An Enchantment of Starlight: A Steamy High Fantasy Romance (A Kingdom of Stone and Starlight Book 4) by Adelia Jezek

Author:Adelia Jezek [Jezek, Adelia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-08-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

I sat down with a sigh, rubbing at my temple. The afternoon was turning warm and the scents of roasted meats and vegetables wafted out from the windows of the tower’s kitchens. Anemonea crossed her arms, nodding at me. Her face was solemn, but there was a faint smile that hovered in her eyes, not quite softening her solemn expression, although it gave me hope that I was finally making progress.

We’d had to stop at least five times already when the pain had returned, sending me to my knees from the strain of the spell-work that Leith was guiding me through. Each time, Anemonea gently reprimanded me about minding my limits, of listening to my own magic along with the power that she or Leith spun for me to use. After she would pull the excess magic from me, she would insist that I rest for a while from studying more and we walked the quiet, winding paths of her garden together. Our final stop was in the midst of a lush rose garden, the heavy blossoms a riot of burgundy and pinks and silvers. Leith had thought I might try to recreate one of the flowers out of crystal, and I had almost finished the petals when the power had shattered in my hands, leaving me on my knees amidst the shards of thorns. I could still feel the cool, refreshing exhilaration of Anemonea’s magic trickling in my veins as I drew a deep breath, savoring the sweet, green scent of the breeze as it cooled my cheeks.

“Philanthea,” Anemonea said, bending down to take a seat at my side. “Tell me, when did your mother take you to live in this Ravutsa you spoke of last night?”

I looked down at my hands, still dusty from handling the stones that Leith selected for me to reshape and shatter. “After my father died. I was a small child still.”

“When you fled the city that had been your home,” she began slowly, as if trying to choose her words with care, “you were old enough to remember. To know that the loss of your father was behind it all. That… that your family could be torn away from you.”

“Yes,” I said, feeling as though one of Leith’s stones had lodged in my throat.

“Nemo, I don’t think this is helping her to…” Leith shook her head but the queen held up her hand to continue.

“Your magic returned after your forced marriage to Tomas while he was cursed, and through it, you freed him and were given a new life. That led you here, to your father’s kin, to answers about who and what you are,” she turned, studying me intently for a moment. “You held them close because you thought you could stop the pain from coming again. You were trying to shield your mother and Calanthea from loss, volunteering in your sister’s place to wed the cursed prince. You threw yourself into a battle against a wizard to break Tomas’ curse,

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