disposition. She was the kind of person he couldn’t fool, and she saw straight through his bullshit. She was everything he had needed in the months after the battle, and he had praised and cursed her in equal amounts. Despite his bitterness and anger, she never once gave up on him.
She was the one who suggested he leave Valreus. Some time away to clear his head and start fresh might do him good, she’d said. Tauran knew she had meant for a few months, or maybe a year, at most. He doubted she approved of him wasting away four years drinking and gambling in inns and hostels across the country. He had been sick and tired of the city, sick and tired of his stupid, useless leg, and he hadn’t kept up with his exercises, both mental and physical.
Returning to Erica’s office now filled Tauran with mixed emotions.
It was just before lunch. Tauran hoped he might catch her without an appointment, and he was right. When he knocked on the door to her office, she called to enter.
Tauran stepped in.
She had her bag over her shoulder and a stack of papers in one hand. Her auburn hair was tied back from her face in a loose bun, exactly as Tauran remembered it. “I’m just about to head out, but I’ll be back in thirty minutes if you want to—”
“Erica,” Tauran said.
She paused, head snapping up. She looked surprised, eyes tracking over his form. She broke into a smile. “By the skies.” She put her papers and her bag down on the desk and went to him. “Tauran Darrica! What are you doing here?”
Tauran stood up a little straighter under her gaze. “I’m back in the guard,” he said, leaving out just how long he had been living in the city without coming to see her.
She stopped in front of him and placed her hands on his shoulders, tilting her head back to meet his eyes. “You look really good, Tauran. How are you?”
Tauran smiled a little. He knew she meant it, Erica had never lied to him. “I’m… I’m doing a lot better,” he said, and realized the truth in it as he said it. He had been in a bad place for a long time, but Kalai had changed that. Kalai and Leyra. And surprisingly, the Sky Guard. His smile widened. “You look good, too.”
“Thank you.” She leaned back against her desk. “I’ve been doing a lot more volunteer work, recently. It may not pay for as many fancy dinners, but it’s good for the soul. Is there something I can do for you, or is this just a friendly visit?”
“Actually, there is something,” Tauran said. He reached into his pocket and drew out the small pill. He held it out for her.
Erica frowned and picked it up.
“Do you know what it is?” Tauran asked.
Erica sighed softly. “I have an idea. Give me a moment.” She went to a side door, disappearing through it.
Tauran followed her. It was her exam room, a space Tauran had grown familiar with in the time he had spent in her care. She passed by the bed to the far counter and pulled vials of liquid from a cabinet. Dropping the pill into an empty vial, she poured liquid from two others into it, stoppered it, then shook. When she returned to him, the liquid in the vial had turned a bright blue. Tauran looked at it with concern.
“Where did you get this, Tauran?” she asked.
“A friend,” Tauran said. “What is it?”
She sighed again and rubbed her brow. Placing the vial on the counter, she pulled out two stools and gestured for him to sit. “The blue color is a reaction to a combination of minerals and acids only triggered by a large amount of doroxian. As far as I’ve been able to gather, it’s extracted from doroxian leaves and put through some sort of cooking process that turns it into a powder. Please tell me you haven’t been taking these pills.”
Tauran sat on the stool, muscles strangely weak. “My friend has. But he’s been taking them for a while, and he’s fine.”
There was a sadness in Erica’s eyes Tauran didn’t want to face. “Well, yes, he would be fine. But I can’t for the life of me understand why anyone would take doroxian willingly.”
Tauran’s voice grew tense, sickly anxiety showing through in his tone. “Why? What’s wrong with them?”
“It has no medical benefits, as far as I’m aware. It functions similarly to a