Sweet & Bitter Magic by Adrienne Tooley (best ereader for textbooks .txt) 📕

Tamsin admired her sister and her certainty. She was so sure she wanted to walk through the trees and leave Within behind. The same thing that had felt like punishment to Tamsin was freedom to Marlena.

“I’ll just need a few supplies. Some food and clothing and coin to secure my passage on a ship.”

Vera pursed her lips. “I don’t like the idea of you venturing out there on your own, no magic to defend yourself.”

“We’ll go with her,” Tamsin said quickly. “Just to the docks,” she clarified, in hopes of softening Marlena’s questioning glare. “To see her off. There’s one other thing we need to do out there in the world Beyond. Will you grant us a bit of time before Wren starts her training as a source?”

“I suppose the Coven may need some time to warm up to the idea of your return.” Vera nodded hesitantly. “But do not dally. There’s a lot to be done before life can continue on as planned. The earth needs us. And we need the ordinary folk to trust us again.” Vera held out her hand. “Now give me your arm.”

Tamsin pushed up her left sleeve. The pale skin was blotchy and scarred where Vera had burned off her mark. Tamsin had never fixed it. She had thought it her due punishment for letting her sister down. Marlena had died, and Tamsin was scarred. It had felt fitting. Yet even as Tamsin glanced at her sister, determined and full of life, she found she did not want to lose the memory of what had been. The forgiveness she still needed to earn. How grateful she was now.

“Perhaps the other one, then,” Tamsin said, offering it up. Her mother nodded, tracing her finger across her daughter’s skin.

Black ink followed her touch, arranging itself in a swooping arc that took up half her forearm, topped by four circles, each intersecting the next. The Coven’s sigil settled into her skin.

A million tiny pinpricks welcomed Tamsin home.

Two days north of the Wood, they reached the docks and were able to secure Marlena passage on a ship to Kathos. She was going to find Amma’s family, the grandmother she’d always spoken of so fondly. She was going to build the life she’d always hoped for.

Their walk through the Wood had been eerily quiet. It was almost as though the trees had been holding their breath, waiting for the sisters to speak. Tamsin took her cues from Marlena. She didn’t want to tread on toes, to say something out of turn or make things even more complicated than they already were.

And they were complicated. Now that her curse was lifted, newly freed feelings buzzed about her like a swarm of bees. Each emotion was sharp and stinging, her attention pulled from hope to regret to adoration to embarrassment. She felt so much it was overwhelming. The leaves on the trees were so green they made her eyes ache. The breeze tickled her neck, distracting and delighting her. She had been born into the world anew.

But Tamsin’s newfound feelings didn’t negate her grief. She loved Marlena again, every piece of her sister, including the parts of her that were angry and hurt. Knowing that she was the reason for that hurt weighed on Tamsin. She wasn’t used to being wrong. Wasn’t used to consequences that lingered in her heart rather than her head. But she was living them now, reckoning with the fact that she had stolen so much from her sister. Given her a life she hadn’t consented to live.

But Marlena—though her edges had softened since the bond had broken—had given no indication she had anything to say. And so all three of them had walked in silence through the hush of the trees, Wren darting nervous glances between the sisters.

As they walked, the trees offered them no horrors. There were no shrieks or shouts. The silence was punishment enough.

When they had exited the Wood, Marlena had not looked back. And now, as they stood on the dock, Tamsin realized that she was the one who would be left behind.

“I suppose this is it, then.” Marlena tried to smile, but her hands were in her hair, tying the strands into a hundred tiny knots. She was nervous, even if she didn’t want to show it. “Good-bye.” She bit her lip and turned away.

Tamsin stood, frozen to the ground. She couldn’t watch her sister sail away with that as the final word between them. It couldn’t be over. Not with so many things still unspoken.

Wren clearly felt similarly. She shoved Tamsin forward so hard she tripped, stubbing her toe on the worn, weathered wood of the dock.

“Marlena.” Tamsin used her sister’s shoulder to steady herself.

Marlena put a hand on Tamsin’s elbow, almost absentmindedly, righting her. “I have to go,” she said, gently untangling herself from her sister’s grip.

Tamsin glanced pointedly down the dock, where the crew was still loading the ship, tossing sacks and rolling barrels into the storeroom. “It looks like you might have a minute. Please.”

Marlena sighed softly but nodded. She stared at Tamsin expectantly.

“This belongs to you.” Tamsin held out the diary, her fingers lingering on the worn leather cover. “I wish I had read it earlier. I wish I had known long ago what you truly thought of me. I never should have gotten us into this mess.”

Tamsin cleared her throat, still surprised by the prickle in the corners of her eyes. “I know you told me not to apologize, but I’m sorry, Marlena. I’m sorry for not seeing you for more than who I wanted you to be. I failed you. And you have every right to hate me for it.”

Marlena flipped idly through the diary. “I never hated you, you know. Not truly.” She looked up from the pages to her sister. “I just never wanted to be you. You wanted us to be the same, and I felt like I was always