Potions, Power and Pain

Chapter 27

Avana had no particular interest in any of the classes taught at the Academy. So she was very excited to graduate and move on to learning how to master her power. She had the ability to manipulate and influence plants. Her favourite thing to do was have different varieties of beautiful flowers grow around her and follow her around wherever she went.

But because Avana had no interest in the Academy, she was always the last to arrive and the first to leave.

As her horses pulled her carriage along, taking her home from school, she rested her head on the door frame and stared out the window. She enjoyed gazing at the nature she passed along the way, soaking in its beauty and naming every flower she passed, making them grow and shrink at her will or even change colour. Additionally she enjoyed admiring all the elegant homes she passed, judging their design, colour, size, location and general architecture. Most of all, she loved observing the people she passed, watching them live their lives, oblivious to her. A seemingly older faery was tending to her stunning flowerbed, two young faeries were playing outside chasing each other and having fun. Two faeries who appeared to be her age were holding hands, walking down the street. In that moment Avana felt something she wasn't used to feeling: envy.

She wished that was her, walking down the street holding Rowan's hand. But thinking about that just sent her into a spiral, wondering how and why the potion had not worked on him, why he wasn't currently madly in love with her. She kept on staring at the young couple, unable to take her eyes off them.

As her carriage passed them she was able to briefly glance at their faces. Both were laughing, smiling at each other. But that wasn't the first thing Reena noticed. No, the first thing she noticed was how unbelievably attractive the male faery was. He had this thick, dark hair, that was immaculately styled and curled slightly at the ends, and he had these striking green-grey eyes. Eyes that Avana would recognise anywhere, eyes that Avana had been dreaming of ever since she had first seen them, eyes that were so captivating that no one was ever able to look away from them. This was Rowan Nightshade, Prince of the Earthly Kingdom, the faery who she had longed for ever since she had met him. Yet he was there, holding hands and walking down the street with the last person she would ever have expected. Reena Tansy.

Avana was simply dumbfounded. Flabbergasted. Astounded. Astonished. Startled. Shocked. She was at a complete loss for words.

Since when? How was this possible? Who possibly allowed this to happen. Surely King Berono would never accept this. Why wasn't Avana aware of this? Why hadn't Rowan told her? Did Querdo know? What could he possibly see in Reena?

But a more prominent question was floating at the back of Avana's mind: did Rowan wake up and see Reena after she gave him Heartseize?

She had a sinking feeling that she already knew the answer to that last question.

In that instant Avana made up her mind, she asked her driver to change destination. She was no longer going home, she was going to the library.

*

Avana was not one for libraries, but now she had no choice, the merchant who sold her the Heartseize had already told her that the love potion was irrevocable and that there was no way to reverse it. But Avana had always believed that she could do anything if she put her mind to it.

So she made her way to the city centre and into the beautiful library. It was the main library of the Earthly Kingdom, the elves were in charge of it, storing all of that knowledge and therefore power, they were a vital part of the Kingdom.

She went into the deep depths of the library searching for hours on end, picking up old books, which she had to wipe down because of the layers of the dust that had accumulate over years of being untouched, and scanning their pages for anything relevant about Heartseize or love potions in general.

She was too ashamed to ask any of the elves for help; suffering due to her own stubbornness and pride.