your kindness and charm.”
“I try to leash the potency of the charm but it’s too exhaustin’.” L grinned crookedly over her shoulder.
I shook my head and burst into reluctant laughter.
By the third day, we had made it up through the Alvernian Mountains with little mishap.
We’d heard a few howls in the distance that had given us pause, but so far, we hadn’t come across the mountain dogs.
My magic told me we were close. Very close.
It was midafternoon, and the mountain had already begun to plateau under our feet. L drew to a stop as a new scent drifted by on the wind—lilacs and damp moss.
“I guess we be here.” L smiled at me. At my confused look, she pointed. I walked around her, my feet throbbing. Light sparkled through the trees in front of me, and I grinned in relief.
“We’re here.”
Together we took off at a run and burst out of the trees into the bright light. Before us the grass at our feet slid down toward a glistening lake, enclosed on all sides by higher ground. A small waterfall cascaded from one of the mountains, descending into the lake, causing puffs of foam to rise in the water. Fresh lilacs and orchids bloomed around the lake’s edge, interspersed with dewy plants and buttercups. I stared in amazement. It was the most enchanting place I’d ever seen.
“Wow.” L nudged my shoulder. “Impressive.”
I nodded, smiling in awe. “The Pool of Phaedra.”
I was finally here. My lips trembled and tears prickled behind my eyes.
“Yer no’ be gettin’ all watery, are ye?” L teased.
I gave her a little push, and she laughed. I didn’t know what I would have done without her. Impulsively, and so unlike me, I threw my arms around her and pulled her into a hug. At first she tensed with surprise … and then tentatively, she returned my embrace. When I eventually released her, she gave me a mock look of bemusement. I grinned and then walked away, following the tug of my magic.
It took me behind a large rock by the edge of the lake. There grew a blue plant, the color of the lake itself, vivid and alien, the sweet smell of molasses drifting out of it.
“The Somna plant?” L asked from behind me.
I nodded, reaching for it.
“No’ much left.”
No, there wasn’t. “I’m taking it all,” I whispered, reaching for my pack. “We have alchemists back in Silvera who might be able to plant this to grow more crops. Mayhap they can withdraw its properties and discover other uses for it.”
She glanced around warily. “Alchemists. Properties. Who cares, Rogan, just be gettin’ the damn thing and put it in yer pack.”
I frowned as I pulled the plants out by the roots and wrapped them in cloth. “What’s wrong?” I asked as I carefully stashed them in my pack.
L exhaled shakily. “Well, I don’t be wantin’ to alarm ye but I be sensin’ we might be hittin’ a spot o’ trouble on the way back down.”
My heart thumped, visions of the mountain man making me dizzy. “Trouble? What kind of trouble?”
She shook her head, her eyes narrowed in frustration. “I don’t be knowin’ yet. Sometimes my gift, as Ma calls it, has a warped sense o’ humor.”
With one last longing look at the Pool of Phaedra, L and I hurried back into the woods.
I trusted that L had been paying attention to the route we’d taken but that didn’t mean I hadn’t been paying attention either. L led us back the way we’d come without faltering.
We were both tense and anxious as we moved swiftly through the Arans. All I wanted now that I had the plant was to get back to Silvera and Haydyn as quickly as possible.
When the woods creaked and cracked around us, we would pause, warily cocking our heads, our eyes wide as we stared through the trees, searching for signs of danger. There would be nothing. We’d look at each other, surmise we were safe to carry on, and we’d head off again, our departure faster downhill that it had been going up.
Dusk passed into dark and still we strode through the woods, desperate to get back to L’s home. For now, L searched the woods, looking for the perfect place to bed down for the night. When more time passed, my feet aching and stomach growling, and still L hadn’t stopped, it was almost on the tip of my tongue to beg L to just choose somewhere already, when the hair on