Page 57 of Queen of Vengeance

She leaned forward, and tears dripped from her eyes. “The world has taken everything from me now. I no longer care what happens to me.”

Zane lowered his head onto her lap and whimpered in pain.

This small act of kindness caused Lea’s grandmother to burst into tears.

She hugged Zane’s head to her chest with all the might in her weak body. “My dear Lea… They took my Lea away!”

The heartache could be heard throughout the entire village. It echoed in the chambers of Zane’s chest, filling him with anguish and unrest. It would take up residence inside him until he rectified the situation.

He could not give up on her.

21

LEA

“Lea?” A soft voice and a gentle hand on her shoulder stirred me from sleep.

I raised my head from numb arms to find that it was still light outside. I had hoped to wallow in self-pity for the rest of the day and well into tomorrow, but it seemed my friend had other ideas for me. “Dineta. What is it?”

“Your wound… It’s still bleeding out. Have they not bandaged it properly?” The look on Dineta’s face made me worry.

Pressing my hand under my ribs, I pulled it back to find it sticky and red. I thought my dizziness was due to my exhaustion, but perhaps I was losing too much blood.

That would be one way to escape from here. Although, it’s not a preferable one.

My other cellmates watched me as if waiting for me to expire. When my eyes reached Miller, who seemed to be fumbling around with something, they stopped to take him in.

“What do you have there?” I discovered after speaking that I was out of breath. I pressed my hand under my rib tighter as if that would save me. At this point, I needed a healing potion, and the guards would rather dispose of my body than give me one.

Miller’s eyes snapped up to mine, his face twisted with worry. He swallowed a lump before nervously wiping the sweat from his forehead. “When the guards brought me here, they failed to check me entirely. I was able to sneak in with a small bag of ingredients. It’s not very much, and I’m not sure it’s going to help?—”

He looked around the cell as if trying to pick out who was willing to rat on him for a shorter sentence. He didn’t know anyone in the cell, but he trusted them. Or, perhaps more accurately, he made a leap of faith. He moved closer to me, revealing the small amounts of dried herbs.

There were ingredients that were next to useless for me in this situation, such as lavender, but there appeared to be a few that I could make use of.

“I know it might be a long shot—” Miller’s shoulders dropped as he frowned at me.

I was touched that an absolute stranger would put himself at risk just to save me. It reminded me that there were good people in the world.

“Nonsense. Lea is probably the most skilled potionist I’ve ever met. From just the things she’s told me alone, I’m sure she can make use of these.” Dineta nodded profusely at Miller, but I was unable to see her face. When she turned to me, she fought off tears in her eyes with a big smile. “Right? You will be able to heal yourself with this. You must. I couldn’t fathom being here without you.”

“I will do my best.” I sat myself up enough to crouch over the ingredients to get a better look. I wasn’t going to be making any health potions with this, but I could possibly make something to stop the bleeding.

Cats fur, ground beating Buzzard’s eye, pollen from the Varuvia plant, and dried tresun hill grass. How the guards managed to miss these ingredients, I don’t know, but I’m grateful they did. There was only one issue…

“I don’t have my mortar and pestle. I’m not able to properly grind and mix the ingredients. Without that, the salve won’t work.” I watched the hope dispel from Dineta’s eyes.

“I can’t help you there. A few dried herbs weren’t too difficult to sneak in, but a stone bowl is a bit of a stretch.” Miller sucked his teeth and tilted his head toward the stone wall. “Unless…”

He stood to his feet and started lining his hands against the Stonewall on the far side of the cell. “Maybe we don’t need to sneak one in.”

“What are you talking about?” Dineta tried to follow his line of thinking.

“I’m saying we could make one!” Miller tried to keep his voice down, but his excitement got the best of him. “Dineta, let me know when there isn’t a guard nearby.”

He pointed at the front of the cell where the bars are.

Despite being confused about the plan, Dineta didn’t argue with him. She got up from the floor and stood guard.

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