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

from Erasmus’s investigation. If this morning wasn’t evidence enough, Ash didn’t have a chance finding what that poison was. It was up to me.

After a warm goodbye, I returned to the Strongfoots’ just in time for lunch. Lord Strongfoot was still bothered by Captain Greenwood’s framing, but he seemed to regain a bit of his cheeriness when he told us what he had heard at the palace.

“They say Her Majesty is recovering mighty fine,” Lord Strongfoot grumbled over his roasted turkey leg. “Maybe once she’s well she’ll pardon the captain.”

I doubted that’d be the case, but no one dared to contradict him lest he wither into stormy depression again.

After dinner, I lay in bed and stewed over Ash’s plan. We had gone over it several times, but I was still uneasy.

Whether or not it would truly expose the duchess, we would have to wait and see.

18

“So, what are you doing again?” Tori whispered in my ear. I barely made out her words over Julianna’s operatic singing.

The crate on my lap shifted as I leaned over in my seat. “You’ll find out.”

Tori winced when Julianna hit an inhumanly high note that reverberated within the theatre. Even Genevieve, who had high tolerance for opera, grimaced. Olivia pulled her braids over her ears. When at last Julianna ended her song with a powerful vibrato, the theatre erupted in applause, concluding the first performance of the evening.

Madam Lucille emerged from the velvet curtains as Julianna curtsied low.

“Wonderful, simply wonderful! What a voice!” she exclaimed, giving Julianna an appraising look. Julianna tossed her hair as she returned to her box, which was unfortunately in front of mine.

“You were amazing, Julianna,” Samantha gushed, bunching up her skirts to let her pass.

Julianna sat primly, smoothing her satin gloves as she was bombarded with compliments from the girls in her box. She was awfully pleased with herself for someone who had damaged multiple pairs of ears.

“I know. Mama had me trained by professionals when I was a little girl,” Julianna said. “How fortunate I was to learn the arts instead of wasting my girlhood away in dirt and dusty studies.” She gave a tinkling laugh, throwing her head back far enough to look at me.

I narrowed my eyes, wishing I could tip the contents of my crate on her frustratingly stunning gown. But I couldn’t risk losing my supplies. And there was no saying how long it would take to get the rest.

In the box on the second level, Ash stood out from the red velvet seats in a suit of emerald green. He was talking to the queen, but occasionally glanced down at the sea of boxes below. Duchess Wilhelmina and Narcissa sat behind him. I leaned forward, trying to catch his attention with my stare alone, but found that it only strained my eyes and garnered a contemptuous glare from Samantha.

“Next is Lady Victoria Strongfoot, playing the lute,” Madam Lucille announced.

Tori jumped up from her seat and squeezed past me and Olivia, a hefty lute in her hands. “Wish me luck, girls.”

She didn’t stay to hear our good lucks, though, and bounded down the steps.

“How do you think they’ll take it?” I murmured to Genevieve.

“I’m sure she’ll do fine,” she whispered.

We had woken up to the sound of Tori’s lively lute playing for over a week. Neither Genevieve nor I had the heart to tell Tori that her lute needed desperate tuning. Despite our urgings for her to borrow a palace lute, she insisted on using hers, which once belonged to Lord Strongfoot when he almost became a minstrel.

The sound of a stool dragging across the stage could be heard through soft murmurs. Tori arranged herself on the seat, lifted the lute onto her lap, and began to play.

The first notes were miraculously in tune. It sounded like a simplified version of an old folk song, but as Tori continued, the tempo increased and became a spirited jig one might hear at a tavern. Her fingers danced deftly across the strings. Despite the occasional sour note, it was altogether a pleasant and of course, very lively, performance.

“She’s doing well,” I said, surprised.

“She might’ve done better with another lute,” someone whispered to my left. I glanced over. It was Ash. I had hardly noticed him come in.

Genevieve and Olivia looked startled at the unexpected guest. Ash smiled at them in acknowledgment and ignored Samantha’s simpering gaze below him.

“Amarante. Care for some air?” he asked, tilting his head to the exit.

I nodded and said to Genevieve, “I’ll be back in a bit.”

Tucking my crate under my seat, I followed Ash out of the box. Luckily, we were sitting on the outer edges of the theatre so no one noticed us slip behind a curtained alcove near the exit.

“Do you have them?” I said, my palms dampening.

“Just caught them,” he said, pulling out a wooden box nestled beneath a corner table. There were several holes punched into the top.

I took it gingerly, hearing faint squeaks and movement inside. “Thank you. I suppose.”

“Don’t worry. They’re quite cuddly,” Ash said, grinning.

“They’re rodents!”

“Be glad they aren’t rats. Those are the worst. Once I found one the size of a cat inside my—”

“Please stop,” I groaned.

Ash dipped his head in acquiescence. “I’ll leave you to it then. If you need help, scream.”

“That’s comforting.”

With a bow and another smile, he was gone. I looked down at the box and suppressed another groan. Holding it away from me, I managed to return to my seat. My new possession drew inquiring stares from both Genevieve and Olivia.

“It’s for my act,” I whispered.

My stepsister smiled. “You’re still not going to tell us what it is?”

“You’ll find out.”

Tori finished her song with one final flourish. She rose and bowed as everyone applauded.

“What a horrendously antiquated piece,” Julianna said with a sneer as Tori returned to our box.

Neither of us paid Julianna any mind. I was much too nervous to argue. I knew it was my turn before I heard my name.

“Next, Miss Amarante Flora will be