Violet Thistlewaite, she decided, was kind and generous. She came from a loving family with parents who had wanted her, and maybe some siblings who teased her about moving so far away. Nieces and nephews whose faces lit up in delight when Auntie Vi conjured flower crowns for their hair and grew playhouses for them of hardy-yet-thornless bramble. Violet Thistlewaite had no dark side looming behind her like a shadow. She could sleep through the night without waking in a cold sweat from nightmares of her past. She could—
A scream cut the air like one of Guy’s enchanted daggers through her rosebushes.
Violet stood fast enough to make her head whirl, whichreminded her she hadn’t eaten yet today. There, just behind the rock formation, was a flash of movement that Violet soon recognized as a woman running.
“Get away from me, you bloody nuisances!” she cried, turning to throw what appeared to be her shoe behind her.
A moment later, a creature rumbled into view. Violet gasped as she took in the blocky granite legs and massive height of the beast. It was two-legged and ungainly, with no visible head and a long tail that appeared to be missing great chunks. The whole thing seemed to be cobbled together from stone. Its rocky body scraped as it moved, and although it wasn’t very quick, it definitely wasn’t the type of creature anyone would want chasing after them.
Be good, the Tempest had challenged her. Violet placed Bartleby carefully on the ground, raised her hands to chest level, and shouted, “Oy!” The woman noticed her then, her eyes widening, and Violet cried, “Duck!”
Unleashing her power was like opening a tap. Magic flooded Violet’s chest and spread eagerly through her veins like roots through soft earth, until even her toes were warm with energy. With a sweep of her hands, Violet pulled tree branches into clawed fingers that reached menacingly for the beast and sprouted vines from the ground, which wrapped tight around its limbs.
Her eyes were glowing, as they always did when she used dark magic, but she reserved a sliver of her attention to making sure her skin didn’t burst with thorns as it did when she was the Thornwitch. She intended to make a home here without anyone knowing who she was, and that meant not letting them see the fearsome face on the wanted posters. Violet focused as the bespelled plants snatched at the creature, breaking it into dozens of pieces that flew across the park and, to her surprise, scrabbled away on legs of their own, making small, croaking noises as they ran.
Rock goblins, Violet realized. She knew groups of them, called slides, could combine to become a much larger creature, but she’d never seen one before. Her magic begged her to follow them, to give chase, to become the predator she had always been. It was a siren call she was well used to heeding, and for a moment, she almost did. But no. Violet coaxed the trees back to their original shapes, closing her eyes and willing their appearance to return to normal as well. She’d almost lost control for a second there, and it couldn’t happen again.No more dark magic, she’d promised herself when she left Shadowfade Castle. She was starting over. She wasgoodnow.
It was too bad dark magic was all she knew.
“Quick thinking,” said the woman, panting, as she trotted over to Violet. “That slide is obsessed with me.”
Violet couldn’t tell whether she was joking or not. She settled for a simple “Ah.”
The woman winked at her. “I’m a musician. They like music, I reckon. It’s always been more amusing than anything, but they’re getting out of control lately. Ever since—” The woman looked behind Violet, and a chill strummed her spine as she realized she was referring to the silhouette of Shadowfade Castle, just visible on the crags of the mountain above Dragon’s Rest like a sinister sentinel peering down at them.
Violet felt suddenly embarrassed.
The woman continued. “I’ve never seen anyone get rid of them with quite so much…oomph. That was a hefty bit of magic you just did there.”
“I panicked a little,” Violet admitted with a nervous giggle. She had gotten used to being around power when she was surrounded by Guy and his associates. Shadowfade had collected powerful mages like toys, and Violet had stood out even among them. In a place like Dragon’s Rest, among ordinary folk, she’dhave to be careful not to show too much of herself. She didn’t want to draw any questions.
The woman nodded. She was about Violet’s age, maybe a few years older, and tall, with warm brown skin and dark brown eyes. Her long hair wound down her back in an elaborate braid that swung to the rhythm of her steps, and she wore a bright patterned dress with colorful, intricate embroidery on the bodice, and a number of scarves around her waist and neck. Violet’s own clothes were expensive and well-made, but much simpler: wide-legged gray trousers and an oversized men’s shirt, accented with a fur-trimmed cloak of midnight blue.
It had been weeks, but it still thrilled her to wear them—Guy had always insisted she wear tight leathers spelled against damage so she could move easily without being caught or snagged, as well as her recognizable purple cloak, all the better to strike fear into the hearts of her enemies from a distance, long before they were within her range. He had been a showman, but now that he was gone, Violet would be pleased if she never saw the color purple ever again. The looser men’s clothes she’d stolen from the castle before she left for good were overlarge and made her feel like she could disappear in them if she wished. Become truly invisible. Truly free.
“You wouldn’t happen to be Violet Thistlewaite, would you?” the woman asked, and Violet felt that surge of panic rise in her once more, like the woman would be able to smell the dark magic on her.
No one knows your name, she reminded herself.No one here knows the identity of the Thornwitch.She cleared her throat. “Yes. That’s me.”
“I thought as much. It’s not often we get newcomers here.” The woman’s grin lit her whole face as she thrust out a hand for Violet to shake. “I’m Prudence Marsh, your new landlord. Welcome to Dragon’s Rest.”
The Landlord
“You did what?” Nathaniel Marsh pinched the bridge of his nose and mentally recited alchemical laws to stop himself from strangling his twin sister.
“She saved my life,” Pru argued.
“From a slide of rock goblins?” Nathaniel snorted. “Hardly.”
“Excuse you.” Pru huffed like he’d delivered some great offense. “I could have been crushed! To death!”
“The worst they would have done was build a wall around you for a few hours until they got bored.”
“They could have turned me to stone!”
“That’s a myth, Prudence.”
“No, it’s not. A few of them got into Corrin’s glass studio just last week and turned half a dozen vases to stone before she found them! And there’s that table at the Claw & Hoard with the stone leg, that was them too!”
