Page 71 of A Broken Promise

“Oh.” Laviticus’s eye filled with vile excitement. He wiggled on his chair, his small legs dangling in the air from anticipation. “I’ve waited a long time for this day to come. A gown created bymefor the Royal Ball.” He chuckled, taking a second look at me. “And now I get to make two. What a good day today is.”

“I do have a few requests, though,” Priya said, standing up to pass on the payment.

“Your wish is my command.” He bowed, accepting the payment and quickly opening the sack. Priya paid generously. I knew that. But ahint of surprise still ran through my eyes as he poured out the contents of the sack and pure gold bars fell out. With that sum, she could easily have bought his whole house and the entire street as well.

“As much as I know you wish to create a masterpiece…I need to be able to blend in, since I am going for a job.”

“Oh, putting restraints on me like that already? What is the point of having wings if you never get to fly?” he said with just a few notes of frustration. Yet when a second passed, he smiled again as he put away the gold-filled sack and pulled out a thick sketch book with a white writing feather. “But it will be done.”

“Come, friend.” He motioned with his sharp claws to me. I obediently came up to him. “You remind me of the bright moon and stars if the colors were inverted.” He said, taking a deeper look at my face. “As if you were a galaxy and those freckles were the stars, lighting up the path to the forever unknown.” He scribbled on his paper some notes, I quickly glanced to see a sketch not of my gown but of me, my face. “I shall create you a gown of silvers and deep purples.”

“She will be carrying that night also,” Priya added from the couch.

“I shall make accommodations for that as well.”

“For you, Priya, yours will be a dress called Death’s Kiss. With such deep blacks that you will absorb the darkness of the night with each of your steps.”

“Sounds good, Laviticus, but remember I need it practical; this is a big night for me, if you remember.”

“I shall never forget, my dear,” he said, exchanging a deep glance with her.

He pulled out the small measuring tape and motioned me to come closer to the round mirror in the corner. He carried his stool and started measuring me from head to toe.

I stretched out my arms and stood still. Priya sat quietly on the small couch, staring out the window across from me. For being in the Slums, Laviticus had a gorgeous view of the Kinderby River. Large steam ships were sending their last hurrah as they departed down the water path.

“What are those?” I asked, pointing with my chin to the three large black arrows hanging on the wall above where Priya sat.

“Those are Basalt Glass Arrows.”

“Glass arrows? That seems rather impractical.” I smiled, trying to make small talk.

Laviticus chuckled at me, his thick claws scraping just a tad as they dragged the measuring tape against my back.

“Very impractical indeed, especially if you ignore their practical ability of stopping the Cleansing Fire.”

“They stop what?” I sharply turned to face him.

“One shot with those, and the poor Destroyer bastards cannot summon their powers until that glass is out of them.”

I paused.

I wanted to know more. Ineededto know more.

“Why have I never heard of this? Why is this not common knowledge?” I asked, conflicted.

He chuckled as he motioned to put my arms down.

“Why would it be? Why would the Mad Queen and Royals want us, the regular folk, to know that there is a cure to the Great Rot that the Destroyers have become? Why would they let us know when we are so easily controlled by fear?” His bloodshot eye narrowed on me. I understood that stare. I had seen it in my own eyes; that anguish, the defeat, the disappointment.

“Where can I find Basalt Glass?” I asked. My thoughts were now churning and twisting like an awakened dragon preparing to unleash its fire.

“You won’t,” Priya objected from the couch; her face filled with clear impatience.

But Laviticus continued.

“It’s been banned for a long time, and even before the Great Fall, it was almost impossible to find. A rare commodity even then, and with Destroyers in power for years before the Mad Queen, it was a miracle Basalt Glass of any kind survived at all.” He grabbed his tape and went back to his desk.

My mind chose to ignore the impossibility, focusing on one truth: it wasrarebut notgone.

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