Crown of Beauty and Vengeance

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Gideon was more than a little antsy the next day, constantly asking her when they could go meet a certain half-sorceress and her dragon. He failed to realize he actually had a job to do now...which was more like just hanging out with a friend.

He had gotten up the next morning a few hours before Lyv did, ate a quick breakfast, and left before the sun even rose. And once Lyv was up and dressed, making sure Posy did the same, she grabbed one of the books on past palace healers and headed into the infirmary.

She took some time to reorganize the shelves. The list of what she needed was still on the table. After adding a few more things to it, she and Posy left for the apothecary to get everything. She'd only been in the store a few times before but was finally able to look at everything it had to offer, smelling the aromas of all the flowers and herbs, touching the crystals in one cabinet that were charmed by healers to help those with chronic illnesses, and grabbing a box of empty vials she would need for later. She knew that she would be able to heal a lot of those who came to her, but some would need tonics for later when she wasn't around to help.

Her canvas bag was filled once she left, the amount for everything put on the palace's tab as she was told to do whenever she needed to restock anything. She had learned to do this from the head palace housekeeper, Celestyna. She was one of the oldest Fae females Lyv had seen with white hair and sharp blue eyes and yet still looked like a human in her early fifties. She'd run into Izadora then as well, who told her Celestyna had been working for the royal family for over eight hundred years and not to take her serious look to heart. That's how she always looked but was pretty much like a grandmother to everyone once she had everyone organized for their duties.

Izadora had smiled as they watched the head housekeeper disappear down the hallway. "Even Queen Alexea says the palace would probably fall apart if she wasn't running the staff."

Once Lyv was back from the apothecary and dropped off the receipt for the bookkeeper to pay, she took another route back to the infirmary to check out more of the palace. It was so different from home, with a brightness and openness that seemed ethereal in and of itself. She slowed by every painting and portrait, strolled through the gardens filled with flowers Lyv had never even seen before. But with the bag weighing heavy on her shoulder, it was time to get back to work.

In no time, she and Posy had everything unloaded, the shelves restocked, and started labeling what hadn't already been.

And yet no one came.

She guessed that was a good thing that no one had gotten seriously hurt, but still. It was a little boring. So, with no one needing her, she and Posy went back into their rooms, sat in the small library, and started reading through the book of past palace healers she'd taken down earlier that morning.

It was the early afternoon when she decided to go exploring once more and ended up at the training grounds for the guardsmen. Except the only guardsman she saw was Gideon in his Vandor glamour, teaching Eamon how to quickly disarm someone, that someone being Destan. All three of them were sweating, undoubtedly being out there for hours.

"How long have you all been out here?" she called from the sidelines.

The three males looked her way and grinned at the sound of her voice.

"All day," Gideon grinned, and put his hand on the top of Eamon's head. "This one hasn't given us a break other than to go get food at lunch."

"Lady Roesia's going to be gone for weeks on a mission for father and I want to learn as much as I can to surprise her!" Eamon grinned, running up to give her a sweaty hug.