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Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Nice cx

Crow isn't doing quite as great as everyone thought

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow spent most of the following day outside watching his companions spar in the clearing north of their camp. He had woken up in the midafternoon, a bit earlier than usual, which Hazel took as a sign that he was healing well inside. Between the success of the new medicine and her courtship with Simon, the herbalist was in a much better mood lately, and Crow found her more enjoyable to be around. She had stopped calling him insulting nicknames and prodding him about the ways he had hurt her in the past. Now, she treated him no differently than anyone else.

There was never a verbal communication between them about her change in attitude nor an apology for the way she had held a grudge against him for so long, but he didn’t care. As long as they were on good terms now, he could live without hearing her say she was sorry or that she had finally forgiven him for the past. As far as he was concerned, it was all water under the bridge.

The improvement in Hazel’s attitude wasn’t the only good change he noticed that day. For the first time in a while, Rikki had saved him a portion of lunch as well, which gave him hope that they would be able to restore their friendship too. He missed having her around to banter with during the day and looked forward to a time when they would be able to talk so casually again.

The thief leaned back against a tree with his arms folded over his chest as he watched Rikki and Alistair come at each other with swords. He stood next to Simon and Hazel, who sat across from each other in the grass having their own conversation. They held hands and stared into each other’s eyes as they chatted and exchanged ‘I love you’s, occasionally leaning in to kiss during breaks in their discussion.

After a while of enduring their affectionate behavior, Crow rolled his eyes. “You two are disgusting, you know that?” he wrinkled his nose as they kissed again.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Hazel turned to him with a sarcastic smirk. She leaned in closer to Simon and went on in an intentionally loud whisper, “Sounds like someone’s jealous.”

“I am not jealous,” Crow snorted, averting his gaze. “I just wanted to make sure you’re aware of how nauseating you both are.” In truth, their mushy, lovestruck behavior reminded him of how much he longed to see Penelope again. It had been almost two weeks since the last time they had been together, and he missed her quite a bit. But, of course, he would never admit such a thing to Hazel.

“This is nothing,” Hazel grinned at him wryly and then turned back to her suitor. “Come on, Simon. Let’s show him just how ‘disgusting’ we can be.” She moved from where she was sitting to kiss the thief passionately, leaning into him until he fell backwards, and they were laying on top of each other in the grass.

“Real classy, guys,” Crow scoffed. Hazel raised a hand to shoot him a rude gesture, and he shook his head, turning back to watch the rest of Rikki and Alistair’s fight. He managed to catch the tail end of it just before Alistair pinned Rikki against a tree with his blade pointed at her ribcage, and she was forced to admit defeat.

Now finished with their sparring match, the two made their way over to the others to take a break. “We’re out,” Alistair panted, flopping down against the trunk of a tree. “Who wants to go next?”

“I’d offer,” Crow shrugged. “But apparently I’m still not allowed to fight.” He shot Hazel an accusative look.

“That’s right,” she said, meeting his gaze evenly as she smoothed down her dress. “No sparring for you until we know you’re healed.”

“I feel fine,” he muttered under his breath. However, he didn’t bother to argue with her since he knew she was too stubborn to cave.

“So, are we done here?” Alistair looked between them.

“Well,” Simon spoke up, glancing at Hazel. “You and I could go a round. I wanted to teach you a few tricks, remember?”

“Right,” she grinned at him challengingly. “Because you don’t think I can hold my own in a fight.”

“That’s not it,” Simon said in hasty defense. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just think I could teach you some things, that’s all.”

“Oh, so you don’t think I could hold my own in a fight against you?”

“Well…” Simon shifted his weight awkwardly.

“That’s it,” Hazel rose to her feet and turned to Rikki. “Give me that sword. I’m going to teach my lover boy here a thing or two about how a real woman fights.”

Rikki whistled and handed her blade off to the herbalist. She leaned over to Crow and Alistair and murmured with a smirk, “I have never been more excited to see Simon get his ass kicked in my life.”

“Wanna put some money on this?” Alistair grinned at her. “Five gold coins says Simon wins.”

“I’ll take some of that action,” Crow jumped in. “Ten on Hazel.”

The three thieves finished placing their bets on who would win the match and then turned back to watch as Simon and Hazel began sparring in the middle of the clearing. Alistair sat back against the tree trunk while Crow and Rikki stood nearby. The female thief turned to him with a curious smile, “I wasn’t expecting you to put your money on Hazel. What makes you think she’s going to win?”

“I’ve known her for a long time,” he said, glancing at her slyly. “She’s a terrible fighter, but Simon is too love-struck not to let her win.”

“Sneaky,” she laughed. “Well, I hope your right about that, because otherwise, Alistair is going to get all of our gold.”

“I know I’m right,” he shrugged cockily. “Alistair isn’t going to get so much as a copper coin out of us.”

Rikki looked up at him and then sighed softly, “I missed this.”

“Me too,” he agreed, glancing down to meet her gaze.

Rikki looked over her shoulder at Alistair for a moment and then shifted to stand closer to Crow. “I’ve been wondering,” she whispered, keeping her voice down so the other thief wouldn’t overhear her. “When you said you had plans to be with Penelope after the war… do those plans have us in the picture too?” She frowned as she held his gaze searchingly.

Crow averted his eyes uncomfortably. “Not exactly,” he answered her in a low voice. “I’m worried that she won’t be accepted here. Simon and Hazel are openly hostile to nobles, I have no idea what Alistair would do, and…” he glanced at her again. “Wouldn’t you be uncomfortable having her around after everything that’s happened between us?”

“Maybe,” she frowned. “But I’d rather have her around if it means I won’t have to lose you.”

“I don’t want to lose you either—any of you,” he exhaled. “But it’s not that easy. We want to settle down together, and we can’t do that if we’re living with a band of thieves.”

“Oh,” Rikki lowered her gaze. She fell quiet for a moment in contemplative silence before looking up again with a halfhearted smile. “Well, I guess I just need to make the most of our time while I still have you, huh?”

“I guess so,” he mirrored her expression.

In the next moment, Crow blinked in surprise as he felt a familiar tingling sensation in his chest. Before he had a chance to react, he doubled over as another coughing fit wracked his body. He leaned against a nearby tree and covered his mouth with one hand as the metallic taste of blood wetted his tongue.

“Crow?” Rikki’s eyes widened and moved quickly to his side, resting a hand on his back. She inhaled sharply as she caught sight of the crimson droplets seeping between his fingers. “Hazel!” she called frantically. “Something’s wrong with Crow!”

The herbalist froze mid swing at the sound of Rikki’s panicked voice and turned to see what was going on. When she saw that the thief was having another episode, she cursed under her breath and dropped her sword, hurrying over to his other side.

“What’s going on?” Alistair knitted his brow worriedly and climbed to his feet.

“It looks like he’s not as healed as we thought,” Hazel grumbled, muttering another short string of curses as she looked him over.

“Will he be alright?” Rikki asked.

“Should be,” Hazel nodded. “This isn’t the first time this has happened. He just has to ride it out until it passes.”

Surrounded by all of his companions, Crow felt a wave of self-consciousness as the coughing fit dragged on. He silently pleaded for it to stop, hating how weak he looked whenever it happened. Fortunately, the tightness in his chest faded again not long after it began, and he was left panting as he caught his breath against the tree.

“Are you okay?” Rikki said as she rubbed his back.

“I’m fine,” he said breathily. Pulling his hand away from his mouth, he felt a pang of worry as he saw how much blood he had coughed up this time. He glanced at Hazel, who had a concerned look on her face as she took note of the amount on his hand as well.

“It looks like this new medicine has stopped your fatigue, but it isn’t stopping whatever keeps causing that to happen,” the herbalist mused, gesturing to his stained palm. “I’ll have to figure out why that is, but for now, let’s get back to the camp so you can rest.”

Crow nodded, feeling a bit tired from the toll the coughing fit had taken on him. He bent down to drag his hand across the grass and wipe off the blood. Straightening his posture again, he joined the others as they all headed back to the tunnels, finished sparring for the day.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow and Rikki are finally starting to repair their relationship cx

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

The evening of the following day, Crow awoke feeling even better than he had the day before. He was sure of it now: the medicine Hazel was using on him was finally working. He felt a rush of excitement as he managed to sit up on his bed without much trouble. It felt like his strength was finally coming back to him as well. Leaning back on the palms of his hands, he looked down at his legs and rolled his ankles thoughtfully. He wanted to try to stand on his own today. It had been a week since the last time he had been able to move without help, and the thought of being able to do so again was thrilling.

Just as he began to brace himself to try, he heard Hazel’s voice. “Still feeling better, huh?” she said with a pleased look as she made her way over to him.

“Much, actually,” he nodded. “I was going to try standing.”

“Great,” Hazel glanced back over her shoulder and gestured for Simon to come over. Turning back to Crow, she explained with a shrug, “I can’t catch you if you go down, so he agreed to make sure you don’t fall on your face for me.”

Crow nodded again, unbothered by Simon’s presence. He felt confident that he would be able to stand, but it was nice to have a backup just in case something went wrong. After all, he didn’t want to fall and risk reopening the wound in his leg. On top of being painful by itself, it would make it more difficult for him to try getting up again in the future. He didn’t need any more barriers to an already strenuous task.

Once he was ready to try, the thief braced his legs and forced himself to slowly rise from the ground. The effort was taxing, but he managed to stand up and remain on his feet without any help from Simon. His heartbeat quickened in excitement as he realized what he had just done. For the first time in a week, he could move without asking anyone to support him. That meant no more being trapped in bed, no more uncomfortable assisted walks to the bathroom, and best of all, no more being confined to the tunnels. He could finally go outside on his own to simply enjoy being out of the cavern.

“Looks like you’re doing much better,” Hazel looked him over clinically as she made notes in her journal. “I don’t see any shaking or other signs of weakness.” She looked up to meet his gaze and grinned. “If you keep up with his pace, you’ll be back to normal in no time.”

“Thank gods,” Crow sighed. “I can’t wait to be done with all of this.”

“It will be good to have you back,” Simon agreed with a shake of his head. “Trying to keep Alistair and Rikki under control is exhausting. I don’t know how you’ve managed to do it for so long.”

“Who knows?” Crow shrugged, biting back a laugh. He was sure that Alistair and Rikki were just giving Simon a hard time to mess with him, since he was such an easy target. However, in the spirit of not ruining the wily thieves’ fun, he didn’t want to tell him the truth. Glancing toward the entrance of the cave, he went on to change the subject, “Since I don’t need help walking anymore, I’m going outside.”

“Alright,” Hazel said. “Just don’t go far. You may be alright for now, but I want you to stay within shouting distance in case you need help.”

“I will,” he agreed. Tipping his head to them in a curt goodbye, he made his way to the entrance of the cave, taking the trip slowly so he wouldn’t tire himself out while also relishing the feeling of being able to walk at all.

He circled around the edge of the waterfall and headed towards a fallen tree by the edge of the riverbank. When he reached it, he sat down and closed his eyes, dangling his legs over the water serenely. It was the first time in a while that he’d had this much hope about being cured of his illness, but with a medicine that was finally working, he felt confident that he would make it.

His enthusiasm wavered slightly as the memory of his mother came suddenly to his mind. He wished he had thought to have someone try to treat her back then, but being young and naïve, the idea had never even crossed his mind. He opened his eyes again to watch the river flow over the tumbled stones below his feet. It seemed unfair that he would be the one to survive the illness that took her life. His mother had been a kind and selfless woman who cared about the people of the outer villages just as much as he did, if not more. Part of him wished there was some way he could switch places with her, to offer his life in exchange to bring her back. Having empathy and a sense of what people needed—two qualities he lacked—she probably would have done more for the peasants of Brerra than he ever did. If she had lived and he had not, the people of the outer villages probably would have been better off.

He sighed, picking absently at the moss on the tree he was sitting on. He knew that such thoughts, however wistful they may be, were pointless. His mother had been gone for over a decade now, and nothing was going to change that. Besides, even if he couldn’t help the villagers the same way she would have, it wasn’t like his life was meaningless. He had done quite a bit for them in his own way, and there was no denying that they were better off for it. He wasn’t his mother, but he would do his best to emulate her values and protect the peasants of Brerra.

Tossing a ball of moss into the river, he smiled softly to himself as Penelope’s face appeared in his mind. Putting everything to do with the villagers aside, she was the one who gave his life more purpose than anything or anyone else. She was also the reason why he had even sought Hazel out in the first place. He wanted to live, not just for himself, but also for her. He wanted the life they dreamed about when the war was over.

Crow was so caught up in his introspective thoughts that he almost didn’t notice the sound of someone moving to sit next to him on the log. He looked up and blinked in surprise to see that it was Rikki. The female thief had her dark eyes fixed on the water as she took a moment to think before finally speaking up, “Hazel told me you were doing better.”

“Yeah,” he nodded, shifting his weight slightly. Given how tense things had been between them lately, he wasn’t sure what else to say to her.

“I’m glad,” she said in a soft voice that caught him off guard. Pausing again, she tightened her lips slightly. “Look, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately, and I’ve come to a conclusion.”

Crow glanced at her curiously. He recalled that Rikki had said she had a lot of thinking to do after she had found out about him and Penelope, but he had thought she would take much longer to approach him. Not wanting to make any assumptions, he remained quiet as he waited for her to explain what her decision was.

“I’m still hurt that you would have lied to me like that,” she said after a moment. “But I know you were just trying to handle this in your own way, and I know you weren’t trying to hurt me. I can’t stay mad at you for something you didn’t intentionally do, especially when I saw how upset you were when I told you I was hurt.” Looking up, she finally met his gaze. “I can’t promise that things will be the same between us… honestly, they probably won’t, but I just wanted to let you know that I’m not angry anymore.”

Crow stared at her as he took a moment to process everything she had just said. When he was done, he offered her a smile, “Thanks. I’m still really sorry I hurt you, love, but I’m glad we can start to move forward from this.” He reached out to wrap one arm around her shoulders, pulling her to his side in a brief embrace.

“Me too,” Rikki smiled softly as well, but the expression soon disappeared, and she lowered her gaze again.

Crow frowned as he watched her. It was easy to tell that she was thinking about how he was never going to be with her the way she wanted. She had come to a conclusion in her head, but her broken heart had yet to catch up. He removed his arm from her shoulders and dropped his hand in his lap. “I may not be able to return the feelings you have for me, but I’m still your friend,” he said quietly. “That’s not going to change.”

“I know,” Rikki took a calming breath. “It’s just going to take some time for me to accept that.”

“Of course,” he nodded. “Take as much time as you need.”

“Thank you,” she murmured. Another brief moment of silence fell between them, and then she moved to stand up. “Dinner is going to be ready soon,” she said, casting him a quick glance. “If you want some, you should come back before Alistair eats your portion.”

“He’d better not try,” Crow snorted. “Now that I’m feeling better, I’ll fight him for it.”

Rikki cracked a small smile as she turned to leave, “I’ll be sure to pass along the warning. See you there, Crow.”

“See you,” he said, looking back at the river as she walked off. He spent a little while longer by the water’s edge, taking some time to relish how good of a day it had been, before he finally rose to his feet and headed back to the camp to join his companions the for dinner.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

That's good xD Does your whole family watch, or just you two?
If you liked the first season, you'll definitely like the rest. Imo, the first season wasn't great, but it really picks up in the second

No worries! I was watching the new Fantastic Beasts movie with my husband, so I just got home before you posted ^^

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

When Crow woke up the next day, he yawned and rolled onto his back, reaching his arms over his head in a long stretch. He didn’t feel quite as terrible as he normally did when he rose this time. Aside from the ache in his wounded leg and a kink in his right shoulder—he guessed he had probably slept on it funny—he actually felt somewhat decent for once. His heartbeat quickened in excitement as he remembered the new medicine Hazel had given him the night before. Had she finally found something that worked?

Eager to test it out, he moved to sit up. However, he immediately regretted the decision when a sharp burst of dizziness forced him to squeeze his eyes shut. Clutching his head in one hand, he breathed slowly until it passed. It appeared that, even if the medicine had had some effect on him, it wasn’t healing him that quickly. He still couldn’t move very much without tiring himself out. Regardless, he was ecstatic to think that his slight improvement had been caused by the herbalist’s new remedy.

“This is the first time I’ve seen you sit up in a couple days,” Hazel’s voice caught his attention as she walked over from the other side of the camp. The red-haired woman grinned at him, “I take it you’re feeling better?”

“A bit,” Crow nodded, looking up at her as she sat down beside him. “What time is it?”

“Early evening,” she answered, smoothing out her dress over her crossed legs. “But even if you start to get better, I wouldn’t expect that to change anytime soon. You need a lot of rest to recover from this.”

“I’ll take what I can get,” he shrugged absently, flexing his hand as he observed the reaction of his muscles. It wasn’t much, but he could tell that his reflexes were slightly faster than before.

“How exactly are you feeling better?” Hazel asked, pulling out her journal and quill. “I need to make some notes, so I can keep refining your medicine.”

“Let’s see,” Crow glanced up at the cave ceiling in thought. “I woke up feeling more well-rested, and I don’t feel as tired as I usually do right now—at least, I don’t feel tired mentally. I still doubt I’d be able to stand up on my own.”

“Care to try?”

“I don’t think so,” he shook his head. “At least, not today. Just sitting up by myself was almost enough to take me down again.”

“Alright,” the herbalist scribbled down a few more notes and then closed her book. “I’m glad this medicine seems to be affecting you, because I’ve already got another batch ready for you tonight.” Reaching into her bag once more, she withdrew the container and handed it to him. “Let’s just hope it keeps working.”

“Hear hear,” Crow raised the jar to his lips and drained it of its contents. Once he had finished, he wrinkled his nose in disgust. “Gods, you actually kept your word yesterday, didn’t you?”

“Of course,” Hazel winked at him mischievously. “You didn’t think I would actually let you get away with that attitude of yours, did you?”

“Lesson learned,” he coughed. “That was rancid.”

“I’m pleased you think so,” Hazel smirked.

Crow rolled his eyes and then met her gaze again as another thought came to him, “By the way, do you mind switching out my bandages again? The ones I’m wearing now have been on for a few days, and they’ve started to chafe.”

“Sure,” she retrieved a roll of fresh bandages from her bag. Working efficiently, she switched out the old wrapping on his leg for a new one. Once she was done, she put away her supplies and stood up to rejoin the others at the fire for dinner. Before she could leave, the thief spoke up again.

“One more thing,” he started.

“You’re expecting quite a few favors from me today, hmm?” Hazel quirked a brow at him.

“I would do these things for myself, but, you know,” Crow gestured to his own body in reference to the illness. “Anyway, could you help me up? I want to eat with you and the others, since I haven’t been able to in so long.”

“I guess,” she shrugged and offered him a hand to stand up.

“Thanks,” he said as he took her hand and rose unsteadily to his feet. Once he was up, he moved quickly to lean an open palm against the wall for support. Using the wall to stay upright, he followed Hazel over to the fireplace to enjoy a social dinner with his companions before he would go to bed that night.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

That's cool that you have that in common though cx
My fam never liked the shows I like, but to be fair, I mostly rewatch sitcoms lol
Speaking of which, my husband and I were watching New Girl last night, which was why I couldn't reply ^^;
It's such a well written show. I love it

That's a good song! It fits really well

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

The following day, Crow awoke late as usual. He opened his eyes and looked around the camp dazedly, trying to remember when he had fallen asleep. Having wanted to hear about the results of Hazel’s meeting with Penelope and that physician, he had tried to stay up and wait for her to return the night before. Apparently, that hadn’t happened.

He sighed and rolled over on his bed. From what he could see, it looked like all of his companions had gone out again for the day, so if he wanted to hear anything from Hazel, he would have to wait for her to come back from wherever it was she had gone. He shifted impatiently, the motion causing his injured leg to smart in response. He grimaced and made a mental note to ask the herbalist to change out the bandages for him later as well. In their focus on his illness, the wound had gone somewhat forgotten.

It didn’t take long before boredom began to set in. He rolled over again and let out his breath in a long exhale, toying with the idea of going back to sleep. There was no telling how long it would be before Hazel returned, and he had nothing to do until then. However, before he even had a chance to close his eyes, he felt his chest tighten, a familiar indication that he was going to have another coughing fit. Not again, he groaned inwardly. Ever since he had reached the third phase of the illness, the Myrefall herbalist’s medicine no longer worked to suppress the episodes.

In the next moment, he doubled over as the fit seized his body. Unable to do anything to fight it, he didn’t bother to try. Instead, he simply waited for it to pass, enduring the pain it triggered deep in his chest. That was another change he had noticed recently. Before, the coughing fits had been uncomfortable, but they had never caused him anything more than some bruising on his ribs, and even that had only happened once or twice when the episodes had been especially bad. But now, it felt like they were tied to something worse.

Dark scarlet droplets spattered the cave floor as the cough drew blood at last. Soon after, it finally passed, and he was able to lay his head down again. “Damn it,” he muttered, closing his eyes and breathing heavily from the exertion. He had been hoping the last medicine Hazel had made for him would be the one, but apparently it hadn’t worked either. It was getting harder to hold onto the hope that there was even a cure for his disease out there at all.

The metallic taste of blood lingered unpleasantly on his tongue, and the thief spat on the ground in a vain attempt to get rid of it. Suddenly, he heard the sound of footsteps echo near the entrance of the cavern, and he glanced up to see that Hazel had returned. The herbalist walked over to him with her bag of supplies and sat down, knitting her brow in a concerned frown as she looked him over. “It happened again, huh?” she mused as she set down her things.

“Yeah,” Crow sighed. He met her gaze curiously. “How’d you know?” The sleeping area of the cave was shadowed in darkness, so he doubted she had noticed the blood on the ground so quickly.

Hazel tapped the corner of her mouth, and the thief blinked. He reached up to drag the back of his hand across his mouth, wiping away the blood from his lip.

“Well, hopefully that’ll be the last time,” Hazel said with a smirk. “I’ve got a new medicine for you that I have a good feeling about.”

“So, I take it your meeting last night went well?” he raised a brow, finally able to ask the question that had been on his mind all day.

“Surprisingly, yes,” the herbalist nodded. “As much as I hate to admit it, that physician knows her stuff. She gave me a few herbs that I included in your next batch of medicine.” She reached into her bag and withdrew the usual jar, handing it over to him. “Try this.”

Crow propped himself up on his elbows and took the container from her. Popping off the top, he lifted it to his lip and tilted his head back to down the whole thing. When it was empty, he looked down at the empty jar with a thoughtful expression, “Huh.”

“What?”

“This one didn’t taste nearly as bad,” he said, glancing up at her. “It’s kind of like mint.”

“That would be the motherwort,” Hazel explained. “It’s one of the herbs that noble gave me. I added a lot of it, since she said it’s effective at healing the heart.”

“Well, I hope it does the job on me,” he said as he handed the empty container back to her. “I’d much rather take this than that bitter stuff you were giving me before.”

Hazel rolled her eyes. “Well excuse me for not making you a draught you enjoy,” she drawled sarcastically. “I was too busy trying to find ingredients that will actually heal you.”

“I’ll forgive you if you keep bringing me medicines like this,” he grinned at her teasingly.

“Just for that, I’m going to be sure your next one is extra bitter,” she snorted, rising to her feet.

“Oh, come on,” Crow rolled his eyes. “I was only kidding.”

“Too late,” the herbalist said with a wry smirk. “Consider this payback for all the attitude you’ve been giving me lately, snake.” With that, she turned and headed toward the fireplace, where the other thieves who had just gotten back to the camp were beginning to gather.

“Me and my big mouth,” Crow muttered, shaking his head. He laid back down on his bed and rolled over to face the wall. Regardless of how Hazel prepared the medicine to taste, he was glad that she finally seemed to be on the right track to finding a cure for his illness. He closed his eyes, eager to fall asleep so he could find out if the draught was working in the morning.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

That's terrible. They're totally taking advantage of you guys

That's funny because Ross has a bad reputation in my town xD
They only schedule their workers like 5 hours a week, so everyone quits because that's literally only about $200/mo
For perspective, average apartment rent here is $600+/mo per person

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Hazel narrowed her eyes slightly at the physician, prepared to make a brusque retort, but Penelope intervened first. Her cold blue eyes flicked towards the knight as she introduced the two healers to each other. She couldn’t have cared less what the physician’s name was, but the change in subject was enough to make her forget what she was going to say before. So, she leaned back in her chair and tapped her boot on the floor in mild irritation instead.

Her gaze drifted back to Jane as the dark-haired woman began speaking about her knowledge on similar illnesses as the one that plagued Myrefall. She wasn’t surprised to learn that this healer had cured similar diseases. In fact, she would have been more surprised if Jane had been completely unfamiliar with any of the symptoms, since she had heard that noble physicians were supposed to be apprenticed by masters with more understanding of medicines than the herbalist could ever hope to glean in her lifetime.

When Jane went on to ask what she had tried so far, Hazel clenched her jaw, involuntarily hesitant to share her findings with a noble. She forced herself to take a calming breath, This is all for the good of the people of Myrefall… and of Crow. She’s not here to steal your work. After a moment’s pause, she finally answered the question: “I’ve prepared a few different herbal poultices for… a patient of mine.” She intentionally avoided using Crow’s name, since she remembered that he didn’t have the best reputation. It would be bad if word got back to the knights that the thief whose head was worth a small fortune was sick and vulnerable right now.

“This is what I’ve come up with so far,” she twisted at the waist to lean over and dig in her bag for the journal in which she had been keeping record of her medicinal recipes. Flipping to the page where she had written about the Creeping Death, she handed the book off to the physician, averting her gaze to ignore the surprised look in the other woman’s eyes. It was likely that Jane had never seen a literate peasant before.

Fortunately, the physician didn’t comment on it. Instead, she examined the writing with a critical expression. “Hawthorn, nettles, hibiscus, lobelia…” she read under her breath as she reviewed the herbalist’s work.

“I used herbs that target the heart and lungs,” Hazel explained with a shrug. “As far as I can tell, those are the parts of the body this illness hits the hardest.”

“I see,” Jane looked up at her contemplatively. “I happened to notice motherwort isn’t on this list.”

“Motherwort?” Hazel blinked, unfamiliar with the plant.

“Yes,” Jane nodded. “It’s an herb that regulates the heart.” She closed the journal and passed it back to the herbalist across the table. “I’m not surprised you don’t know about it. From my understanding, the plant only grows in the inner kingdom. Fortunately for us, I happen to have some with me.” Reaching into her own bag, she withdrew a dried plant with small, leathery-looking leaves and offered it to Hazel to examine it more closely. “The herbs you’ve been using are all good, but this one is much more potent. I’ve had great success with it in treating other illnesses of the heart.”

“Interesting,” Hazel mused as she rubbed one of the leaves between her thumb and forefinger. Momentarily forgetting her animosity towards the physician, she looked up at her curiously. “What do you usually mix it with?”

“See for yourself,” Jane handed the herbalist her own book, the pages of which were filled with neatly written herbal recipes. “I believe that if you pair this set of ingredients with the one on the next page—it’s for a lung disease—you’ll have a better foundation to build this cure on.”

Hazel nodded absently, her eyes skimming over the physician’s book as she memorized the herbs she needed. She knew most of the plants that were listed, but there were two that she didn’t recognize. “What are turmeric and chaparral?”

“Turmeric is another herbal heart remedy, and chaparral cleanses the lungs,” Jane explained. “I have some of those with me as well if you’d like to try them.”

“Please,” Hazel nodded gratefully. As the physician offered her the herbs, she was starting to think that perhaps it wasn’t such a waste of time to have agreed to meet with her after all. If what this woman said was true, these plants were quite a bit stronger than the ones she’d been using before, and she’d had no idea they even existed. She made a mental note to ask Simon to steal her some more up-to-date medical books later.

“I’ll start with these for now,” she said, looking up at the nobles again. “We should meet again in five days, so I have time to observe my patient for any changes. From there, we can refine it until we figure this out.”