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“You’re an anomaly,” Kiva breathed. For seventeen years, she’d only ever heard whispers of anomalies, and now she’d encountered two in the space of an hour.

“Lie down,” Brynn said again, pointing to the bed.

Kiva was too stunned to do anything but obey, wincing as the move aggravated her shoulder. She was careful to press her uninjured cheek to the pillow, watching in awe as Brynn summoned another plant to appear alongside the first. Both were familiar to Kiva, but she’d only ever used one before.

The first was aloeweed, and Brynn quickly pulled a small blade fromher apron and sliced open the green stalk until its gel-like sap began to ooze out.

“You need to use the redwort first,” Kiva said, indicating the second plant. “It’ll clean the wound.”

“It’ll also sting enough to make you wish for the everworld,” Brynn argued.

“If it gets infected, I may end upinthe everworld.”

The maid lowered the aloeweed — reluctantly — and reached for the reddish plant, but then she cocked her head and waved her hand again. Two new flowering plants appeared beside the redwort, one having bright white petals with yellow tips, the other a startling shade of violet with red shoots sprouting from the center. Kiva had never seen either before.

“Milkmist,” Brynn said as she plucked one of the white flowers, causing Kiva to jerk in surprise. Her father had mentioned milkmist once, claiming it was incredibly rare and famous for its strong anesthetic properties.

Sure enough, the moment Brynn cut open the bulb and dribbled the sap onto Kiva’s shoulder, her pain vanished into numbness so complete that she moaned with relief.

“I could kiss you right now,” she murmured into her pillow, aware that she might actually stand a chance at escaping if the numbness remained long enough for her to sneak out of the castle.

The maid chuckled and proceeded to clean Kiva’s shoulder using the redwort. “Want to tell me what happened to you?”

“Not really,” Kiva answered, her trembles beginning to ease now that her pain had faded.

Brynn’s fingers paused. “I’ll rephrase. As the person currently helping you, I’d like you to tell me what happened.”

Kiva grumbled, “You’re very forceful for a maid.” When Brynn saidnothing, and didn’t continue cleaning the wound, Kiva added, “Fine, but please hurry. I have... things to do.”

“What things?”

“Just —things,” Kiva said defensively, wishing the maid would act more maid-like.

Brynn’s voice was filled with humor as she said, “The time will pass quicker if you share what happened while I work.”

Kiva doubted that, but when Brynn recommenced cleaning her shoulder, she offered an overview of Navok’s demands in the throne room and how Serafine and Voshell had interrupted Xuru’s second attack, finishing with an offhanded mention about the tension she’d felt between the Mirraven king and the Caramor prince.

“Navok and Vosh are meeting in private?” Brynn asked as she smeared a liberal amount of aloeweed gel over the top of Kiva’s wound to make a soothing protective barrier. “Right now?”

“I guess so,” Kiva answered.

Brynn didn’t ask anything else as she shifted to dab aloeweed onto Kiva’s cheek, her silvery eyes narrowed with displeasure now that she had confirmation that the swelling was from Navok himself. She took off into the bathing chamber, returning with a tumbler half full of water. Only then did she reach for the purple flower, plucking some petals and shoots and dropping them into the liquid.

“Drink this,” she said.

Kiva tried to sit up, but Brynn placed a hand on her good shoulder and pressed her back onto the bed. “Stay down until the aloeweed sets. Just lift your head and drink it that way.”

“What is it?” Kiva asked as she took a tentative sip. It had a subtle floral taste, almost fruity.

“I doubt you’ll have heard of it — it’s a flower native to the Serpent Isles. The monks sequestered there call it Serpent’s Kiss,” Brynn said. “It speeds up healing, but you should only use it in extreme circumstances.”

“Why?” Kiva asked, taking another sip.

“Because it’s poisonous.”

Kiva spat out her mouthful. “What?”

Brynn rolled her eyes. “You’ll be fine.” She paused, then amended, “You might have a bit of a headache and some stomach pains, maybe temporary blindness. But don’t worry, in a few hours, you’ll be back to normal. And you’ll be feeling much better. Just don’t take any more for at least a month, or you’ll be in trouble.”