Kingdom of Ash and Briars by Hannah West (100-page Excerpt)

silent the entire journey. “Thousands have touched the Water and died. Do you know how many have lived in the last few centuries, girl?”

The fear latching onto my stomach got an even fiercer grip and twisted hard. I had heard stories of the Water, a pool that lay deep in the forest, deadly to most who dared touch it.

Amid my shuddering, I barely managed to nod my head. But I knew. Everyone knew about Brack and Tamarice.

“Two,” he said, holding fingers up as his cold blue eyes bore into mine from underneath severe black brows. “Of all those people, only two were worthy to receive an elicrin stone. This bloke thinks you may be the third— I think he’s a fool.”

“I tell you, Trumble, I’ve seen her do magic!” Hagan said.

“Magic?” I asked in disbelief. “I don’t know the first thing about magic. If I did, do you think I would be the cook’s help?

And wouldn’t I have escaped by now?”

“Don’t lie, brat,” Hagan snarled. He shivered and brought his hood up to cover his bright red hair. “Maybe you can’t control it, but I know what I saw.”

“Plenty of folks can do small magic, Hagan,” said Elwood.

“Every proper household in the three kingdoms has a fairy these days, and they’re good for nothing but chores and parlor tricks. The cook herself is said to be a witch. I bet every last one of them would turn belly-up in the Water, and this one here doesn’t even claim to be their kind.”

“Wouldn’t that be nice,” said Trumble, the cold one with the blue eyes, breaking branches the size of my neck and tossing them onto the fire. “Throw all the witches in with their worthless brews and incantations. If every thesar wasted on that horse dung came to me, I’d be the richest man in Nissera.” b 4 c