Chapter 25

                                    

                                          
For the next few days, Morgana couldn't stop thinking about what she and Aelys had discovered about the elixir. She'd lain awake at night, churning over the same question, who wanted to poison her and why? It left her feeling sick like she'd swallowed a cockroach. It also didn't help that she couldn't stop thinking about her parents' death either, her new memory ever since she'd stopped taking the elixir.
 One morning she'd been pouring a bottle of it out into the bathroom sink when the healer had dropped by with another batch. She'd raced back to her bedside table and placed the empty bottle on top of it. Then huddled under her bedcovers pretending to be sick with stomach cramps.
 "I seem to have misplaced the recipe for your elixir," said Matthias, placing the fresh bottle down and taking the empty one. 
Morgana's heart quickened. Did he know that she and Aelys had stolen it?
"But don't worry I remember it well." He gave her what he thought was a reassuring smile before leaving the room. Morgana thought he'd looked like a crocodile about to eat a small bird.  
Now, she was in the training room and the elemental bowls were at her feet. She focused her attention on the water bowl, and a calm spread over her like a cool bath. Alexander paced in front of her with his hands clasped behind his black training shirt. His steely gaze made Morgana return her focus on repressing the element water.
 But a strange feeling crept in. She frowned. Something was off. Something was wrong. Morgana closed her eyes and clenched her fists. She tried to repress the element from manifesting again, but the water refused to obey, it felt as if she were trying to stand against a riptide in the ocean. Morgana's head spun and she collapsed to her knees. 
"Fight it," hissed Alexander.
Trying to repress the water made her feel sick, unnatural. Why did it feel this way? Morgana thought back to the last time she'd used water, back when it had saved her from Elvenia. It hadn't been the enemy then, so why fight it? Her fists unclenched and she opened her eyes letting the element roar through her veins like a tsunami surging through a village. She tasted brine, as if she were standing on a cliff where waves crashed against the rocks below. Morgana stood up. 
"Have you got it under control?" Alexander frowned and stopped pacing. He smelled of stale dandelions.
 Morgana nodded and glanced over at Damon whose arms were folded over his leaf green tunic. The setting sun glinted over his hair like a faux halo. Morgana's jaw clenched as she thought of her parents being left to burn to death and the water changed with her mood. The scent of winter coiled through the air and the temperature plunged. Water from the bowl spilled out, crackling with frosty needles.
Why didn't Damon save my parents?
 Her anger made ice explode along the floors and walls, turning the training room into an icy cavern. Ice stalactites and stalagmites crowded the ceiling and floor like rows of teeth.
Damon and Alexander were wide-eyed as they surveyed the damage. 
 Morgana's breath rose in a mist and the chill prickled her skin. Frost coated the weapons and armor and the air smelled of snow. 
Damon's eyes narrowed and Morgana met him with a hard glare of her own. What struck her as strange was that she didn't feel sick or bad. The magic hadn't made her lose her mind, or tore her apart, like she'd been told it would if she stopped taking her elixir. It cemented the doubt in her heart. Especially since she'd confirmed that the elixir was filled with poison. 
Damon waved a hand, and the ice began to drip, it formed rivulets that streamed into a single orb that floated in the air. His cheeks were pink with exertion as he compressed all the water and placed it back into the bowl.