanish in an instant. Her eyes snagged on the grizzly badge pinned perfectly on the man’s chest, parallel to her face. Then she tipped her eyes upward.
“You’re coming with me,” the man said, his green eyes holding such malice. Such hate.
“I would advise you to let me go,” Tallulah said. Though her insides shook, she held her body strong.
She scoured his face, looking for any sign of remorse. All she was met with was scrutiny. Judgment reflected in those forest green eyes. His nose and cheeks smattered with freckles that matched the color of his dark auburn hair. She tugged her arm, attempting to free herself from his grip.
“You can fight all you want, but you’re coming with me either way. So, I’d save some strength for Valebridge if I were you.” She shivered, her skin growing colder by the second, not just from the storm fast approaching.
She wriggled her arm again, but with each movement, his grip grew tighter. His eyes narrowed, and he used his free hand to grab something from his belt. The clinking of iron shackles rang in her ears and again all those little moments raced through her mind.
Once the shackles are in place, I’ll have no chance of using my magick.
