Soonwas the word of a politician.Soonwas how Xylos ended up with two centuries of stone for a ceiling.
I closed my eyes, burying my face in his muscle, knowing that while I had his soul, the High Court still had his hands.
30
CHAPTER THIRTY
As I moved through the subterranean grandeur of the Umbral, my mind lingered on Talon’s words. I wanted to believe him—Ihadto believe him—yet the cold logic of politics gnawed at me. A moon cycle, perhaps two, before Xylos saw the outside of that cell.
Was I truly supposed to just walk these halls, breathing air that he could not, while his soul withered in the dark?
I turned a corner, my boots silent on the polished floor, when my eyes snagged on a tucked-away chamber. It was not the usual violet or cobalt glow of the city, but a warm, amber light that spilled into the hallway, carrying the intoxicating scent of crushed mint and damp earth.
Excitement fluttered through me as my eyes scanned the large sanctuary before me.
Vials of swirling, iridescent liquids lined the shelves, some bubbling with a soft magic that cast dancing shadows against thewalls. Bunches of dried herbs hung from the rafters, their scents weaving together in a heady tapestry. At the center of it all stood a woman, her back to me, her movements gentle as she ground silver-flecked petals in a stone mortar.
She looked to be roughly my mother’s age, with silver-threaded hair pinned loosely at her nape. I could almost see my mother in the tilt of her head and the way she hummed a tuneless melody to herself.
“It is polite to enter, little bird, rather than hover in the draft,” she said, her voice airy.
I stepped into the warm light, my cheeks flushing. “I apologize. I have always had an interest in natural medicine. Your collection… it is extraordinary.”
The woman turned, her eyes bright with kindness. “A mortal who knows her way around a tincture? Rare in these depths.”
I offered a tentative smile and held out my hand. “My name is Kaelia. Back in Haelen, I was a forager.”
She took my hand in hers and gave it a soft shake. “I am Leona and I am the Healer here.”
I let my hand fall, my gaze immediately drifting to the assorted glassware and the yellowed parchment pinned to the walls, detailed with the intricate properties of plants I had never seen.
“Browse as you like,” Leona murmured, returning to her mortar, “but do not touch the blue glass unless you wish to sleep for a decade.”
I licked my lips in anticipation, moving through the room like a ghost in a dream. My fingers brushed across the polished wood of the cabinets, collecting the fine, fragrant dust of dried leaves. I stopped to admire a flared-base glass, watching as a lilac liquid swirled inside, guided by an unseen current.
A sudden flash of light drew my eyes upward to a glass incubator. Inside, a large plant sat in a bed of rich, dark soil.Every few heartbeats, its stem would expand and burst into a brilliant flash, sending thousands of glowing motes floating through the glass like tiny spirits before they vanished back into the earth.
It looked exactly like the Garden of Thrynn from my dreams. I squinted, leaning in as if I could find the secret of my own visions hidden in the soil.
“Remind you of something?”
I straightened, blinking. “The Garden of Thrynn. I have seen it… in a way.”
Leona smiled softly. “We had this species harvested and cross-bred with seaweed from the Umbral side of the Thrynn river. Marvellous, isn’t it?”
“It is,” I breathed. “What is its purpose?”
“A natural light,” she stated. “Soon, the Shadow Forgers will craft stone bases for them. They will be bedside lamps for those who find the darkness too heavy.”
“Wow,” I whispered.
The light from the incubator followed me as I drifted toward a board pinned with yellowed, jagged pages of lore. My eyes flicked over the pages before landing on a large hand-painted portrait that took up the majority of the stone wall beside it.
I traced a finger down the edge of the frame, feeling the texture of the oil. “Who is this?”
“That is Meliory,” she said, and I did not miss the shadow of grief that flickered across her face. “He was the soul behind this room. Everything I know, I learned from him.”
“Where is he now?” I tilted my head, studying the kind eyes of the man in the photo.