Page 41 of Spark of the Everflame

“Is there anyone else here I could talk to that might know more about—”

“No.”

The answer was so final, so unequivocal, that the jar of rainbow-tinted gryvern scales I was clutching nearly tumbled to the stone floor.

“I only meant to ask if—”

“No,” she said again, louder this time. “If your mother was doing work for the army, I would know about it, and I don’t. Sniffing around won’t end well, for you or for Auralie.” Her ash-brown eyes narrowed. “I think you’ve gathered enough supplies for today. Best be on your way now.”

My heart fell. I hadn’t realized just how desperately I’d needed this trip to finally give me some answers. With this door slammed in my face, I felt further from my mother than I ever had.

Dejected, I hurriedly packed my things to leave while Leona stood guard and watched.

I’d loaded my now-overstuffed bags onto my shoulders when my eyes snagged on a metal cage hidden in a corner behind a series of bookshelves. It wasn’t the cage that struck me, but the vibrant color blaring through it. I inched closer.Could that be...?

My breath caught.

Even if the violent crimson hue hadn’t given the flameroot away, the distinctive crescent-shaped vial was so familiar to my palm that I could pick it out blind. I’d held it in my hand, glared at it with trepidation and resentment, nearly every day that I could remember.

It was the one medicine I couldn’t make, buy, or substitute. With my own supply sitting on the sea floor, I’d done my best to convince myself I didn’t need it anymore.

But the tricks my mind had been playing on me... The glow at the palace. The wolf in the forest.

As much as I tried to justify it all away, I knew my symptoms were returning. The same symptoms that had haunted me all those years ago—visions, feelings I couldn’t explain. The belief that I was doing things I shouldn’t be able to do...

Magic.

I had hallucinated that I had magic.

And for a brief, terrifying time, as the brown eyes and auburn hair marking me as a mortal had faded from my features, I’d even believed myself to be a Descended.

I’d been hysterical at the time, nearly throwing myself into the Sacred Sea at the horrifying prospect that I might be one of the monsters from the ghastly stories my friends swapped at school.

But my mother had held me close, calmed me with soothing words and a tender touch, and broke the news that the man who had sired me had suffered from similar delusions that had driven him to his demise.

I’d hoped, somehow, that it would not pass to you, she’d told me in a voice soaked with despair,but don’t you worry, my little warrior. I will protect you. I will not let you end up like him.

And as soon as I’d begun the morning flameroot regime—a pinch of the bitter powder mixed well in a cup of steaming water—the visions had stopped. Though it turned my mind cloudy and my emotions stunted, my life had returned to blissful normalcy.

But now.Now...

I noted a heavy iron padlock secured to the door of the cage. “Could I get some of this as well?” I called out, motioning to the vials.

Leona followed where I was pointing with wide, panicked eyes. Again she looked around for spying eyes and ears, her motions more frantic than before. She rushed over to the cage and yanked a piece of fabric over the top to conceal its contents, then whipped back to me. “Why do you needthat?”

“We ran out,” I said hesitantly. “Is there a problem?”

“What do you use it for?”

I could sense in her tone that the question was a test—a dangerous test.

“I, uh... I’m not sure. I’d have to check my mother’s notes.” A careful answer.

“How did you get any in the first place? You need permission from all nine Crowns to get even an ounce of that.”

I couldn’t think fast enough to stop my look of shock.

“That cage is warded so only the King of Fortos can open it,” Leona hissed. “Even the Chief Healer doesn’t have access. How did you get some?” Her voice turned shrill, almost accusatory. “How?”

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