Page 88 of Of Stars and Lightning
Gina smirked at her. “I’m sure I can arrange that if you’d like, Princess.”
“Princess.” A small hand wrapped around her own, gently pulling her back. Phil shook his head. “It’s okay.” Sol’s chest ached.
When she turned back to Gina, she let some of that anger slip into her voice. “You will not give this child Kerproot.”
“I will.”
“You will not.”
The tension was palpable as Sol and Semmena’s Hand glared at each other. She had already started off on shaky ground by joining these things, might as well continue the pattern of defiance.
She would be labeled impulsive, but at least consistent.
She was the one meant to be queen, after all. Perhaps it was time to act like one.
“Sol,” Cas warned from the end of the line. “Let it go.”
“I’m afraid we have different views on this, Prince.” She cut her gaze to his. “Considering your lack ofaction during the Savit mess.”
“We are wasting time.” Gina flicked the box open, the smell of the Kerproot immediately wrapping its earthy, acid scent around Sol’s temples.
She did not have a good experience with the herb. She and Leo had come close to being thrown into the Yavenharrow pits, a place for law breakers to sit and rot into repentance. And it had been her fault for nearly burning half the ships down in her unhinged search for fresh seafood, a promise the Kerproot hallucinations had whispered to her until the effects wore off the morning after.
She eyed the herbs with trepidation but remained solid in her conviction. Sol met Gina’s violet gaze again, deciding to give it another go. “I will take his dose, then.” Gasps resounded behind her.
Cas stomped forward, grabbing her forearm. “You will not??—”
“Let me go,” Sol ordered, her tone letting him know just how she felt about him currently. “I will. End of discussion.”
His gaze roved over her face, his brows furrowing slightly, lips pressing into a tight line. But he released her. “As you wish.”
“Again, Hand Gina said it must all be equal,” Fin countered with a scowl. “Now stop being difficult and??—”
“I’ll allow it,” Gina said. “Let’s move on.”
The woman walked over to the end of the line where Cas returned, offering him the first thread of the vibrant green plant.
Sol stepped back in line, her heart hammering in her chest.
“Princess, I—” Phil twirled his hands, his breath quickening.
“You will struggle. I will be okay with a dose of Kerproot.”
Sol simply said, “No.”
“I will take my brother’s dose, Princess,” Jonah said urgently.
“You must be well to travel the length of the Temple labyrinth.”
“I will be fine.”
She would not be fine. But she wouldn’t let Gina win, and handing off the dose to another was cowardly after her bold acceptance.
So when Gina stepped in front of her, two stems of the plant in her palms, Sol placed them in her mouth before she could truly think of the consequences.
THE PROSPECTS WEREtakento individual threads of the forest, all interconnected to Flora’s Temple at their ends. They were each to travel into the rows of seemingly endless trees and make the correct turns based on Flora’s legend.
A legend Sol could not, for the life of her, recall as the blades of grass began to twist into bows and ribbons.
