Anelize clenched her jaw hard enough that her teeth hurt. Since they’d been children, Anelize and Enid had done everything in their power to preserve their father’s memory by tending to his shop, his life’s work. They’d struck a bargain with the woman before them for his sake, knowing that if they ran off to join the rest of the orphans on the streets begging for food, for an ounce of kindness, there would have been nothing left of either of them. Or they would have ended up being tormented by Watchmen. It wasn’t a chance Anelize was willing to make where Enid was concerned.
Enid’s voice shook both in frustration and sadness, heartbreakingly placating, “Magda, why are you so cruel? We’vedone everything you’ve asked all these years. Tried to make you happy. Can’t you do the same for us, just this once?”
If her sister expected to crack Magda’s cold heart, she’d been sorely mistaken.
“Your selfishness will only lead to your sister’s hardship growing. Can you truly live with yourself by doing such a thing, Enid? Or do you truly care only about yourself?”
Enid flinched, and released her sister’s hand with a look of guilt and mortification.
“Cease speaking,”Anelize snapped at her aunt, watching her cheeks turn red as she glared at her incredulously. But the damage had been done. Before Magda could say another word, Enid spun on her heel and ran for the stairs. The sound of the door of her bedroom slamming shut, echoing through the small shop.
Magda turned to continue counting the day’s earnings, speaking as if she hadn’t just crushed the illusions of the young girl upstairs. “Now that that’s over with, you have a handful of orders waiting for you that need to get done by tomorrow. Best get to it. I want you out first thing.”
Anelize tore her gaze away from the stairs, and slowly faced her aunt. “You truly are a vile woman.”
Magda waved a dismissive hand. “Think what you will of me, girl. We both know that I’m right. I’m doing you a favor by keeping Enid on a tight leash. I realize the error of my ways now by letting you take on everything, coddling her as a result. Letting her fill her head with dreams oflove. Enid has been spoiled for too long, and her docility is a result of your coddling. You should be thanking me. Otherwise, you would have her become as delusional as my brother, may saints rest his soul.”
Anelize was silent as a wraith as she approached her aunt. Her movements were precise as she watched the woman who was so unlike Enid or her father, an utter stranger in every sense of the word. That had to be why Anelize despised the woman. Because they were both entirely too similar. Too angry and full of loathing. Prideful to a fault.
It was why it was so easy to snatch the pouch from Magda’s hand, tossing it onto the counter, letting theruensscatter to the floor, singing like dozens of chiming bells.
Magda gasped and whirled, her anger potent as she raised her hand. “You insolent child?—”
Anelize gripped her wrist before her hand could graze her cheek, though her skin had already anticipated the sharp sting. It had grown so accustomed to it over the years one would think she’d grown used to the feeling by now. But not today. Anelize’s fingers sank into the flesh around her wrist until she felt the bones beneath, so fragile she was sure one tug would snap them in two. Magda cried out in pain, glaring at Anelize as she tried to pry her off.
Something dark slithered into her voice as she said lowly, “I let you have your fun long enough. Should you continue to torment my sister the way you did now, or mention my father’s name in ridicule after all he did for you, and I’ll ensure you never know a day of peace for the rest of your miserable life. I will gladly let this shop fall to ruin if it means bringing you unhappiness. And then you’ll be the one out on the streets begging for food.”
“You would dare threaten me?” Magda seethed through gritted teeth. “After all I’ve done for you? The secrets I’ve kept for you?”
“They are yours just as much as ours now after all theseyears. You are just as complicit as we are. If there’s anything that you deserve from us, it is our ire for all your ingratitude and cruelty. You should expect nothing more and nothing less. The fact that you do, demonstrates your ignorance,aunt.”
Magda swallowed, staring up into Anelize’s eyes as if she were seeing a feral creature, not a woman fueled by years of resentment. Days full of working until her hands bled and trudging through snow until she could barely feel her legs, barely warding off the bite of frost. Nights of worrying how she’ll make ends meet to ensure Enid was shielded from more suffering.
All of it, leading to this very moment of reckoning.
“Do we understand each other?” she murmured darkly.
After their argument with Magda, Enid had holed herself up in her room as she so often did whenever she wanted to be away from their aunt’s shrewd gaze. This time, she’d refused to open the door for Anelize, no matter how much she tried to reason with her. Knowing her sister, she wouldn’t have answered for anything in the world.
Eventually, Anelize retreated down the other side of the narrow hall. The blinding glow of the sun setting behind the forest greeted her from the windows, shimmering over her eyes as she slipped into her room. The moment her back rested against the door, she released a sigh that made her entire body feel heavy, as though she could drop to the floor if she would only give in.
The desk situated against the wall beside the window was filled with vials, a mortar and pestle, along with severaljournals neatly stacked atop each other that she’d collected over the years. Some belonging to her father, filled with his scrawling writing. She still remembered watching him during her apprenticeship in silent awe while he stood over the counter making his notes and observations, his strong jaw and searching eyes illuminated by the caress of candlelight. His gentle smile that he shared with every single person who wandered into his shop.
After he died, reading his writing was the only way she felt she could still feel that he’d been real. His voice and appearance may one day fade from her mind, but she knew she would always have his passion and devotion written down for her to see for many years to come.
Taking a seat on the edge of her bed, the sheets and covers rumpled from when she’d unceremoniously tumbled out of them this morning, she slid her hand beneath her pillow and retrieved a small, red leather-bound journal. The one she kept all to herself. Records of the malady, the vacant milky eyes, the clear signs of decay all found in the patients struck with it—all had been kept in this journal. The rumors of how to achieve a single drop of magic as the Vedrans possessed.
All of it wrong. As it would always be.
It was difficult to name exactly when the traces of this strange illness had begun coursing through the veins of Madic’s torrid history. Only that it had started when King Amaranth had been caught between the swords of the Eastern and Western kingdoms fighting to claim his land. The war had waged for many years until his soldiers slowly began to dwindle in numbers. Losing more and more control when the Madacian boyars that the king had appointed betrayed his rule and allied themselves with the East, creating an uprisingagainst him. Providing a sufficient distraction for the fleets sailing to invade their shores to go unnoticed.
King Amaranth knew that if he had no army, then he needed to spark fear within his enemies by any means necessary. That was when he sought out the strange beings who had resided in the forest far longer than any knew. The Vedrans. Known for their strange gifts to conjure powers that transcended far beyond his grasp, the leaders of the Vedrans came to an understanding with the king.
Allying themselves with King Amaranth for the sake of preserving their home, the Vedrans fought in the war against their invaders. Many died, but the Vedrans had remained strong and fearsome. Revered as saints for their gifts. It was because of them that Madic, along with its people, survived. What came next however, changed everything.
One day, the Vedrans turned against King Amaranth, commencing another war entirely that had since spanned nearly three decades. Casting out the wicked threads of their power onto countless innocents. Thus, naming them the next true enemy all must fear. Until the day the king rids Madic of their blight.
That is the story all children of Madic had been told, and they learned to fear the Vedrans. Yet, that ever-present curiosity remained. The yearning for power never truly fading amongst the people. But Anelize knew that history had a way of being woven expertly into what was expected, even if it was recounted incorrectly. Not that it mattered. The damage had long since been done and set into stone for all to be reminded.
