Saber nodded, and Annis left in the same rush she had entered.
Elysia turned to Saber worried he might take offense to her sister’s threats. “Annis means well, looking after my safety.” That a barely detectable smile went along with his nod, vanquished her worries.
He was a fine looking man without a smile, but the slight lift of his mouth made him all the more attractive. Her stomach fluttered again. She had to stop this nonsense. There were far more important things to concern herself with, and yet this time spent with Saber seemed of the utmost importance. After all, she was helping to heal his throat so his voice would finally return—a voice she could not wait to hear.
Bliss always enjoyed time in the woods no matter the season. Spring’s new buds reminded that new life was beginning after winter hibernation when all lay quiet in rest, and summer greeted with an abundance of beauty and growth while autumn brought the abundant harvest. The seasons’ wisdom and importance was taught to her by Kendesa, the previous clan healer. Its vast knowledge was known to every skilled healer and the seasons reminded when plants should be planted, picked, or left longer to harvest. Kendesa also taught her the importance of respect for the plants, for while they could heal, they could also kill.
It was knowing their properties well that made the difference. And the one person who knew the plants better than anyone was Cumina. She used different plants to make her amulets that were meant to protect people, which meant she had to know something about curses.
Bliss wanted desperately to find a way to break the curse cast on the three men, more so now that she had seen the interest Brogan had in Annis. She truly feared for Annis’s fate.
The gray sky overhead hinted at a fall shower, but then weather was unpredictable in the Highlands—beautiful one moment, gray the next, leaving one to always be cautious as to what garments might be needed.
Raindrops began to fall when she was not far from Cumina’s cottage. Bliss hurried her hood over her head and quickened her steps. She was not surprised to see the old woman standing in the open doorway, looking out in wait.
Cumina was often referred to as an old woman, but age had not marred her beauty. She had to be sixty-plus years, and yet her face wore few lines and wrinkles and her bold green eyes were alert and intimidating. She was tall with no stoop to her shoulders that claimed most women with age and she was slim. Her long, pure white hair—she wore in a braid—held a shine that Bliss envied as did she envy the woman’s graceful movements—never rushed and always purposeful.
Sometimes Bliss wished she possessed Cumina’s magic, not about amulets, but her ability to sense things. Magic most often frightened people and the person thought to possess its strange powers was often avoided, left to live alone away from others and only sought out when in dire need, as Bliss did now.
Cumina waved Bliss forward. “Hurry, the rain will worsen, though it will be gone by the time you leave.”
Bliss entered the cottage just as the raindrops turned to a downpour.
“Sit. I have a hot brew for us,” Cumina offered, pointing to a chair at a table barely large enough for two.
Bliss pushed her cloak off her shoulders to drape on the back of the chair. She loved coming here. Cumina’s cottage always welcomed and there were so many interesting things to see. A plethora of plants hung on drying racks, crocks sat everywhere, their lids set tight only allowing one to guess what they held, and baskets overflowed with bunches of dried plants, while wrapped herbs hung from pegs on the wall. A well-worn walking stick leaned against the wall near the door. It was made from a sturdy branch of a blackthorn tree which many believed could defend against evil.
“What you ask is not easy,” Cumina said, placing a tankard in front of Bliss before joining her at the table, a tankard already waiting there for her.
“You know that I have come to ask about removing a curse,” Bliss clarified more for herself than Cumina.
“A powerful curse.” Cumina looked down at her tankard a moment, then back at Bliss. “The most powerful curse there is—a death curse. When someone uses their last breath to curse someone, it releases tremendous power. Most times the curse is made because of a wrong that was done to someone and the only way to end the curse is to right the wrong. I know of this curse that was cast on three men and it must be made right to finally end all the sorrow it has caused and will continue to cause.”
“I had hoped there was a charm or a magical spell that could break the curse.”