To Live
Love is the base ingredient for magic.
-Tales From Meridea, Volume III
“Ican’t convince you to go to bed?” Noah asked.
Luci shook her head, watching crimson rose petals disintegrate into the cloudy water like red smoke. Consuming everything they touched without a sign of willow bark or peppermint that came before it. Nothing of what came before.
“You’ve made a lot of potions today,” he said.
Luci could feel him standing behind her, watching, concern evident in the heaviness of his voice. It was easy to tell he was a good man. He never hovered or pried. Instead, he allowed her to work in her gloom, offering suggestions to improve her craft. In just two days, Luci’s skill level improved enough that she was filling two vials in the time it used to take her to fill one.
“I want to be prepared,” Luci murmured.
Flickering flame danced over the room, lingering on white surfaces and hugging the shadows on the walls. A silent watch to her melancholy mood. The shadows edged closer with every pass of the flame as if they were trying to make their way to her. Strangely, Luci secretly welcomed them and the truth they promised.
“I imagine coming to the castle has been a difficult change, but don’t let your mind convince you of something that isn’t true,” he said.
Luci lifted her head from her hands and narrowed her eyes at the healer. He was kind, patient, and objectively handsome. If she were capable of falling in love with someone, it would be someone like him. Their future was written into the steady stream of lavender smoke erupting from the vial before her. They would spend their days researching and experimenting. They were tucked in tight to each other. A relationship built on mutual respect. Together, they would make advancements in medicine that would change lives.
A good life.
Whatever he saw in her, Noah took a step forward and carefully brushed a strand of hair from her eyes and tucked it neatly behind her ear. Her heart didn’t leap, almost like it was too tired to try. The effort was not worth the push of blood throughout her body.
“She still needs you,” he said.
Luci’s eyes burned while her throat worked to produce sound. Maybe she wasn’t as secretive as she thought if the healer could see right into her mind and soul. To know the one thing that was destroying her.
“She belongs here. She’s happy, content, and healthy. I’ve never seen her shine like this. What if I’ve held her back all these years?”
The damning words were choking her even after she finally released them into the universe. For the briefest of moments, she considered maybe saying them aloud would be freeing, but it was worse. Now they existed in a space outside her mind.
Noah leaned up against the white countertop, angling his body close to her. When she didn’t look up, he gently hooked his fingers below her chin and lifted her gaze. Luci didn’t fight it, mostly because her body was weighed down too much to resist.
His eyes searched hers.
“Don’t let yourself sink, Luci. When you live for only one person, you lose everything you are in the process,” he whispered.
“All I have ever been is hers,” Luci confessed.
He nodded, releasing her.
“Maybe it’s time you learn just who Lucinda Blackthorn is,” he said.
Luci couldn’t think of a single more terrifying thought.
Two sharp knocks that resembled bangs more than any polite knock rang through the lantern-lit infirmary. Noah stepped away from her like she was made of poison, and maybe she was.
You are the symptom. Not the cure.
“Your highness. You startled me.” Noah said, clutching his chest.
“I bet I did.” Prince Ira’s voice was tight, punctuated with irritation.
“Is Brielle-” Luci asked.
“Fine,” Prince Ira said.