Page 99 of Only Flames Remain

I could hardly get him under the covers with his hulking body already settled against the sheets, so I merely tossed the plaid coverlet from the settee over him.

It was comical, really. It wasn’t nearly long enough to cover his entire body, his shoulders bare and his feet poking out beneath it.

With a silent laugh on my lips, I took the lantern with me and turned toward the door to retire for the night. I didn’t have the energy to return to the party, and some of his blood had seeped onto my gown, besides. I would need to figure out a way to hide the mark on my neck before morning, lest anyone find out about what had happened tonight.

At the doorway, I glanced back at him once more. I could barely make out his sleeping form. He was bathed in the glow of the moon through the arched glass windows beyond the bed.

But behind the chair, before the fireplace, was a crystal decanter visible beneath the flickering flames cast from what little of the fire still remained burning in the grate.

And there, sitting next to it, was an empty glass.

The last thing I remembered was stripping the bloodied dress from my body and falling into bed with exhaustion.

Now, the room before me was oddly tilted and blurred. It was as if I were watching the scene before me with eyes different from my own. I had a vague sense in the back of my mind that I was dreaming. My mother, Lavanya, stood with a woman I didn’t recognize beneath the setting sun at the apothecary back in Myros. My mother locked the door and moved behind the till, counting the money quickly before replacing the coin and turning to the curio cabinet.

“You don’t think she will find out?” the woman said across from my mother, her voice stern as she stood unmoving, hands on her hips.

My mother bit her lip, shaking her head back and forth as she took out a fresh tincture bottle and funnel. She was younger than I had any memory of.

“How could she? She isn’t old enough to know the difference. She will simply do as her mother asks.”

The white-haired woman rolled her eyes, an angry flush reddening her cheeks. “And if one day she decides she no longer wishes to take the poison?”

My mother turned toward her sharply, her plaited hair flying over her shoulder. “That would only happen if ideas were put in her head. Like me, she will take it because it is what we do. We are alchemists.”

The woman’s lip curled. “That answer isn’t good enough. You don’t think she deserves to know? You think it wise to keep this from her? Only harm can come of it.”

My mother laughed but there was no humor in it. “You think I want to hide her true nature? Hide who she is? I have to. It is the only way to keep her safe,” she spat. “You have a daughter of your own. You should understand. There is nothing that I wouldn’t do to protect her.”

The woman shook her head, eyes tired as she pushed a lock of graying ivory behind her ear. “You are a foolish woman. When she grows into a woman herself, she will have questions. There is no telling what the future holds. You may not be there to answer them.”

My mother let out an exasperated exhale. “And if she comes asking, I will tell her.”

“Will you?” The woman stepped forward; shoulders squared. “Will you tell her who her father is?”

“That is for me to tell her, not you,” Mother snapped. “It is my decision.”

She set her jaw as she funneled the powdered herbs into the tincture and added the funnel to the top of the amber glass. The woman watched on with drawn brows as she took out a pungent green liquid and filled the bottle, replacing the dropper and shaking it vigorously.

“That’s all it will take? A mere bit of poison to keep the magic away?”

“Lower your voice!” My mother growled between clenched teeth.

“There is no one here to listen to your secrets but me. I am all that you have left. The gods have forsaken Aeloria, Lavanya. You owe her the truth.”

“I owe her nothing. The decisions for Aveline are my own to make.”

“Enora will need to be told. She needs to know everything if she is to stay by Aveline’s side as her protector. If she is to keep her safe.”

Enora? This was Enora’s mother?

I had never met Enora’s mother. The lives of the Veytari were long, and she had resided in Sylvaris for decades.

The dream was beginning to fade, the scene before me darkening at the edges as if it were about to be snuffed out.

“In due time. All will be revealed in due time. For now, she will take the poison. We will hide her true lineage. And she will remain safe.” My mother placed the tincture on the counter before her.

The woman’s expression turned sad. “You needn’t hide it from her. She only needs to learn to control it.”