If Kaida Nylenoss had to make one more love potion she’d set herself on fire in the town’s square.
She tried her best to hide her scowl as she grounded rose petals into the mortar. Unscrewing the wine bottle, she took a large chug before a good amount was poured into the concoction. Flowers, wines, perfumes, herbs – it didn’t matter what she put, it was her magic that made the spell work. But…
She glanced at the young girl seated on the footstool, currently watching her like a hawk. She’d looked terrified coming into Kaida’s little shop, looking at everything from the stained windows to the hanging candles as if a monster would eat her any moment. The girl was visibly trembling, biting her nails, her nostrils flaring.
“What’s your name, girl?” Kaida asked.
“J–Jasmine.” The girl tilted her chin up, blond curls bouncing over her dress.
“Do you truly love the boy?” Kaida asked, stirring the mixture with a spoon and wincing from the smell. She might have added too much wine.
“Of course I do!”
They all did. Everyone who came in seeking a love potion always claimed that it was true love. And yet they were all perfectly fine with achieving it through foul means. Not that she’d ever admit that the love potions weren’t nearly as potent as her shop’s advertisement claimed. Only a foolish witch would make a real one.
Kaida nodded and straightened her back, making herself seem important. “I may add jasmine, if you wish.”
The girl frowned. “Does it make a difference?”
“It will strengthen the spell. It will make him think only of jasmines, and by definition, you. A normal love potion will have him love you, but this – oh, this will bring him to his knees.” Kaida knew she had her when the girl’s eyes flared with interest.
“You must then! You absolutely must.”
“It will be two gold coins extra.” Kaida moved to one of the worktables and snapped a few jasmine petals from a vase of flowers. The girl stood up and walked over, examining the flower with suspicion.
“That will make twenty gold coins. Charlotte only had to pay ten.”
Kaida had no recollection of a Charlotte, nor what had possessed her to charge only ten gold coins for a potion, but she sniffed at the flower and made her eyes flutter. “Ah, but Charlotte did not have jasmine in hers. And I’m putting Loveroot in yours.”
“What’s Loveroot?” Jasmine asked, some of her confidence disappearing. Kaida had made it up on the spot, so some quick thinking had her grab a handful of ground cocoa from a drawer. “It is an old family secret. It builds a love so powerful, the boy will feel sick even thinking of another.”
“Do it.” Jasmine placed the coins on the counter.
Kaida made quick work of the rest. She really needed to have her break soon, or she might start weeping from hunger. The last time she ate had been the stale bread the night before. The day before that she’d only munched on a handful of strawberries. Really, when was the last time she ate a proper meal? Anger seeped in the hollow pit that the hunger was carving in her stomach.
She ground everything together then let it sit in a pot of simmering water. The color looked somewhere between mud and puke, but Kaida hummed as if it were exactly right.
Humans believed many things about witches. There were endless tales that spoke of brooms and curses and cackling laughter. But it was the spells and charms and potions that was the favored lore. No matter that the witches had once been the mightiest species in the world, capable of crumbling the moon to pieces if they so wished. Now, most witches were like Kaida. Fated to live small, humiliating lives, pretending to be circus freaks.
She strained the liquid in a small glass vial, tied a ribbon around it and cleared her throat. This was the part that humans loved. The part that had people visit her shop every day, even as her prices got steeper.
She flared her magic, adding an echo to her voice as she spoke, “Let the magic bring forth love. Love, love, love…” she usually made the effort to rhyme her spellcasting. But she was hungry.
Jasmine seemed happy with it. She smiled and made a hum of content as she received the vile, carefully tucking it in her dress’s hidden pocket.
“And he just needs to drink it?” she asked.
“All of it. Not a drop less. Or it won’t work.” That part wasn’t true either. Kaida had spelled the vial itself. It would release its magic on the person that Jasmine offered it to. But all the witches that were in this business had an unspoken rule – no one could know that they still had elemental magic. So, circus freak it was.
Jasmine waltzed out the shop with a pep in her step, not bothering to say goodbye. None of them did. Kaida was unbothered as she flipped the sign on the front door to closed and sat at her work table with a tired oomph. She was practically drooling by the time she bit into the apple tart she’d been eyeing all day. Once a month, she allowed herself to walk into the local bakerie and and indulge in a cake or a tart or a cookie.
She did a mental tally of how much she’d made this week. About 200 gold coins, which was a lot considering some weeks she’d make as little as 30. But she still had to pay the landlord, and she needed to buy more supplies. She was almost out of food too. And then there was the debt. The ungodly amount of money that sometimes haunted her in her dreams. She sighed, chewing on her food slowly.
One day she’d get out of this hellhole. She’d get to the capital of Sorelia, Oneryx, where magic was permitted, where witches weren’t hunted like animals, where humans didn’t spit on her on the street.
Yes, witches had once been great and mighty. But hundreds of years ago they were deemed too dangerous, unholy to the human queen and her kind. The human queen had a lot to say about most non-human species, though none suffered as much as the witches. Burnings and beheadings, entire villages turned to ash on the wind, lineages ended.
Until the Witch queen surrendered and cast a curse. It rendered the witches’ magic practically useless. Nothing more than parlor tricks. Certainly nothing as impressive as moon crumbling. Any witch who found a way to break their own curse was hunted, any family along with them too.
Most witches didn’t have any elemental magic. But some, like Kaida, had the ancient magic still pumping through their veins. Not that it mattered. All it did was give her a weak stomach from all the stress. She was always looking over one shoulder, always slept with a knife under the pillow. She even had a bag ready, in case she needed to escape in a hurry. If perhaps, one day her fellow villagers remembered that they indeed hated witches and had no tolerance for the one living amongst them.
Kaida slumped in her chair. One day all of this would be a distant nightmare. She’d forget all about her dirty room and this cramped shop, and the smell of shit and sweat on the streets. She imagined herself walking down the vibrant streets of Oneryx, exchanging pleasantries to acquaintances, going to a tavern and have someone hold the door for her – not to slam it in her face, but to invite her in. Her mother was probably rolling in her grave at Kaida’s humble dreams, but her family’s grand thinking was how they’d ended up burned alive in the first place.
Kaida shuddered at the memory. Her mother and sisters engulfed in flames. They had not begged, had not cried. No, their screams at the end were curses, promises for vengeance.
Her stomach rumbled, a slight ache warning her she might throw up the apple tart right on the recently cleaned floor.
Oneryx. Happy, simple life. None of that evil witch business, and you’ll be fine. You got this, Kaida!
She forced a smile and eyed the vase. She could try and put some rose petals in her bath tonight, maybe that would chipper her up.
The doorbell rang. Soft footsteps clacked on the hardwood floor as someone walked in and clicked the door shut behind them.
Kaida plopped the tart back in its plate, her patience running thin today. Could humans not read signs? Did they think she did not deserve one fucking break? She turned her head slowly, willing a menacing glow to her eyes in the hopes that whoever walked in would think twice next time they ignored the sign.
“The shop is closed for the moment–” Kaida almost choked. She jumped, fumbling to grab the edge of the chair as she lost her balance.
The man was the most beautiful being she’d ever seen. Ethereal even. It was a little unnerving. His deep golden hair was half tied at the back, the rest falling like silk down his shoulder blades. Smooth skin the color of honey, a pair of absolutely criminal moss green eyes and expressive lips that had her biting her own. He was tall and muscled; a soldier she would have guessed, but his clothes were of the finest cut and make. A sword was sheathed at his hip, the hilt an intricate carving of weaving branches. Now this was someone worthy of a love potion. He walked with a swagger, his eyes finding her. The green in them got darker. A smirk graced his lips, so sinful Kaida might have swooned.
If, of course, this was a man. But the creature that was so at ease in her shop was no man.
It was a fucking demon.
Kaida reached to the assortment of charms hung on the wall as subtly as she could. She grabbed one, praying to the Wise Witch it was a protection charm. A glance told her she’d picked a charm against rashes. Great.
“I have come to inquire about your services.” His voice was smooth and deep. He stooped a short distance from the counter, his eyes roaming over the mess she’d left there.
Kaida cleared her throat. With a sugary sweet voice, she said, “Sorry, but I’m on a break right now. I must have forgotten to flip the sign outside.” She was sure she flipped it. But she supposed demons had no respect for such things.
He noticed her half-eaten tart. “That’s all you’re having? In that case I can wait for you.”
He seemed to have a good grasp of the common language, though there was a slight lilt to his words. And the way he spoke sounded like he was struggling to breathe in a too-tight suit. She paled. Oh, Wise one, what if that wasn’t his body. What if the demon snatched some poor man, ate his soul and stole the skin? She was going to be sick.
“Oh, no need sir. It might take a while.”
“I don’t mind waiting.”
Kaida shot him a glare before she could compose herself. He still had that polite smile on, as if he wasn’t an evil hell creature.
With a sigh, she threw the rash charm in a corner behind her, giving her tart one last glance.
“What may I do for you?” she asked.
“What is your name?” the demon asked. When she snorted, he raised a brow. “What?”
“You think I’d give you my name?”
“Why wouldn’t you?” He looked genuinely confused. And maybe a little hurt.
She waved a hand at him. “With all due respect, I’d be crazy to give my name to a… being of the Underworld.” She couldn’t remember if his kind was touchy about the D-word. Witches certainly hated being called crones and she saw a spirit physically cringe once when someone called him a ghost.
“Why not?” The frown on his face made him look cute in a very human way and Kaida had to pinch her side.
Demon! He’s a demon, Kaida!
“Why not? I mean, you know–” oh, she was just going to say it. “Who knows what you’ll do with it.”
He jerked back like he’d been slapped. Then that sinful smirk appeared once more. “A little judgy for a witch, aren’t you?”
“What? I just– I’m not judgy! This is common knowledge.” She crossed her arms at her chest, only a little scared that she’d pissed him off and he was going to rip her head off. “I’d be stupid to tell you my name.”
“Names do hold power, that much is true. And some of my kind can and will bind a human simply by knowing their name.” He leaned forward, hands behind his back, that mossy green shimmering, and said, “But I am no such demon, Kaida.”
“How did you…?” Kaida groaned, wondering if she should smash her head into the counter. Her shop was named Kaida’s little wonders. “If you knew it already, then why did you ask?”
“It’s the polite thing to do.” He shrugged, then extended his hand. “My name is Aeddan, by the way.”
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Kaida watched his hand like it might burst into flames and sprout snakes. She’d only ever seen demons when she’d been little, and none of them looked like Aeddan. Maybe she was being judgy.
She took his hand, shivering a little at the feel of his skin on hers. Most demons had an allure to them, at least the demons who looked humanoid. They were made to be irresistible to humans. But she was a witch, and she needed to get her shit together.
“Nice to meet you, Kaida.” He slid his fingers down her palm as he took his hand back. Kaida reached for the charms again, this time not bothering with subtlety. But there was only one protection charm on the wall and she wasn’t sure it would work against a demon’s magic. Common spells, yes. But it would not stop him from snatching her soul, or taking her eyesight, or capturing her heart. She dared another glance at him and then with more flare than was really called for, hooked the feather charm in one of her looped earrings. Aeddan’s smile tightened only a little.
Kaida cleared the counter, messily shoving everything either in the trash or in one of the drawers. She used a discarded cloth to wipe away the surface, taking extra time to make sure she could see her reflection. And maybe to annoy the demon.
“So what do you want?” The edge in her voice was too sharp, so she softened it to her usual professional lull. “Sir.”
“I am in need of a tracking spell.”
Kaida’s brows furrowed. Although not impossible, tracking spells were on the more complicated side. It took a great deal of magic for a witch to be capable of even finding small objects. She dropped the cloth and proceeded to scratch at a stain. “Can’t you do it? With your…” she gestured over her nose, “Sense of smell?”
The demon shrugged. “No.”
“I thought all demons were like hounds,” she murmured and for an embarrassing moment took a quick sniff of herself. Did she smell? Did she smell bad? She took one step back, just to be safe.
“If I could, I would not be asking for your help.”
Interesting. Kaida leaned over the counter and resumed scratching at the stain. “Tracking spells vary in difficulty, depending on what the object you are looking for is. It’s beyond the capabilities of most witches.”
“I’m aware. I’ve been to the neighboring villages and each witch I’ve visited was incapable of performing the spell. One of them even told me that I’d have better luck going to a sorcerer.” He sighed and looked at the ceiling. “Apparently, only an extremely talented witch could pull it off. Which is why when the last witch failed, she told me to come to you.”
“Did she now?” There was absolutely no way any of the witches who knew Kaida would have ever recommended her for anything. A beheading, yes. But nothing good, that’s for sure. “And what, exactly, did she say?”
The demon didn’t so much as stumble. “If anyone can do it, it’s you.”
Despite herself, Kaida snorted. A witch called Samira in a village not two hours away had once sent her an exploding cake for her birthday. It had taken all day to clean the shop. That had been one of the funnier pranks.
“I very much doubt that.” She blew out a frustrated breath and pointed a finger at him. “And I don’t like being lied to.”
Aeddan considered her for a second. “Every witch I encountered in the past week all had very interesting things to say about you.” Kaida opened her mouth to ask, but he continued, “That you’re a charlatan, that you follow no rules and abide by no laws if it means getting paid. That you are a covenless witch, with no one left to keep you in check.”
Well. Surprisingly, her chest constricted at that, though it was no surprise. A variation of those words had been repeated to her in far sharper tones.
“And it is why I’ve come to you.” Aeddan smiled again. “Because I believe you can do it.”
Kaida knew when she was being played. Knew it and still a bubble of competitive rage rose to her chest, making her feel like she could spew fire. She’d been like this since she was little; always eager to be better, to prove herself, to rise over anyone who stood in her way. But Kaida was no child, and she was more than capable of stifling her urges.
“You think you’re doing something, don’t you?” She glared at him and was met only with an overly innocent pair of green eyes.
“I understand if you can not. The other witches had a lot of trouble–”
“Stop right there.” She raised a hand at him. “There is a reason they couldn’t. Spells like that require elemental magic, and I’m sure you know it is forbidden. Even if I could do it, I wouldn’t.”
Kaida offered one of her signature smiles, one that roughly translated to: Thank you for visiting. Now kindly get the fuck out.
Aeddan gave her an assessing look, his lips twitching like he found something particularly funny.
“I passed two Inquisitors on my way here. They were about a day away from this village.”
Kaida’s blood ran cold. She gritted her teeth. “Is that a threat?”
“Only a warning.” The demon inclined his head. “You wouldn’t want them poking around in your little shop of wonders.”
Inquisitors sometimes did their rounds in the small villages, looking for witches that were out of line. Kaida and the ones like her did a good job of making sure there was nothing incriminating about their businesses. But all it would take is one complaint, one word, one finger pointed in her direction and she’d be imprisoned.
She stared the demon down, his own face annoyingly calm. Then she slammed her hand on the counter.
“What is it? The thing you want tracked.” She tapped her fingers impatiently. “I don’t have all day.”
Aeddan pulled out a small velvet pouch from the inside of his coat and pulled a ring with a ridiculously large diamond on it. He placed it with gentle fingers near her hand, handling it with surprising care.
Kaida examined the ring then glanced at Aeddan, a question on the tip of her tongue.
“I want to find the twin to this ring. It is exactly the same, only the diamond is black.”
Kaida purred, feeling smug. “Runaway bride?”
“We are not wed.”
“Fiance then.” Kaida picked the ring up, noting the small details in the gold band, the cut of the diamond. There was an inscription on the inside written in a language she was not familiar with. “You were dumped.”
Aeddan snorted and again, it made him seem too human. “I merely wish to find the ring. Can you do it?”
Kaida bit back the snide remark at the tone of his voice. “Is it attached to a hand? I mean, is the person wearing it, or–”
“I can not tell for sure, but I believe she should be wearing it, yes.”
His tone shifted from anger to sadness, then back to anger. It gave Kaida whiplash. She bit her lip, realizing something. “I have to say, I can’t perform a tracking spell if the object is in the Underworld.”
“She is in this world.”
“She’s not a demon?” Kaida couldn’t stop from asking.
Aeddan didn’t answer. But Kaida couldn’t help herself. “You promised yourself to a mortal?”
“Are these questions necessary for the spell?” Aeddan asked.
“Is she pretty?” She smiled when she noticed the slight wrinkle in his nose, like he was losing his patience.
“Very much so.” The way he looked at the ring made his features soften. “She is beautiful in a way that makes your breath stop. A beauty that by all logic should not exist, and yet she came to me.”
An ugly feeling dumped itself over Kaida, like oil that stuck to her skin. Had anyone ever thought of her that way? No. And no one probably would. The love in the demon’s eyes made her want to choke him slowly.
“Eighty gold coins,” she announced.
Aeddan’s brows shot up. Kaida smirked. “Is your love not worth that?”
Aeddan only shuffled inside his jacket and pulled out two flat discs, the color of white gold. Kaida blinked as he placed them in her hand. Two koruns gleamed in her palm, each one bearing the queen’s carved out face in the center. One korun was worth a hundred gold coins.
“This is too much.” Kaida was having trouble breathing.
“If you are as good as you claim you are, then this is a good price.”
Kaida pocketed the coins, a strange blush creeping over her cheeks. With the flick of her finger the blinds closed over the two windows in her shop, the door’s locks clicked in place and a small protection spell was placed around the shop. This way no one could hear what was happening on the inside. If any of it troubled Aeddan, he didn’t show it. He only looked at her with those unnerving eyes, while she gathered her supplies.
She flattened a map of the continent on the counter, pinning it with weights on all four corners. She rummaged through the drawers until she found a pouch of black salt and sprinkled a generous amount over the map.
“You have to promise that what is done will not leave these walls,” she told Aeddan. He nodded, not nearly as concerned as she was. This was serious magic. The kind that would get her in trouble. But the money– the money would allow her to have three meals every day for the entire month. It would allow her to pay her rent early, maybe even to buy herself a new dress, or new boots. Or she could put it in her account and be one step closer to paying her debt. To being free. The prospect of it, of freedom, had her tongue go numb.
With steely resolve, she placed the ring in the center of the map, her hands hovering above it. The other ring was somewhere in the mortal world, in one of the four kingdoms. Her eyes found her village, close to the Marble sea, in one of the poorest areas of Solin, the human kingdom. Then she glanced at Dasar and its capital Oneryx. The land of dreams, the land of opportunity. Finally, she slid her eyes to the ring.
She poured her magic over it. It seeped into the map and salt, a wave of it blasting into Aeddan and tipping him of balance. Too long, it had been too damn long since she’d last used so much and so fast. Her body was assaulted with sharp aches, the strongest one pounding in her head with fury.
But images flashed in her mind. Two hands holding each other lazily. A ballroom and a passionate dance. A moonlit garden and a kiss of exploration. Hands on someone’s body and soft gasps. Giggles and laughter. Kaida pushed past it. She did not want the ring’s history, only its location. The salt buzzed over the map, clumping in different directions.
More images. These ones came with emotions. A rainstorm accompanied by uncertainty and desperation. Two bodies holding each other in the dark – there was love and fear, both feelings so strong Kaida almost toppled over. Fear, she was well acquainted with. Love… this was her first taste of it. And fuck, did it make her sick. Who in their right mind would subject themselves to such a wild sensation.
The salt dispersed further, traveling all over the map. A scream tore through her. The salt was now hovering above, twirling about higher and higher. The glass weights shattered, the map bunched and tore. And a fire so strong erupted, it burned a lock of Kaida’s hair before she had a chance to move.
Aeddan stared at the fire like he was in a trance, while Kaida hurled her pitcher of water at the fire. When that wasn’t enough, her hanged gripped either side of the dirty water bucket she used for mopping the floors and splashed it without looking. The fire went out, leaving a dark clumpy mess on her counter. The only thing that survived was the ring, still in pristine condition.
Aeddan plucked it from the destruction and put it back in its pocket. Water dripped from his hair, sliding down his face.
Kaida was on him in a second, close enough that she had to look up from his chest to his face.
“That damn ring is cursed!”
“I must have forgotten to mention it.”
Kaida pushed him, her power erupting from its slumbering debts. Aeddan hit the wall so hard some of the paintings and decorations fell to the ground.
“You do not enter a witch’s territory with a cursed object and keep quiet about it. We could both be dead if I didn’t pull out in time.”
“You did extremely well. The other witches couldn’t even unlock it.” Aeddan didn’t seem too concerned with being held against the wall like that. Not a drop of fear in those eyes. But there was something like hope, which made Kaida tense.
“Get out of my shop.” She let him go and withdrew two steps.
Aeddan didn’t move. “Did you see the ring? Did you see where it was?”
“That curse was placed so no one could find it,” she spat. She’d have to clean her whole shop. Maybe even burn her clothes.
“Can it be broken?” Aeddan asked.
Kaida laughed, a humorless and ugly sound. “Yeah, no. The kind of magic that it takes to break a curse is forbidden. Like, really forbidden.”
“But is it possible?” He took a step forward. Kaida took another one back.
“There are some witches, the Wise women, we call them. They might be able to figure it out. But there’s no way in hell you’ll find them. You call them and they show themselves, that’s how it works.” Kaida gave him a pointed look. “But none will answer to a demon.”
“You can do it, then.” Another step. And another.
“No.” Kaida was running out of space. A little more and she’d slam back into her counter. But there was no way, no fucking way she would break a curse. That kind of magic would damn her soul to infinite hell. And she’d rather eat glass shards than face a Wise woman.
“Ten thousand gold coins.” The words left his mouth in a clear and melodic sequence, and yet Kaida thought for sure that she’d imagined it. “I can give you more, if you wish.”
Kaida shook her head and the world tilted on its axis. “Get out of my shop, please.”
“Whatever you want, I can give it to you.” There was so much raw emotion in his eyes it was almost painful to watch.
“All of this for a woman? For someone who is gone? Let me guess, she ran away.” Kaida was fumbling her words now. “She left you, demon. Do not subject yourself to such lows to chase after someone who wouldn’t do the same. It’s shameful.”
“You know nothing.” Some of that anger crept back in his face and Kaida hit the edge of the counter. “I would find her even in death. And she would do the same for me. So, do not speak of things you don’t understand.”
It is a cruel world, little Kaida. The Void spat you out and the Void will take you back one day. Don’t be fooled even for a second that you do not walk this life alone.
Her mother’s words crept up like venomous snakes. The ugly warnings that had turned to an uglier reality. Tears welled in her eyes and all Kaida could do was fight them with all her might.
“GET OUT OF MY SHOP!”
The door slammed open and the curtains rustled against an invisible wind. Locks of Aeddan’s hair slapped against his face. He stood as still as a statue. An unreadable emotion flooded his eyes, but before Kaida could recognize it it was gone.
“My apologies,” Aeddan said and fell into a small bow. “I’ve overstayed my welcome. And overstepped, it seems.”
He turned on his heels, his hand grabbing the door handle with light fingers.
“I did not lie about the Inquisitors. Be careful, little witch.”
The door clicked close, leaving Kaida alone in the ruins of her shop.