Page 14 of Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore
“We’ll come through the other side of it,” Nathaniel said with more conviction than he felt. “Now that Shadowfade’s gone, Dragon’s Rest will find its balance.”
“We should tear down his bloody castle,” muttered the customer, heading for the door without making a purchase. “That would prove to everyone he’s gone for good.”
Shadowfade had made his mark upon the town, and Nathaniel would be lying if he said it wasn’t part of the reason he’d fought to get away from Dragon’s Rest.
He looked around the shop, his eyes lingering on the too-wide spaces between products on the shelves and the jars that were nearly empty. Like all of them here in Dragon’s Rest, those merchants were holding their breath because they knew change was on the horizon.
And just like those merchants, Nathaniel was terrified of what that change would bring.
As he waved goodbye to his customer, his eye caught on a now-familiar head of curls just outside, watching the market stalls in Wingspan Green with a certain wistfulness in her eyes. He couldn’t forget his suspicions. Something about Violet Thistlewaite wasoffsomehow, and like a kernel stuck between his teeth or a stubborn stain he could not scrub out, Nathaniel had become fixated. She was a distraction he did not want or need, especially at a time like this when he should be focusing on his business—but she presented the exact sort of puzzle he couldn’t resist, the kind that urged him to pull out paper and ink to start cataloguing hypotheses, to put on his best gloves so he could carefully measure and examine to determine exactly what it was about her that drew his attention so.
Nathaniel told himself that he watched her so closely because he wanted answers. He wanted to know how she was so powerful and why someone with her abilities would open a flower shop in a town as small and sad as Dragon’s Rest. He told himself it had everything to do with his own self-interest and nothing at all to do with those amber eyes or the way she always seemed to miss a few strands when she tied her hair up out of her face. It was about the survival of his business, not the high, clear sound of her laugh, which had shocked him like lightning only that morning when Pru ran into her outside the apothecary. He didn’t need to make her laugh. It was perfectly acceptable that Violet liked his sister better than him.
Nathaniel Marsh had grown accomplished, over the years, at telling himself lies. Most of the time, he even believed them to be true.
Market Day
A basket clutched to her side, Violet threaded her way through the throngs of vendors and curious customers that had gathered in Wingspan Green. The paths were lined with carts and booths; Quinn waved from hers with a grin as Violet passed her stall. A heavenly smell, thick with spices and sugar, wafted through the air, and a little girl marveled at the small posies in Violet’s basket.
“Oh,” said the girl on a breath, wistfulness in her blue eyes. Violet smiled at her and willed a spark of magic into a small, pink-daisy bouquet to give it a little extra life. She held it out to the girl.
“For you,” she said, but the girl’s mother pulled her back.
“No, thank you,” she said curtly.
Violet’s smile wilted. “That’s—of course.”
She took a step back, right into someone else. “I’m so sorry.”
“Not a problem,” said a familiar voice. “Oh, Violet! It’s you!”
Pru was dressed in another of her bright dresses, tied seemingly at random with scarves, her hair coiled on top of her head and pinned with a large and cheerful red feather. There was aviolin slung over her back like a quiver of arrows. “Enjoying Market Day?”
“I—”
Pru followed her darting gaze to the daisies in Violet’s hand, and the mother who was tugging her daughter away by the arm. Her face twisted for a moment before resuming her usual grin. “Elis! It looks like you’ve met my friend Violet. She’s new in town and opening a flower shop. Isn’t that just what Dragon’s Rest needs?”
The woman—Elis—froze.
“A flower shop, you say?” An unsteady smile settled on her features, though it did nothing to calm the storm of nerves that had snapped the branches of Violet’s budding confidence. “We’ve not had one of those before.”
“I’m hoping to be open in just a few weeks,” said Violet, her voice timid. She had brought entire cities to their knees! She had wielded power beyond imagining! And this sharp-eyed woman could make her cower all because Violet was afraid she didn’tlikeher?
“What are you called?” Elis asked.
“I’m Violet.”
“No, what’s your shop called?”
“Oh.” Heat flushed her cheeks. “It doesn’t have a name just yet.”
“Hmm. A business worth remembering merits a name worth the same, don’t you think?”
Violet had given some thought to it, of course, but like a water lily in the desert, she was coming up dry.
“It will be something wonderful, I’m sure of it,” said Pru smoothly. She swiped the daisies from Violet’s hand and pressed them to her nose, inhaling. “Ahh. These are gorgeous. Violet, how much did you say you were charging for them?”
Violet startled again. “Oh, there’s no charge.”
