Heart of Fire by Kristen Painter

Author:Kristen Painter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, love, paranormal romance, fantasy, magic, sword and sorcery, elves, fantasy romance, romance fantasy, romance and love, romance book, romance author, romance adventure, fire mage, golden heart finalist
Publisher: Kristen Painter

Chapter Eleven

Jessalyne followed Fynna into the kitchen. The scullery was busier than she’d imagined. Staff bustled about making breads, plucking chickens, scaling fish and bundling herbs to dry.

At the end of a long table sat a dour-faced woman, her hair scraped back into a tight knot. She pored over an open ledger. Gnarled fingers gripped a quill as she scratched figures into the book.

Fynna nodded toward the woman, stepping back against the wall, out of the way of two boys hefting a huge pickle barrel.

Jessalyne smoothed her skirts, and approached. “Pardon me, Mistress Wenda?”

Wenda’s head stayed down, her eyes fixed on her work. “Aye.” Her tone was stern.

“I’m sorry to bother you, mistress. I’ve just come to the castle and I have a request.”

She looked up, eyeing Jessalyne’s dress and necklace. “You have any idea how much work it takes to keep this place in order? If I listened to every request from every skirt come to chase the prince, nothing would get done. Now out!”

Jessalyne’s head snapped back. “I’m not here to ‘chase the prince’. I’m here to study under the tutelage of Mistress Sryka. And I don’t expect you to grant me anything without my giving you something in return.”

The woman’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Is there somewhere else we might discuss this?”

“Nay.”

Jessalyne sighed. She didn’t want the entire kitchen witnessing her gifts. Leaning over, she whispered into the woman’s ear.

Wenda rubbed her chin with the knuckle of one swollen hand. “If this is some trick, some foolery, I will make your life here as unpleasant as is within my means. Do you understand?”

“Yes, mistress.”

“Fine. Come with me.”

The girls followed Wenda to her chambers. The room of the house steward lacked nothing.

“What do you want in return for this healing?” Wenda asked.

“Fynna and I share the room beneath Sryka’s quarters. There is barely any furniture to speak of, no lanterns...it’s unfit to live in.”

Wenda forced a smile. “Take this misery from my body and I will embarrass you with goods.”

Jessalyne nodded. “Thank you. Please sit. Fynna, stand at the door. I want no interruptions.”

Wenda sat in high back tapestry chair near her fireplace, resting her gnarled hands on the arms. “Will this hurt? Not that it matters...what is one pain over another?”

“No, I don’t think so. At least it won’t hurt you.”

Fynna watched Jessalyne with intense curiosity, barely blinking.

Pulling the chair’s mate in front of Wenda, Jessalyne sat. She rested her hands over the woman’s, feeling the swollen joints of her twisted fingers.

She gave herself over to the growing power inside, willing the woman’s pain into her own flesh. She inhaled as her joints began to throb. Crumpling forward, she waited for her powers to dissolve the deep ache. The welcome flush of heat passed through her. The swelling subsided. The twisted fingers straightened. A soft inhale of breath told her the heat had passed into Wenda.

The heat drained out of Jessalyne, and she relaxed back against the chair, tired but not spent. Each time she called her power, she grew stronger.

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