Bitter Elixir

Hearing Hector's words, Zane responded with a smile, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. But that smile reached deep into his eyes.

Celine was taken aback; the conversation seemed to have veered off track. She preferred to be decisive, but hesitating like this wasn't going to get anywhere. "Mr. Hawthorne, my ancestral home is in Aldoria, and I..."

"The medicine's here," Kael came in holding a bowl o