Page 72 of Queen of Vengeance

I saw Jason as a young boy, strapping and full of life. I saw myself with him as well. I didn’t know how to feel about being a mother, but now that I saw him, it was all I wanted to be.

I’m going to get out of this place eventually, and we’ll have a wonderful life together. Won’t that be lovely?

Iawoke to a commotion outside of my consciousness.

“No! He can’t be taken away so soon. It’s not fair!” Sally’s soft voice cracked from the strain of shouting.

My eyes fluttered open to see that my baby was being seized by someone I’d never seen before.

She wasn’t a nurse or a guard. Her outfit was a tight purple dress made of leather with magic shimmering through the woven fabric. “We cannot have a baby here. Are you out of your mind? If she doesn’t have anyone in her family that can take her, then the baby will be given away.”

I sat up too quickly and felt all the organs in my body jostle to one side, making me sick. “Where are you taking my baby?”

“Listen, he will be taken today either way. You might as well secure a place in your family for him to go or else you won’t be seeing him again ever.” She marched toward me with her heels clicking against the floor.

Her eyes were a piercing purple.

She was startling.

The power coming off her was unimaginable. There was no way one body could hold so much. Where was it all coming from?

The thought of giving him up made me want to cry, but I refused to do that in front of this woman. “My grandmother. She will take him.”

“Contact her relative. See to it that the baby is gone by the time I return this evening.” She snapped her fingers at Sally and exited the room.

As soon as she was gone, Sally turned to me with tears streaming down her face. “Lea, I’m so sorry. I had no idea she would be back so soon. She was supposed to be gone for another month.”

“It can’t be helped.” I simply shrugged. What else could be done? Then an idea sparked in my head. “Can you do me one more favor?”

She nodded profusely. “Anything.”

“I need a pen and paper.”

She was confused by the determined look in my eye, but instead of asking for more information, she agreed.

They provided me with two thin sheets of paper and a single pencil. It was all I needed.

If I can’t be near my son, I at least want to protect him. I will create a protection potion made up of my own essence. I won’t be able to create it in my current circumstance, but Mema could.

I spent the rest of the afternoon brainstorming the perfect concoction for a protection potion. I needed it to be potent enough to attract others to help him if necessary. This was the first time I had tried to make something like this.

I wish I had Miller here to ask… He was an intuitive potionist.

I looked down at my calloused and peeling fingertips. I couldn’t even understand what was causing my fingers to look like that. Was it the roughly woven clothes or the stone floors we slept on?

As much as these hands had been through, they could take it. They’ve hardened and grown stronger because of it, much like me.

I was just as capable. I had to be… For my baby.

I shook the trepidation from my bones and trekked on.

Perhaps I’m thinking about it too literally. It isn’t a potion that needs to be protected, per se. It needs to influence others to want to protect.

I tapped the pencil against my dry lips in thought.

Something that influences something—or someone… That’s it!

It hit me like a bolt of lightning. Before being trapped in this awful place, I remember reading about a plant.

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