Page 148 of First Light
“An herb.” Aisling knelt down and started digging in the soil around the base of the large plant. “I collect it here because things grow in this meadow even in the winter.” She lifted her eyebrows. “Old fae magic I think.”
“What do you want me to cut?”
“Here.” Aisling reached into her basket and grabbed another knife. “Use this and cut some of the leaves off near the base. The medium-sized ones are good. The big ones are too old.”
“Okay.” The mullein leaves were soft and bore a feathery texture. “What’s it for?”
“The leaves?” Aisling grunted as she dug. “The leaves are good for respiratory illnesses, and there are several sicknesses racing around the castle right now. I also read a letter from a mage in Anglia recently that mullein roots can be used to treat skin rashes, so I was going to experiment.”
“You’re really good at this stuff, aren’t you?” Carys completely understood why Seren didn’t want to see a mind like Aisling’s locked into a political marriage in a place that wouldn’t appreciate her. “In the Brightlands, we have all these different medicines, and here you use magic and herbs to heal people.”
“Duncan says that many of the medicines in your world are derived from natural sources anyway.” She pushed back a piece of hair that had fallen into her face. “So maybe it’s almost the same thing.”
“And we don’t have magic.”
Aisling smiled, but it was an absent kind of smile. “No, you don’t.”
“Yeah, my doctor in America has never used a spell to clear up a cough, so you have her beat there.” Carys sat back on her heels, watching as Aisling dug up another root.
She looked around the clearing and saw the sprawling oak where the fae woman Naida had been gathering mushrooms. The grass in the meadow seemed a little brighter. The sky a little clearer. “The magic here is still strong, isn’t it?”
“It is.” Aisling looked up. “Can you feel it? Seren avoided this place. Cadell didn’t like it when she was here. He can’t stand the fae.”
“Yeah, he’s overprotective.” She reached out and felt for the dragon’s presence. It was faint, but it was there. “Any progress on your grimoire?”
“I’m close to finishing, and Regan agreed to stay until I’m done.” Aisling’s face was blank. “I’m ready to move on from here. I’ve heard that the medicinal knowledge in the Near East is much more advanced than what we have. If I’m able to find a position on the continent,maybe I’ll meet mages from?—”
“Lachlan said your family is going to marry you to an Anglian lord like your mother.” She didn’t know why she blurted it out like that.
Fuck. Carys immediately regretted it.
“They’re not.” Aisling’s face was pale. “Eamer says… She says my grandmother…” Aisling sat back and her shoulders were tense. “Why were you talking to Lachlan about me?”
Carys desperately searched for the right words. “I found Seren’s last journal.”
Aisling’s face went pale.
“She knew you wanted to get away from here.” Carys spoke quickly. “That you wanted to work in foreign courts, and I thought maybe your family wouldn’t have liked that and?—”
“How did you find her last journal?” Aisling slowly rose to her feet, the bone knife clutched in her hand.
A crow shrieked from its perch on a craggy standing stone partially tilted to the side. Aisling’s eyes darted to the crow and went wide. She looked back at Carys, then at the crow again.
“No,” she whispered. “You didn’t.” Aisling’s chest heaved as she stared at the crow. “Tell me you didn’t.”
“I just found it.” Carys stood and stepped back slowly. “Why do you?—”
“You shouldn’t have beenableto find it.” Aisling gripped the bone knife, and her face drained of color. Her skin was pure white, and her lips stood out like blood-red flowers on snow. Her mouth thinned, and her eyes moved from Carys to the crow and back again. “What have you done?”
“Cadell?” Carys reached out, but the voice that came back was dull and nearly silent.
Nêrys… what…?
“No.” Aisling raised her hand and pressed her palm out. Her voice was an icy gust scraping across the silent meadow. “No!”
Carys felt something hit her, like the rush of wind from a passing truck. “What did you do?”
“You willnotcall the dragon.” The warm woman’s face had turned into a blank mask.