Chapter 28

D espite not having planned to perform the spell for an audience, a part of Evelyn was glad to have her friends and Coren by her side when she approached the makeshift planters, holding one fourth of the blessed soil in her hands. Gently, she sprinkled it across the surface of the soil she'd gathered from one of the orchards, then brushed her fingers together before reaching into the pocket of her dress.

"That's the potion?" Erwin asked as Evelyn held the glass bottle up. The pale green liquid swirled and gleamed, almost glowing as the shafts of moonlight bounced off the surface.

"Of course it is," Trudy hissed.

Evelyn glanced toward the young man. "It's a clarifying spell. It can be used for several different purposes. Back in Benenfar, I lived with a water witch, a Sister of Talira, from the Silver Tide Isles. She could use a potion like this to cleanse bitter water. I have no dominion over water, so it wouldn't work for me if I tried to use it for such purposes."

Erwin nodded, but kept his chin tucked slightly. It was too dark to tell, but she imagined the tips of his ears had gone softly pink.

Evelyn offered him a kind smile, then turned back to the work at hand. "These types of potions use elements of the moon, by way of plants that grow best in the dark, and are at their most potent when applied during a clear night."

She cast an eye upward. They were not quite to the full moon, but with Jarvis and the innkeeper's threats so fresh in her mind, she did not want to wait. Three days would not make enough of a difference to make it worth the delay.

Evelyn paused, allowing a moment for further questions to be raised, but the others seemed eager to get to the spell. Maeve and Sio exchanged a nervous glance, while Trudy tapped her toes against the worn paver stones in the small fenced garden.

"Right." Evelyn tipped her chin upward, her eyes sliding closed, as she took the time to beseech Caele for her aid. When the request was complete, she removed the cork from the bottle and took a small, halting step toward the planter. She whispered the words of the incantation and tipped the contents out onto the soil .

The soil glowed pale green, the same shade as the clarifying potion itself, and Evelyn gasped softly. None of her other efforts had shown any response—other than to scorch and burn. After a moment, the blessed soil from Everspring Glade faded to a pale blue light, like that of a northern star, until the glow faded completely.

"Did it work?" Maeve asked, practically bouncing in place.

With trembling fingers, Evelyn slid the empty vial into her pocket and removed another. "There's only one way to find out." She opened the second vial and poured a pinch of the revealing powder into her hand, then scattered it across the soil.

A heartbeat pounded in her chest, quickly followed by a second.

Dark vines spilled over the sides of the cut barrel, their barbed nettles poking into the soil.

A gasp sounded, and Evelyn wasn't sure whether it had come from her or someone else. Her pulse thrummed in her ears like a drum, louder and louder, until the world seemed to fade in comparison to the noise.

"No!" she whispered. "No, no, no."

Trudy shuffled forward, peering at the angry purple and black vines. She clucked her tongue. "Girl, this isn't witch magic. It's fairy magic. No pretty potion is going to fix this."

Evelyn jerked upright as though slapped.

"Fairy magic?" Coren said, gathering her to his side. She wondered if she'd started to sway in place. "You're sure?"

Trudy cut him with a glower, her soft arms folding over her middle. "I think I would know," she said. "Elves and fairies were inseparable in Kilea. My village had an equal measure of both."

Coren frowned. "I didn't know that."

"We were forced to work together when the fairies were driven from their sacred hollow by the dragons. Terrible business. Those beasts burned their woods to ashes, and much of their history was lost, too. Their scribes tried to recall what they could from memory, and copied the scraps and texts that were salvaged, but much of it was beyond saving."

"How different is witch magic from fairy magic?" Evelyn asked. "I've lived with a fairy-witch for years now, and while we use different spells and mediums, it seems more or less the same. It's like that with all of the covens. We keep different traditions and customs, but we all speak the same language, both common and in magic."

"This is old fairy magic," Trudy said, still studying the vines, though they were beginning to fade as the effect of the powder wore off. "It's not something of the Four."

Evelyn's stomach sank. Not of the Four? Then it was likely not something she had any power over.

"We'll find a way, Evelyn," Archie said, nuzzling into her cheek for a moment.

"We will," Coren added .

"What if I could get more blessed soil?" Evelyn asked Trudy. "You saw how it flickered and seemed to work... at first, anyway. Clearly something in that potion took effect. None of my other efforts came close. Maybe I didn't use enough of the sacred soil. Or… I could wait for the proper full moon. I didn't think it would matter, being so close and all, but perhaps?—"

"You'll need something stronger than that," Trudy interjected, her tone remorseful but certain. "You could try to invoke all members of the Four. But if you need the sacred soil from Talira, you would be hard pressed to find any. Her monolith was damaged by the dragons, the soil scorched and scarred. I fear it would not serve the purpose, even if you could find a way to retrieve it."

She looked at Coren, her heart aching at the idea of leaving him. Returning to Benenfar seemed unthinkable. Was there a chance he might come with her? Just until her term of service was completed? They could use his skills and knowledge around the castle. The royal greenhouses were not nearly as charming as his cottage and garden, but there was plenty of work there; herbs still needed drying, plants needed tending.

He turned his head and met her eyes.

No.

She couldn't ask him to give up everything he had worked for—that his family had built. And with Ivor lurking somewhere in the shadows, waiting to strike the capital city, it wouldn't be safe for any of them. She wouldn't ask him to risk his livelihood, let alone his very life.

"I'm sorry, Evelyn," Maeve said. "How much time do we have?"

"A few weeks," she replied. "Until harvest. Then I imagine I will be summoned back to the capital."

"But it's not safe!" Maeve protested. "You said the king himself threatened to have you…" She waved a hand, unable to bring herself to finish the thought.

Coren's grip on her waist tightened, and she felt him looking at her, but she couldn't meet his gaze.

"There's a treaty," she said. "I don't have a choice. There is over a year left to serve. And, truth be told, I don't know that I'm safe here, either. Not after the threats made by Jarvis and the others?—"

"Oh, you can't let them worry you," Trudy said with a scoff. "I doubt he'll bother you, not after the way I told him off."

"I'm afraid it already happened. He tricked me, and if Coren hadn't walked into the trap with me, I'm not sure what would have happened."

The blood drained from the elf's face. "He what ?!"

Maeve swore. "Evelyn, why didn't you say something?"

A rueful smile tugged one side of her lips upward. "I suppose there were other things to get off my chest first."

The cobbler swore again, and Sio laid a hand on her shoulder.

"We'll protect you," Lorcan said. "I can stand guard outside your shop. Or, if you prefer, I know some guys at the docks who don't mind getting their hands dirty, for a price."

Maeve, Sio, and Trudy all twisted around to stare up at him.

The goblinkin shrugged his enormous shoulders. "What?"

Maeve rubbed her temples as she turned back around. "We need food. I can't think on an empty stomach. Come on," she said. "Let's go inside and eat. There's a way out of this. We just need to put our heads together. There's still a bit of time."

Lorcan led the procession to the back door of Maeve's neighboring shop, with Erwin, Sio, and Maeve on his heels. Evelyn started after them, her head ducked as her thoughts and worries roiled and clashed, like tidal waves during a storm.

The smell of the soup was a comfort, and Maeve tried her best to lighten the mood as she dished up the soups, by regaling them with a story of a half-drunk customer who'd tried to return a pair of boots a day after purchasing them. "He said they were the most uncomfortable boots he'd ever worn, and so I said, tell you what, old chap, I'll give you all three sunmarks back, but first, you have to sober up long enough to realize you've been wearing the blasted things on the wrong feet! "

Lorcan chuckled, and Erwin smiled into his bowl as Maeve pressed it into his waiting hands.

Evelyn sliced Trudy's bread, even though she didn't assume anyone would eat it, thanks to Maeve's not-so-subtle warning. As she sliced it thin, she stole a taste for herself and quickly agreed with the woman's plan to feed it to Nareen.

"It's best with butter and honey," Trudy said, coming up behind Evelyn as she carried it to the table, the elf's steps so quiet Evelyn nearly lost her grip on the wooden cutting board.

"Of course." She grabbed a crock of butter and Trudy located the honey jar. As she placed the butter beside the dry loaf of bread, she looked up and felt her brow furrow as she glanced around the room. "Where is Coren?"

Trudy glanced toward the back door. "He went home to get something."

Evelyn's frown deepened as she crossed to peek out the front windows. "Did he say what?"

"Want me to go after him?" Archie offered, still perched on Evelyn's shoulder.

Trudy cleared her throat, drawing the attention of the room.

"Trudy, are you—are you crying ?" Maeve asked, her voice caught between amusement and genuine concern.

Evelyn whirled around.

The elf blinked glossy eyes and sneered. "No, of course not! "

"Trudy, please, what is going on? What did he say to you?"

"You all know how I feel about all this sweet-as-sugarcane love stuff—" She paused and waved a dismissive hand toward Sio and Maeve at the other end of the table. "But, what that boy is doing is quite—quite admirable."

Evelyn looked at the others in turn, hoping one of them knew what Trudy was referring to and could explain, but they all looked as confused as she felt.

"What are you talking about, Trudy? What is Coren doing?"

The elf met Evelyn's eyes. "He told me about his parcel of fairy land."

Evelyn's lips parted, her mouth going dry.

"After the dragons razed the fairy's hollow and melted Talira's monolith, they were driven deeper into the woods. Talira and the other goddesses came together to create a new home for them, carved out between this one and that made of stardust, and gifted it to the fairy. It's said to have the most fertile soil, as it was blessed by all members of the Four."

Evelyn's heart raced like a horse going from a trot to a full gallop. "You're saying, if we could get soil from fairy, it could be strong enough to hold the cleansing spell and break the curse?"

Trudy barked a dry laugh. "You probably wouldn't even need the cleansing spell. Soil from fairy would likely be strong enough to lift the blight all on its own. "

"And that's where Coren went? To get a bag of soil?" Evelyn smiled. "That's—that's amazing!"

"There's a cost, girl," Trudy interjected, her tone sharp. "Fairy folk weren't known to give out gifts without conditions attached to the deal, mainly the kind they thought would be broken one day, so they could get back whatever it was they'd offered."

"What?" Evelyn's pulse quickened as flashes of an enchanted clearing bloomed inside her mind.

Maeve leaned in toward the elf. "You're saying they never meant their gifts to be permanent?"

Trudy offered a mirthless laugh. "Not if they could help it."

"There was one such tale in my old village. A man and his wife saved a fairy child from being trampled when a herd of noble elk got spooked by some brash hunters. Have you ever seen a noble elk?"

Evelyn shook her head, though she had seen drawings of the creatures. The beasts grew nearly twice as tall as the herds that lived near the Bramblefell Mountains. They were said to come and go with the mists, like spirits, but Evelyn couldn't be sure that part was true.

"Well, trust me when I say you're lucky for that. The beasts are downright terrifying. They could trample a full-grown man without much trouble, so a small fairy child wouldn't so much as cross their line of sight, especially in the dreaded fog they like so much." Trudy scoffed again, her long silver braids swinging. "Anyway, as I was saying, the man saved a fairy child, and as a way to show their thanks, the fairy elders granted him and his family a parcel of land in their realm. No one was allowed to so much as see it, let alone set foot inside it! Some tried to follow him, to see for themselves, but they only came back with strange tales of him disappearing right into a tree."

Trudy flapped a weathered hand, dismissing it as nonsense. "However it worked out, it didn't last for long. The one thing the man wasn't allowed to do was take anything from fairy and bring it into this realm. But one day he found a gemstone, dug it right out of the ground, as he told it. His family needed the money it could bring at market, and he thought it was small enough it couldn't possibly be missed. But the moment he stepped through the doorway with it, the treaty was broken and he lost the parcel."

"What happened after that? Did he keep the gemstone?"

Trudy nodded. "Oh, yes. Sold it for a pretty penny, too, as far as I heard. But you don't cross the fairy and expect to get away with it. If Coren takes soil from his parcel in fairy, he'll lose it forever."

Evelyn drew in a sharp breath, her eyes wide. "Does he know that?"

Trudy nodded. "It's why he asked me if I thought it would work. He's doing it to save you."

"Evelyn." Maeve grabbed her hand.

"He can't—I can't let him do that?— "

"It's your best chance out of this, girl," Trudy said. "If I thought there was another way, I wouldn't have told him to get the dirt. But unless you've got a spare dragon's tear rolling around in one of those bottles you've got stashed over?—"

Evelyn froze. "What did you say?"

Everyone flinched, including Trudy.

"A dragon's tear," the elf repeated. "It's the most powerful curse breaker in all the nine kingdoms, but?—"

Archie hooted and took flight as Evelyn swirled around and took off at a run, narrowly swerving past Maeve's worktable on her way to the door.

"Evelyn, wait!" Maeve exclaimed. "Where are you going?"

"I'm sorry. I'll tell you when I get back!" she yelled over her shoulder, then ran next door long enough to grab her staff. She shouted the transformation spell and jumped onto the staff's handle half a heartbeat before it finished changing into her trusty broom. The ends were still singed, but it would get her to the woods.

She just hoped she would make it in time.