Earth: Daughter of Nature, #4

By L.C. Mawson

Finding my sister was one thing, keeping her alive is another...

I expected a fight when I found my sister, not to find her next to death. Now I'm on a time limit to save her, and I've already exhausted every option in front of me.

Well, except for trying to yet another teacher from yet another magical faction that no one is sure even exists any more...

 

If you love kick-ass heroines and magical adventures, you'll love EARTH, the fourth book in L.C. Mawson's new F/F urban fantasy series, Daughter of Nature.

 

Get it now!

• Language: English
• Publisher: L.C. Mawson
• Release date: Apr 26, 2023
• ISBN: 9798224251568

Book preview

Chapter One

Igroaned as I awoke and realised that everything still hurt like I’d been crushed by a steamroller.

I’d lost track of how long I’d been in the healing rooms back at the coven, barely able to stand. My sleep was erratic, so it wasn’t unusual for me to be up through the night and sleep through the day. Or through the day and night while the healers did their work to try to patch me up from the damage my sister’s scream had done.

Not that they understood the damage, which was part of why it was taking so long.

I reached for my phone, making use of the techniques Noah had been teaching me to ignore the pain. The healers had told me not to push through the pain, but I was bored, and I knew that once I had my phone propped up and all I had to do was scroll, it would calm down again.

Or, well, calm down as much as it ever had since our return.

The door to the room opened, and I had to stop myself from yelping as I turned my head too fast to see who it was.

You’re up! Dana said with a grin as she pushed the door open, holding a tray with two plates and two cups of coffee. I thought you might want some breakfast.

I smiled as she approached, ignoring the pain once again to push myself into a sitting position. I would love some breakfast.

In all honesty, I had no idea if I was hungry or not. The pain and exhaustion pushed pretty much everything away. But I knew that I needed food, and I was glad to see Dana, hoping that company would distract from the fact that my tolerance for textures and smells had completely disappeared. I refused to succumb to the urge to ask people to stop bringing me anything other than potato waffles and chicken nuggets to eat - I wasn’t six, after all - but I really wished that the food at the coven was a little less diverse.

Honestly, I would have settled for some macaroni cheese or a plain tomato sauce pasta. Or even a cheese pizza.

As usual, I got a gentle nudge from Noah, reminding me that I hadn’t exactly listed things that had a lot of fruit and veg.

Okay, fine, I would settle for them just not serving me courgettes again.

You know, I’m pretty sure they would accommodate that if you asked.

I knew that Noah would argue, so I didn’t articulate my thoughts, but I think he still got the gist that the thought of inconveniencing anyone was worse than forcing down food that made me gag.

Thankfully, Dana passed me a plate with white sourdough toast with avocado on top.

See, I can cope with some fruit and veg.

How did you sleep? I asked Dana in an effort to keep myself distracted as I took a bite of my toast.

Dana shook her head. I was dealing with these nightmares long before I met you, Poppy. You need to stop worrying about me and focus on recovering.

I rolled my eyes. You say that like worrying is something that I can just turn off.

She smiled. Okay, fair, I just... I just want to make sure that you’re focusing on getting better.

I am. It’s just... It’s not really something I can focus on. The healers tell me that I just need to ‘rest’ but I’m not going anywhere, so I don’t really know what else to do, which leads to worrying, about you and about...

Your sister?

I nodded as I picked up my mug and sipped at my coffee.

How is she? I eventually asked.

Dana sighed, focusing on her own coffee as she answered. The healers are doing everything they can, but... It’s not looking great. The healers are exhausting themselves just keeping her alive, and I think some of them are wondering if it’s worth the effort.

What? They can’t just let her die.

Poppy... She was already dead.

So were you.

She gripped her mug tighter, her knuckles turning white.

I had just meant to state a fact, not upset her, but...

Dana took a deep breath before finally looking up again. Okay, that’s a fair point. And I wasn’t saying that I agreed with them, and no one is going to let her die anyway.

So... It was just talk because people are exhausted? Nothing more?

Dana winced. I wish that I could say that that’s the case, but no. What they would have decided otherwise simply doesn’t matter because there’s a concern that if they left your sister to die, she wouldn’t actually die. I mean, she already came back from the dead. But if the poison won’t kill her... Well, who knows what it might do? She might turn into an elemental bomb or something. So, they’re going to keep trying to keep the poison from ‘killing’ her.

I took a deep drink of my coffee, ignoring the burning sensation as it went down. That truly was how they saw both of us, wasn’t it? A