Page 65 of A Spell of Heart & Havoc

Maerryl.

Just the thought of her name pierced a sharp barb in my chest. She’d used me. Just as my parents did, just as Petra did. For my wealth. Lied to my face for weeks in order to secure the coin she needed.

Maerryl had never cared for me. Not really. She’d wanted what I could give her, like everyone else. And now, because of her, I’d be trapped here churning out jewels for a criminal the rest of my life. She’d move on, find some other rich idiot to con. Save her brother. Live happily ever after. And I’d be nothing more than a shameful, buried part of her past. Forgotten. Unloved.

The barb multiplied, twisting deeper in my heart. My shoulders caved at the pain of it, and I curled around the small warmth of my tea mug. Furious tears prickled at the corners of my eyes.

“Come now,” Zephyra murmured. “You’ll be my guest in our guild. Your own room, and no one to bother you. I’m told you enjoy painting—I’ll arrange for supplies to be procured for you, whatever you need.”

“Ha, guest. A prisoner, you mean,” I said harshly.

Her long tail whipped up, startling me, as she shrugged. “Perhaps. But there are worse fates.” Her gaze drifted away from me to inspect her sharp red nails. I felt like I could finally breathe properly without those glowing eyes on me. She said, “Do you know what it is to be truly hungry? To have nothing in your belly for days and no hope of finding any scraps? Have you ever been without your feather beds? Your blankets and pillows?

“I know your story, Dovenesdrea Wistrallo. You think you’ve known sorrow. Loss. Heartbreak.” Zephyra’s golden eyes stared into me again, and I sat frozen, transfixed. “You have no concept of what real life is like. What so many of us in Kurriel and beyond have faced. Face every day. And I would not wish it on you, or anyone.”

Words clogged in my throat. I wanted to tell her that I was trying. That I had plans for the manor, plans to change the lives of the less fortunate in my community. That I could see now. I’d been shielded my whole life, but these past weeks, I finally could see.

None of it mattered though. Because ultimately, she was right. I could witness and try to understand, but I’d never truly know. I’d never experienced the kind of hardship she described—that she herself seemed to have undergone.

But did that mean I deserved to have my freedom stripped away??

A knock rapped against the office door, and the guildmaster stood gracefully, calling out an order for them to enter. The guards, probably, to take me away. I gripped the handle of my mug tightly, looking into the wet dregs.

Zephyra hummed thoughtfully, and the click of her nails against desktop filled the silent room.

“Maerryl… what a curious surprise.”

30

MAERRYL

Zephyra.” I stepped into the room and ducked a bow, heart in my throat. The tiefling watched me, horned head tilted, for a long moment. Then she dismissed the guard hovering behind me with a flick of her hand, and the iron door thudded shut.

I tracked each movement of Dove’s stiff, seated form as she turned slowly. Her face was drawn, but her weary eyes sparked to life at the sight of me. They held anger, certainly, but something else that gave me a small amount of hope. Then she turned away again, and my stomach dropped.

“I trust you received my missive,” Zephyra said, perching sideways on her large desk.

I nodded. “Yes. Your slitlings are very, ah, well-trained.”

Not an hour after they’d taken Dove and I’d come to on the floor with a pounding headache and a panicked Choia and Mx. Bottlecoat crowded around me, another slitling messenger had flown through the window. The folded parchment it carried had chilled me to the bone:

For lying to me in your last report, your little bird will be locked away.

A fitting punishment.

“I must say, I didn’t expect you to show up here like this,” Zephyra said now. “Very bold.”

The glint in her eyes and whip of her tail seemed like what she really meant was stupid. And likely, I was very idiotic indeed. Coming back here, directly to the guildmaster when emotions were still high from the night’s events. But I couldn’t leave Dove. Couldn’t let them take her—because if I didn’t at least try now to get her out, it felt somehow like she’d be lost to me forever.

“Zephyra,” I said, swallowing. “Please reconsider. I—I know that I disobeyed your orders. And I lied.”

Her tail whipped swiftly again, as she watched me almost with amusement at my foolishness. I gathered my courage and went on, “Dove did nothing wrong. She’s caught up in all of this because of me. It’s all my fault. My idiocy that got us in this mess.”

“And Petra, that deluded dolt,” Zephyra said with a smirk. “A constant disappointment this year, sadly. What a waste of potential. Though she did find me this lovely jewel mage.”

“Yes, Petra certainly didn’t help matters,” I said slowly. “But I accept full responsibility. Please don’t take my punishment out on Dove. Let me make it up to you. I’ll do anything—do whatever assignments or tasks that you want, however long you want. She’s a good person, with a true heart. I know she seems like just another spoiled noble—”

Dove swung sharply around in her chair to glare at me, daggers in her eyes.