Page 38 of Healing Elixirs & Wicked Crows

"Rosemary, don't listen to it," Elias warned, but his voice seemed distant compared to the echo's honeyed tones.

"Look what you could become," the echo continued."No more failed attempts.No more watching loved ones die while you scramble for ingredients.You could be a true healer."

The vision was beautiful, tempting.I rose, drawn by promises of unlimited healing power.But something in Elias's desperate tone cut through the haze.

"Princess, look at me."

I turned and saw his face had gone pale, his eyes wide with hunger.While I'd been entranced by visions of healing power, he was staring at something else entirely.

"What do you see?"I asked, suddenly afraid.

"Freedom," he whispered, voice thick with longing."I see my brother freed from his curse.I see him as he was meant to be, unmarked, unbound.A life where he doesn't have to suffer for what our mother made him."

In the clearing, I could see his vision overlapping with mine.A perfect version of Elias stood there, beautiful and unmarked, but there was something cold in this version's eyes, something empty.

"All you have to do is embrace your true nature," the echo whispered to him."Stop fighting what you are.Accept the power that is your birthright."

Elias took a step toward the clearing, and panic shot through me.The echo was using our deepest desires against us, luring us in to feast on our life force.

"Elias, no!"I grabbed his arm.It was my turn to pull him back from the brink."It's lying to you.That's not freedom, that's just another kind of prison."

But he was partially under the spell, eyes fixed on the perfect version of himself."You don't understand.You don't know what it's like to be trapped in your own body."

"You're right," I said, desperation making my voice stronger."But I know you.And the man I know wouldn't trade his soul for a perfect body."

The echo's laughter drifted across the clearing, cold and hungry."How touching.But what can she offer compared to what I can give?She's just a failed healer who can't even save her own sister."

The words hit like physical blows, but I pushed past the pain."You want to know what I can offer you?"I called out."I can offer you the truth.That perfect version of you?Look closer.Really look."

Elias paused, and I pressed my advantage."Do you see love in his eyes?Do you see the capacity for joy, for wonder, for connection?Or do you just see emptiness?"

The echo hissed, its form becoming more visible, a writhing mass of shadow and starlight."Silence, little healer.You know nothing of power."

"You're right," I said, standing to face the creature directly."I know nothing of the kind of power you're offering.Because real power doesn't come from embracing darkness or accepting perfection.It comes from choosing to love someone exactly as they are, flaws and curses and all."

I looked at Elias, who had stopped at the clearing's edge."I love your scars because they show your strength.I love your tattoos because they’re part of who you are.I love your darkness because you choose to fight it every day.That perfect version?He's never had to make those choices.He's never had to be brave."

"She's lying," the echo snarled."Love is weakness."

"Then why are you so afraid of it?"I challenged."If love is so weak, why do you need to separate us to feed?"

The echo recoiled, and I reached out my hand toward Elias."Come back to me.Choose the real over the perfect.Choose us over everything else."

For a moment, I thought I'd lost him.But then Elias looked at me, really looked, I saw the moment he remembered who he was.

"You're right," he said, stepping back."That's not me.That's not who I want to be."

He took my outstretched hand, and the moment our fingers touched, the echo shrieked in fury.The visions shattered like broken glass, revealing the creature's true form.

"You could have had everything!"it snarled, lunging toward us."But you're too late anyway.Look what your delay has cost!"

The echo's form shifted, and suddenly I was seeing through its eyes, visions of other places, other victims.A seelie child in the Eastern provinces, falling into cursed sleep just days ago.A family of earth fae, three generations struck down simultaneously.Village after village, the curse spreading faster than wildfire.

"It’s not just Briar," I realized with growing horror."She's been using Briar's curse as a template, spreading it everywhere while I've been focused on one flower."

"The Daemonacus isn't just meant to save your sister," Elias said, understanding dawning in his eyes."It's meant to create an antidote that can reverse all of them.That's why the queen is so determined to stop us, we’re not just saving one person, we're threatening to undo decades of her work."

"We already have everything," I said firmly to the echo, its shadowed silhouette forever flickering in our peripheral but now I understood the true stakes."And we're going to use it to save everyone."