Flamecaster (Shattered Realms #1)(14)

“Wait here,” she said. “I’ll be right back.”

It took a while, but she returned with a heavy sheepswool coat. “Put this on,” she said. “It’s my nephew’s, but I think it’s about the right size.”

Adrian was still shivering, so he pulled it on.

“Now, come inside, where it’s warm,” she said. “Nobody will see you. I’ve cleared everyone out of the back.”

Before he knew it, he was sitting in the back room of the shop, and Taliesin was sitting between him and the door, pouring hot water over crushed leaves in a kettle. She’d made up a makeshift bed on the floor by the hearth.

While the leaves steeped, she shook some black, wrinkled beans from a cloth bag onto a stone and added some dried brown root and a pinch of yellow powder. “Tell me what happened.”

“What have you heard?”

“It doesn’t matter what I heard, I asked you to tell me what happened.” She set the stone in Adrian’s lap and handed him a pestle. “Crush these fine as you can.”

Adrian weighed the heavy pestle in his hand. He didn’t know what to say.

“I’m guessing you’re here because you want my help,” Taliesin said. “If you want my help, you’re going to have to talk to me.”

Adrian sighed. Maybe once Taliesin knew what had happened, she’d give him what he wanted.

“My father is dead,” he said, smashing the pestle down. Crunch.

“So I’ve heard. The whole town was in mourning when I left. For both of you.” Her voice softened. “I’m sorry, Mageling.”

“It’s my fault he’s dead.” Crunch.

“You killed your own father?”

“No!”

“Then I suspect it’s someone else’s fault.”

“But it was my fault he couldn’t get away. I lured him into a trap.”

“Ah.” Taliesin nodded, her beads clattering together. “So you were in on the conspiracy.”

“No!” Adrian struggled to organize his feverish thoughts. “They—some people—grabbed me on the street. My father came to help me. And they killed him.”

“Then I suspect someone else used you to lure him into a trap.”

“It doesn’t change the fact that if I hadn’t been there, he’d still be alive. I was useless. Worse than useless.” Despite his best efforts, tears welled up in his eyes. Crunch.

Taking the ground herbs from Adrian, Taliesin brushed them into a mug and added the steaming contents of the kettle. She held it out to him. “Careful,” she said. “It’s hot.”

He blew on the tea, and the aroma boiled up into his nose. Glaring at Taliesin, he banged the mug down on the hearth. “If you think you’re going to drug me and ship me back home, you’re wrong,” he said.

Taliesin sighed. “You’re going to want that for pain, because I’m going to need to work on your ankle.”

Taliesin should be queen of something, Adrian thought, since she was so good at giving orders and having them obeyed. He picked up the mug and sipped at the tea.

Taliesin unbuckled his boot and slid it off. His ankle had not improved. The healer rolled her eyes.

“You’ve been walking around on a broken ankle? Did you forget everything I taught you?”

“I should be dead by now,” Adrian said. “Then it wouldn’t matter. It’s just—blood and bones!”

With a quick, expert snap, Taliesin had realigned the bone. The pain nearly put Adrian through the roof.

“You could’ve warned me,” he said.

“You’re the one that didn’t want to drink the tea,” Taliesin said without sympathy. She began wrapping the ankle with long strips of cloth. “Why are you here?”

“I want to come with you to Oden’s Ford,” Adrian said. “You said you could get me into Spiritas. I’ll study with you, then transfer to Mystwerk when I’m old enough.”

“I can get you into Spiritas. But right now you should go home to your mother. You can’t let her go on thinking you’re dead or kidnapped. She needs you right now.”

“She doesn’t need me. She doesn’t need anyone. If not for her, my da would still be alive.” Even as he said it, Adrian knew that it was wrong, and unfair. But he was sick and tired, and in no mood to be reasonable.

“Ah,” Taliesin said, sipping at her own tea. “Then she was in on the conspiracy. I suppose she didn’t love him?”

“Just stop it!” Adrian shouted. A young girl poked her head between the curtains that divided the back of the shop from the front. Taliesin waved her off without taking her eyes off Adrian.

“That’s not what I mean, and you bloody well know it,” Adrian hissed. “Yes, she loved him. He’s dead because he loved her back, and because he loved me, and he shouldn’t have had to pay that price for love.”

“Aye, there’s something we agree on.” Taliesin set her cup down. “He shouldn’t have had to pay that price. Love is the root of so much suffering and misery, so much loss. It’s the worst thing in the world, to risk yourself by loving someone. At the same time, it’s the best thing in the world—and worth the risk. I don’t know your mother and sister—but I know you, and I’d wager that they want you back.” That was as close to a compliment as he’d ever get from Taliesin.