Page 42 of Wicked Thieves
“Open your eyes!” the voice commanded as the hands eased their grip on her. Moving up and down her arms before they found her face. Warm, calloused fingers grazing her skin. “Temperance.”
Anelize’s eyes shot open on a gasp at the familiar name. The shadows around her slowly ebbed away, clearing until she found Aeric standing before her. His concern painted over his face as he breathed heavily as if he’d been running.
“Did you feel that? The power…” she said shakily.
“What?” Aeric casted a glare about the room, to the runes on the walls.
She felt dazed, swaying until he wrapped an arm around her to steady her.
“She said that power comes at a cost.”
“Breathe, Anya. It’s all right now.” Aeric pushed her back to look her in the eye. “Can you tell me what you saw?”
“I-I don’t know. I can’t—” Her vision blurred, her head feeling seconds away from splitting in half.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, his voice softer this time. His arm still wrapped around her shoulders.
“No. I’m fine.”
Footsteps rushed into the cottage and soon the others were there. Looking haggard and on edge, but unharmed. Henry looked around the room with awe before his eyes met hers. His face went grim as he approached her, pulling her out of Aeric’s arms and into his. “Saints, Anya. Are you all right?”
She nodded against his broad chest before she heard Idris murmur, “What is this place?”
Glancing over her shoulder, she found the twins inspecting the runes on the walls. Aeric however, stood an arm’s length away from her with a stern look on his face. His hands flexing at his sides as he watched her before he turned away. “Don’t touch anything.”
“This was where the Weaver resided,” Henry practically whispered, as if he feared the Weaver would appear before them at the mere mention of her name. “After she was cast out by the Vedrans in the village, she came here to live out the rest of her days in isolation. It was her punishment for allying herself with the king.”
“The air in this place feels…heavy. Unnatural,” Adan said with a sneer as he inspected another rune, what appeared to be dried blood coating its edges.
Henry nodded. “Her power is encased within this cottage. Her augmentation and conjuring, all of it was done here. One can feel it roiling within themselves. I have no doubt her very essence and power has remained within these walls. Did you see anything, Anya?”
Anelize hesitated before saying, “I think I saw something. But I can’t make sense of any of it. My head…”
Anelize shivered and she felt something heavy and warm being draped over her shoulders.
“Let’s get out of here. She’s seen enough. I think we all have,” Aeric said. When she glanced up to watch him striding for the door, she noticed he now only wore his black leathers. Slowly, she placed her hand over the fabric, realizing it was a cloak that she’d been wrapped in.
Henry frowned at Aeric but nodded.
Seeming to all have come to an agreement, they venture out into the forest and back to the city, wary of any other creatures they may encounter.
All the while, Anelize could not stop herself from glancing over her shoulder. Feeling as though something, or someone, was watching her. Her name lost to the howling winds.
16
Anelize never realized that the pungent scents of herbs and roots could bring such equanimity back into her life. Not until she found herself at a table in the Dobrins kitchen, surveying the ingredients that had been brought to her this morning. How much she’d missed her practice as an apothecary.
“Is this everything you need?” Aeric asked Anelize from where he stood by the door. Per usual, whenever he returned to the tavern after disappearing for days on end, he did not wear the Watchman’s armor she’d seen him in that day outside her father’s shop. Only a white linen shirt beneath a black jerkin and pants.
“How did you manage to get all of these?” she asked him, picking up the willow bark from the cloth it had been delicately wrapped in, and pleased when the brittle bark snapped, indicating it had been dried fully. Its aroma mildly sweet and cool.
When she’d asked Aeric to retrieve a list of herbs for her to begin Castian’s treatment, she hadn’t expected him to fully go through with it. Mainly due to rare herbs being hard to find in the port district. With the Watchmen searching for her, leaving the tavern herself wasn’t exactly prudent. Neither was venturing to the shop, to the garden where she knew therewere bound to be a few key components she needed, not while Magda was currently running it. However, that may be going…
With the reward she’d been given, Anelize would hardly be surprised if she found that her aunt had transformed Yarrow’s Apothecary & Remedies into a flamboyant hat shop that none of the folk could afford. The mere thought made her stomach turn bilious, and she lost what little appetite she might have had this morning.
What she hadn’t accounted for was Aeric not only completing her list but bringing them all in one day. Each herb and root bundled up and strewn across the table before she arrived.
“The king’s physician is quite forgetful. He barely notices when anything goes missing in his infirmary. I highly doubt he cares if I take a handful.” Aeric approached the table, placing his hands atop it as he leaned forward. This was more than a handful. To her, this was a wellspring of fortune. When he noticed she arched an incredulous brow at him, he chuckled. “All right, maybe he will notice. It’s too late to take them back now.”
