Page 60 of Oath of Revenge

There had to be a way to separate a living and non-living thing that had been magically joined. Perhaps she’d been going about this all wrong. The spell book had been vague, after all. Perhaps it was a combination of spell and potion?

She walked slowly back to the castle, her mind not stopping for even a second to take in the beautiful overgrown garden or the grass growing between the cobblestone walkway.

Four months ago…

Bella bit her lip and carried the magical bowls up the stairs to her sitting room. She’d untangled another kitten, and it’d lived the past three days.

Hope blossomed in her stomach, but she couldn’t let Sharlo or Ignot know yet. It would devastate them if it didn’t work out, and the kitten had been weak ever since.

She went through the open door—the servants had long since left all doors open so she wouldn’t have to walk through them—and set the bowl on the floor by the empty hearth.

The kitten’s eyes didn’t open at the smell of milk and fish. She pulled a spoon she’d affectionately nicknamed Gus out of her pocket and used it to prod the kitten, stroking awkwardly down its back.

Its eyes opened slowly. They looked feverish, but she couldn’t feel it to see. Perhaps a healing potion in the milk would help? It was worth a shot.

She went to her bedroom and the vanity that had changed her life forever. She pursed her lips and animated the bottle the healing potion was in. It slipped into her pocket, and she turned back to the kitten.

She paused at the door and blinked. No, it couldn’t be. She looked back at her vanity. The potion bottle she’d used on the cat sat empty where she’d left it. Its match… was gone. It wasn’t where she’d left it.

Sharlo didn’t come upstairs anymore to clean, the layer of dust evidence of that. In fact, the servant tried to stay as far away from Bella as possible. But Ignot…

Ignot.

Her chest ached and the windows rattled. There was no telling when he took it. She hadn’t been in her bedroom in at least a day, maybe two.

A soft mewl drew her attention, and she went to the tiny ball of fluff in the next room. Her steps slowed as she neared.

It lay still, no breath rising from its chest. She was too late.

Ignot.

Maybe she could still save him. She raced out the door and down the hall, yelling his name. Had she seen him that day at all? She’d been holed up with the cat, documenting the kitten’s changes by dictating to the magical pen.

A scream rent the air, and Bella turned toward the kitchen, dread filling her stomach like a lead weight.

Two months ago…

Bella stood silently, tears running down her cheeks as Sharlo buried the last of the kittens in a pot in the kitchen garden. It’d loved to chase the mice in this spot.

She rocked on her feet, hands twisting in her skirts. She’d been so close to finding just the right spell combination and ratios of ingredients for the potion.

This kitten had lived for three weeks, and it’d been strong the entire time. No fever that she’d seen. It’d been so happy with boundless energy. Ignot would’ve been so excited.

She’d followed the little thing around every day, had watched over it as it slept. And this morning, she’d looked up from her book, and it had just been gone. Dead between one chapter and the next. No complaining, no mewling, no convulsions like the others. Just gone.

She’d animated an ash bucket to pick him up and take him outside. Sharlo had found her using an animated shovel to dig a hole, but her magic wasn’t enough to get the angle right. Her hands had been shaking too much, her tears too thick to see enough.

Sharlo had started silently weeping, and here they both stood as the last dirt settled on top of the hole. Sharlo leaned on the shovel, her shoulders shaking.

Bella wanted to reach out and offer comfort, a hand, a shoulder. She wanted so desperately to not be alone anymore. But even if her current form had allowed such a gesture, Sharlo never would’ve. Her family had all worked at the castle for generations. She’d been horrified by the low-born Bella becoming queen.

“I’m so sorry,” Bella whispered to the kitten as she wiped her cheeks.

Sharlo’s hands tightened on the shovel’s handle, and her voice was harsh as she said, “Nothing for it now, your highness. No time to dilly dally. Let’s gather all the ingredients you’ll need for the next several batches of potions, shall we?”

Bella blinked at the servant as she walked to the smokehouse, leaned the shovel against it, and picked up a bucket to gather whatever herbs Bella pointed out. “I—I have enough for this week, Sharlo. I’ve been neglecting my duties in making any more, since I was monitoring the—cat.”

Sharlo’s shoulders haunched, and she bowed her head. Then she turned to Bella, her square jaw firm, her lips pursed, and a line between her forehead as she frowned.

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