various dried herbs into one of my most prized possessions—a silver kettle.
It’s one of two gifts from Luke. The kettle was a gift when I graduated from my herbology studies at the academy in Lanton across the narrow strait to the mainland. The other gift, a necklace, he gave me when I was just a girl and it’s never left my person since. Both are breathtaking.
But elvish goods usually are stunning. And extremely rare. I generally keep the necklace hidden to avoid drawing attention to the fact that I have two items of elvish make in my possession. I don’t want to get Luke in trouble for any favoritism.
“I want to take you away.” He motions to the bag at his feet. “I’ve prepared traveling supplies. There’s a boat at the harbor ready for us to go.”
I shake my head, as if I can jostle his words enough that they’ll fall into an order that makes sense. “Traveling? A boat?”
“We’ll start in Lanton, obviously. You still have connections from your academy days, right? Maybe we could stay with some of your old friends as we make our way,” Luke suggests casually, as though we’re talking about strolling up to the bluffs to the south of town. He doesn’t break eye contact with me though—that’s how I know he’s serious. Dread tastes as metallic as fear. “And then who knows where from there? Do you want to explore the vast southern deserts? Or perhaps the Slate Mountains to the west?”
I force laughter. I wish I could pretend like he’s joking. “What has gotten into you? We can’t just leave. I have obligations here—and so do you, for that matter. Who will mend bones, stop fevers, and ensure the Weakness is kept at bay if I leave?” Though there’s little even I can do on that last one. The Weakness has been a withering sickness plaguing Capton’s people. It beats my attempts to combat it at every turn.
“Our work is what we do, not who we are. Nothing traps us here. We’re not like the old ones in town who are only kept alive by the Fade River. We can leave. We’ll make it out.”
“Even if that were true, the elves are coming today. I have to get my work done before the town hall; I can’t let everyone down. Mister Abbot needs his tea and Emma needs her strengthening potion or her heart—”
“Luella, we have to leave.” Luke walks over and leans against the counter with both elbows. His voice drops to a hush as he glances upstairs.
“They’re not awake yet,” I say of my parents. Their room is above my shop and it’s been quiet for the two hours I’ve been up working.
“The Keepers still haven’t found the Human Queen. The magic in the line has been fading for some time.” They say that the power of the Human Queen is passed from one queen to the next when the former queen dies. No one knows what would happen if there wasn’t a Human Queen to be taken. It’d be unprecedented. “Some of my fellow Keepers think that maybe she just isn’t here at all. Maybe the magic ran out. Which is all the more reason to get out while we can.”
Since the treaty between the elves and humans was signed three millennia ago, there has been a Human Queen selected from Capton every hundred years like clockwork. Finding her was never hard; she’s the only human with magic, after all. But this time, not one young woman of Capton has mended something with a thought, or made plants grow from barren earth, or had animals swear their allegiance to her.
Now, it’s been one hundred and one years since the last Human Queen was chosen, and the town is suffering because of it.
“If she’s not here then I especially can’t leave. The Weakness is spreading through the town. People are dying as young as one hundred and ten. I have to do what I can to stop it.” And if there is a war to come, healers will be needed more than ever. But I can’t bring myself to say that. I can hardly think it.
“If there is no queen, you can do nothing to stop it. The town’s connection with the Fade is dying and people will die with it. Their lifespans reduced to nothing more than those beyond our island.” Luke grabs my hands. “The elves are coming, and I had a terrible dream about it. Please, let’s