The Herbwitch's Apprentice Ireen Chau (best life changing books txt) 📖

and some bruising,” the healer said. She handed me a small jar of ointment. “Apply this on the wound nightly to keep it from being infected.”

I took it gratefully. “Thank you, Reselda,” I said. “Oh, and if you see Michael—the soldier I kicked in the face—tell him sorry. Again.”

Reselda broke into a smile, exposing a row of white teeth. “You’re a nice girl,” she said. “Now go on. I suppose the prince will want to know you’re well.”

I was all too aware of Queen Cordelia’s stare as I limped slowly past her. “Be kind to him,” she said, startling me. “He’s more sensitive than he appears.”

Without waiting for a reply, the queen stood headed to the back of the tent. I hardly knew what to think of her words when I headed back to the debutante area of the camp.

When I rejoined Genevieve and the others, the stools were gone, replaced by patterned picnic blankets and baskets of food the servants had passed out. Tori was munching on a sausage roll as I picked at some fruit, lost in thought.

“So, how was alone time with princey?” she asked, her mouth full.

“His Highness kindly escorted me to the healer’s and I got my knee bandaged,” I said.

“Please, anybody with two eyes and a brain can tell he’s interested,” Tori said with a snort. She paused and chewed. “Actually, that’s not too many people.”

“H-he caught you when you fell,” Olivia said. Her dollish eyes widened as if she were the one who had been caught.

“Can we please stop talking about it?” I said, flushing as I recalled the queen’s words.

A fanfare sounded before anyone could reply. Young men were gathered before the dais, armed with bows and arrows. I spotted Prince Ash in the midst of them. He caught my eye and waved.

Soon enough, the group dispatched on their horses. The debutantes tittered as they thundered past the clearing, dispersing into the forest. A flash of turquoise flitted over my vision and I winced. The colors were back.

A dull headache throbbed at the base of my skull. I began to close my eyes, but something was thrust under my nose.

“Amarante?” a sickly-sweet voice said. “Would you care for some punch?”

Lady Narcissa’s figure was silhouetted against the morning light. Berry red fog billowed from her skin. She held a glass of punch toward me. A flash of acid green flitted across the surface of the drink. My headache sharpened and I shut my eyes.

“What are you doing here?” Tori asked, the disgust in her voice evident.

“I wasn’t talking to you,” the duchess’s daughter said contemptuously. A rustling of skirts sounded. Someone sat next to me.

“Lady Narcissa,” I said, forcing myself to meet her gaze.

“Please, call me Narcissa. We got off on the wrong foot, I’m afraid, and I am willing to extend a hand of friendship,” she said. Tangerine orange and cerulean blue swirled from her mouth as she spoke. I didn’t believe a word of it.

“Why the sudden change of mind?” Tori said from behind me.

Narcissa narrowed her eyes. Her hand of friendship didn’t seem to extend very far. “I am merely here to present a peace offering,” she said. “This is a glass of Mother’s premium punch, imported directly from Aquatia. Take it or leave it.”

I took the glass from her and set it down next to me, just so she would leave.

“Thank you,” I gritted out. The acid green was nearly taking over my vision.

Narcissa stood, seemingly satisfied. “Of course. I hope you and I can be friends now, Amarante,” she said with a false smile I could hear. I managed a nod.

“My, my. How could you refuse?” Tori said flatly when Narcissa was out of ear shot.

“She’s scary,” Olivia said softly.

Tori snorted, grabbing another sausage roll. “Yeah, about as scary as a paper tiger,” she said as she chewed. “She’s probably jealous Amarante has a prince’s attention and she doesn’t. Look at her, gone off to ask her mother to suck up to the Queen.”

A loud slurp sounded. The punch Narcissa gave me was gone.

I whirled around. “Tori, no!” I grabbed the drink from her hand. But it was too late—only half of punch remained. Tori smacked her lips, acid green billowing from her mouth.

“What? She wouldn’t give you a poisoned drink in broad daylight, would she?” she said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

“I mean, no, I don’t...”

I turned, frustrated. Somehow in the back of my mind I knew that the colors meant something. I recalled the flash of blue I saw in Lana’s hut. Repair, it told me. The potion in her cauldron was an antidote meant to heal.

I was right.

A wild excitement rushed over me as I stared hard at the punch. What did the green mean? I waited, and a peculiar sensation emerged from the base of my head. Laxative.

“Tori,” I said. “Let me take you to the medical tent.”

“HOW DID YOU KNOW?” Tori moaned.

“You said it yourself,” I said. “She can’t be trusted.”

“I’ll have her head for a trophy!”

The symptoms of the laxative were rather explosive, to put it delicately. It was clear Narcissa had used a large quantity of fast-acting medicine, but Reselda had luckily given Tori something to combat it, along with several glasses of water. By the end of it, my friend was in a rotten, if not murderous, mood on the way back to the debutante shelter. The hunting party had returned with their game. Tori and I found a shaded spot away from the rabble of tittering debutantes and boasting young men.

“Careful,” I said.

Tori growled. “I’ll do whatever to get that b—”

She doubled over and clutched her stomach.

“What you need to do is sit down,” I said. “I’ll deal with Narcissa.”

Tori stared at me incredulously. “You?” she said, leaning against a tree. “How? Stay silent until she dies of boredom?”

“I’m perfectly capable of confrontation.”

Tori didn’t look convinced.

A strange sort of confidence had overtaken me in the past hour. As I sat in the medical