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“She shows much promise,” Lady Mykaela murmured. “She seems to have learned to read heartsglass with little training.”
“Kings and queens may be let off with ungracious behavior,” she murmured once we were alone again. “Bone witches may not.
“What did he mean by heartforgers?” She tapped at my heartsglass. “A different magic but with the same color. They’re of more use to the people than bone witches, so they aren’t as reviled. They can take memories and break them into bits and pieces, distill them down into potions and spells, and build them back up into new hearts, bright and counterfeit, so that even we can’t tell one heartbeat from the other. Fortunately, some artificial hearts cost more than a kingdom, and so few people bother.”
“For noble reasons and for horrible reasons. Give your heart to the wrong person and they can abuse that trust, and there are spells to prevent you from drawing one anew. When you have enough enemies, it is sometimes necessary to speed up what nature did not intend. The strongest spells require memories. There are many people who wish to forget, and there are many rich enough to pay for the privilege.”
“They say you can bring back the dead.” I looked behind me. A boy stood there, his hostility obvious. “They say you can bring back the dead,” he repeated. “Well? Can you?”
“I’m a bone witch. Of course I can.”
“Take these.” Lady Mykaela was beside me in a moment, offering me two jeweled pins like the ones she wore in her hair. One was a curved accessory set with beautiful star sapphires, and the other was plainer, shaped like a strangely gnarled crescent moon, and wrapped in silver wire and amethyst. “Pin these to your hair.” The dizziness abated when I put both on. I could still feel the magic roaring around me, but it felt strangely muted and no longer hurt my eyes or my mind. “A countermeasure,” the asha explained.
“Do not let the simplicity of our city fool you. Kions take their love of magic to an even greater extreme than Odalians do.”
“In Kion, we call ourselves Dark asha. ‘Bone witch’ is offensive here just as much as it is in Odalia, but all asha take offense at the term. And Dark asha are not necessarily a prerequisite to fail the oracle’s test, little one. Mistress Simin, who was head of the Valerian before she died and Mother took over, was also a Dark asha.” She smiled kindly at me. “Do not let the prejudices of a few people affect your place in the greater scheme of Kion. In the Willows, all asha are equally respected.”
If I did return, I knew they would still treat me differently, even if I never drew the Dark for the rest of my life.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught someone staring at me. He was swathed in black from head to toe, the way Drychta women preferred their dress. The eyes were veiled, but I had the impression that they were staring straight at me, and it wasn’t friendly.
When people cut us, we are expected to do only two things: smile and bleed.”
“In this regard,” she said softly, “I’d like to believe she was quite common.”
Word of the Willows spread, and women not just from Kion but from all over the lands flocked to Ankyo, wanting to be trained.
Fox eyed the entrance leading into the Valerian. “Even with the old prune inside?” “Fox!” “Isn’t she? She looks like an old fruit left to dry out in the sun for so long that it grew hungry and tried eating its own face.”
There is no greater strength than the ability to understand and accept your own flaws.”
I would make myself to be a liar and a hypocrite otherwise, after all my talk about knowing your flaws to learn your strength.”
I never found my heart.
We can endure any amount of sadness for the people we love.
People will never be what you make of them, but at least your own heart stays yours and true.”
And Mykaela squeezed my hand; her own was warm, with only a touch of the early frost.
