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

her hand and the empty dishes flew back into the room from which they came.

“Will I be able to do that?” I asked.

“Moving objects with magic? Yes, if you wish,” Lana said. “It is like any skill. Some witches never bother learning it and some find it immensely useful.” She gave no more explanation, and I didn’t feel like prying. I still felt hungry, oddly enough, but I did not say so. Hopefully, there would be something for me back at the Strongfoot manor.

“Thank you for the meal.” I lifted my bag over my shoulder again and slid off the bench.

“It’s a poor meal compared to what you are used to, I’m sure,” Lana said.

“Not at all, really. It was...er, delicious.”

She laughed. I noted that it was the first time she had done so in my presence. “There is no need to lie. I am perfectly aware of how tasteless it was.”

“The fish was fine,” I said. It was. I had eaten my portion much too quickly after discovering that it had ten times more flavor than anything else.

“That’s because I got that from the Market,” Lana said.

I was almost hesitant to ask. “The Witch Market?”

Lana nodded. “Illegal as it may be, we depend on it, especially for food. There are many shortcomings to living underground, no matter how much we make it look like the outside world.” She glanced out of the small round window near the door, an almost wistful expression overtaking her face.

“Do witches get all their food from humans?”

“No. We have land for growing crops at the perimeter of the village. It is not nearly enough to feed an entire village year-round, so we use magic to grow more and grow faster. And well...one could imagine the quality of rushed crops,” Lana said.

So that’s why I wasn’t full after eating so much. It never occurred to me that magic couldn’t accomplish everything.

Curiosity got the best of me. “When was the last time you went outside?” I asked. Lana’s face stiffened.

“Last week,” she said briskly. “To the Market.”

She went to the counter again. She had bottled up the antidote in small glass jars and began putting them in a shallow wooden crate. “Speaking of which, we are going next week. I’ll need someone to carry my wares.”

“Do you often sell at the Market?” I asked.

Lana turned, hands on her hips. “Many of us have to, unless we wish to have bland food and no supplies.”

I felt ignorant and scolded as Lana loaded her wares. I had always heard the Witch Market referred to in whispers, a place where twisted people went to purchase twisted things. But now, despite not having been there, I saw it in a different light.

I decided to speak again. “But, if it’s illegal, how do you manage to go?”

Lana’s lips pinched. “As powerful as your king is, he cannot control everything.”

Your king. Not our. I supposed it was fitting, as witches have technically been banished from the kingdom. Yet it made me wonder if witches had their own sort of leadership, and if so, who? I asked Lana just that, and she laughed again, but this time it was mirthless.

“We have no king and no leader. We are a reclusive, independent people.”

I recalled Miriam’s words. Witches were reclusive to a fault. But I sensed, for some reason or other, that Lana did not take well to the snail seller’s ideas.

15

A book fell from the top most shelf, almost smacking me in the face.

“Apologies! Are you alright?” Ash poked his head around the corner, his hair covered in a light coat of dust. We were cleaning the library again. Oddly enough, I had grown to enjoy the task.

“I’m fine,” I said. I leaned my mop against the wall and picked up the volume. It was a hefty thing on finances. “Ah. Olderean Finances. My old governess tried to teach me out of that.”

Ash took the book and disappeared behind the bookshelf. His hand emerged from the top as he put it back. “Really? Learn anything interesting?”

“I didn’t learn anything at all,” I said, dunking my mop into a bucket of soapy water. “She was an awful teacher. My Papa taught me the basics.”

“Ah, perhaps the next kingdom-wide issue Bennett ought to tackle is decent governesses,” he said. The creaking of ladder rungs sounded from the other side. “Mine was just as awful.”

“You had a governess?” I said, unable to keep the laughter out of my voice. “Why not a regular tutor?”

“It was only for a year or so. And it was meant to be a punishment of sorts.” Ash flashed me a smile from a gap between a few books. “I was eight, I believe. I was supposed to be studying with Bennett overseas but I slipped off the ship last minute. Needless to say, my parents were furious when they found me hiding in the throne room.”

I laughed. “How did you manage that at eight years old?”

“A magician never reveals his secrets.”

Of course he was a handful as a child.

“Tell me about your governess,” I said, pushing the mop across the floor. The clean path of marble gleamed in the daylight. “What did you do to the poor woman?”

“Quite the opposite, actually,” the prince said. “You should be asking what she did to me.” He was still smiling, though his usual cheekiness was absent. “I don’t think I’ve ever lived a bleaker year. It happened that my mother had to pay a visit to her cousins and my father was busy with his affairs as usual. I was completely under my governess’s care, if care is even the right word. She expected me to dedicate every hour to my studies. Language, history, economics, politics, etiquette, and piano. I wasn’t allowed to play outside for more than a few minutes each day. And if I disobeyed her...well I learned not to.” He grimaced, but smoothed his features when he caught me staring.

“She didn’t hurt you, did she?” I said incredulously. I’ve had