Caught Up In The Prince's Rivalry With His Brother (Choose Your Path)
The Apothecary, Chapter 3: "The Test"
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The Apothecary is an interactive story in which your choices determine your fate. Don’t read the sections in order. At the end of each section, make your choice and click on the corresponding link to be taken to your next section. Will you choose to save the duke from a fairy curse, or will you aid the prince in a darker quest?
Start Here: The Prince’s Demand
(continued from Chapter 2)
You can’t evade the prince’s demand. He expects you to give him the potion as soon as you’ve brewed it.
The prince’s low voice buzzes in your mind: “Bring the potion to me.” Is it the antidote he wants, or is it your company?
You remember his fingers trailing over your palm…
His golden gaze flashes through your mind, even while it’s his brother you should be concerned with. The duke needs an antidote to the fairy curse.
And yet, you won’t be able to help him if you can’t earn enough money to pay the town council fees for your shop.
A shadow passes over the doorway to your apothecary, breaking you from your reverie. “I hear you’re promising miracles to your customers,” a man says.
He wears the heavy apron of a shop worker. “One lucky potion and you’ve convinced the town you can cure all. And yet, I hear you haven’t paid your council fees.”
With as courteous a voice as you can manage, you answer, “I still have time to make the money.”
He smirks. “You’re not fit to run an apothecary. You don’t have the experience for it.”
His words rankle you, but you work not to show emotion. “My father disagrees. He left me in charge.”
“Your father had no right to leave the apothecary to you,” the man barks. “You don’t have nearly enough training.” He surveys your shop with a gloating eye. “I’ve already told the town council that they should let me take charge here.”
He’s struck a nerve, but now your anger is starting to rise. “And who are you?” you snap.
“My father runs the apothecary down the lane. He’s trained me and my brothers well enough to run both shops.”
“The town council meets in two weeks,” he says. “They’ll decide then whether you or I should run this shop, important as it is to the town to get their medicines.”
Before you can protest, he veers out of the shop. Your anger boils as hot as the beetroot currently bubbling in your cauldron.
Would the town council really give your shop over to someone else? It’s happened before, when a physician proved too careless to keep his patients well.
There’s no time to think of it now, when you must brew your potion.
In Chapter 2, which ingredient did you show to the prince?
A feather for the duke’s cure. Go to Antidote.
A butterfly for a customer’s beauty potion. Go to Butterfly.
Torn
You’ve never considered that the prince might wish to return to the fairy realm. He was raised here, in the human realm, and has always seemed to glory in his station, wearing the finest clothes and attending all manner of courtly events.
“But you are half-human,” you say. “This is your home as much as the fairy realm is.”
“Only half-human,” he says bitterly, “and yet trapped in this human realm for so many years now.”
His words spark surprise, but you stay quiet, hoping he’ll reveal more.
Go to The Shadow of Magic.
Practical
Plumes of blue-black smoke rise from the cauldron. You rush for the door, craving clean air.
Too late. The acrid fumes overpower you.
As you fall to the floor, you knock over the beauty potion as well. The vial shatters.
With no potion to please the prince, and none to save the duke, you fear you’ve failed. You’ll never know what intrigue awaited you at the castle.
Perhaps you should have stirred the potion with the feather…
Go to Visionary.
The Castle Summons
When you present yourself at the castle, your anxiety is eclipsed by awe. Here, weathered stone and carved pillars stand side by side with delicate fairy arches.
It seems the mere presence of the fairy queen is enough to change this human place into something half-enchanted.
You’re led to a hall where the sunlight in the high windows turns the vaulted ceiling to gold. “My new apothecary has arrived,” chimes a voice.
The prince slips out from beneath an archway and stands where the sunlight makes his golden eyes flash.
“And the potion?” His gaze roves over you and finally lights on the vial in your hand.
“Just as you asked. What will you do with it?”
“I thought I might ask my brother.” The prince shifts his gaze toward an ornate chair.
There sits the duke, shadowed by a pillar. He shifts, and a shaft of sunlight falls on his drawn face.
The black mark of the fairy curse now snakes around his neck and shadows his jawline, as though it would strangle him. His gaze finds yours, and you read pain in his eyes.
Instinctively, you step toward him, ready to deliver the antidote he needs. He shakes his head.
You turn to the prince and say, “The duke isn’t well. Perhaps I can help.”
“You have a high opinion of your skills as an apothecary,” the prince says. “But so does the duke, I hear.”
You tense in alarm. The prince knows that the duke asked for your help?
The prince steps close and brushes his hand along the side of your face. “Don’t be so concerned. I brought you here to help him.”
His touch only makes you more nervous. You shy away from him.
He laughs, amused by your reaction. “Give him the potion you brought.” The prince’s gaze falls on the vial in your hand, the one that holds…
The beauty potion the prince told you to bring to the castle? Go to Captivated.
The antidote the prince told you to bring to the castle? Go to Inspirited.
Restricted
You’ve had your fill of the prince’s mocking smiles. Your skills as an apothecary aren’t meant to serve his amusement.
“Why not return to the fairy realm, if this place bores you?” you say, failing to keep the challenge from your voice. “Surely a prince can do as he pleases.”
The prince’s gaze goes heavy as he turns it on you. “No,” he says quietly. “That is rarely true.”
Go to The Shadow of Magic.
Antidote
You made the choice to show the prince the lark’s feather. Now he expects you to give him the rare antidote that was meant for his brother, the duke who suffers under a fairy curse.
You can only hope he’ll pass the cure to the duke.
Wracked with nerves, you study your father’s instructions for brewing a healing potion: “Oil of rosemary, shredded beetroot, feather of rare lark–stir clockwise.”
Add the feather to the brew and stir with a spoon? Go to Practical.
Stir the brew with the feather? Go to Visionary.
Inspirited
“You’re here because it’s my brother who caught your attention,” the prince says, amused. “He says you promised to save him.”
You step close to the duke as you slip the antidote from your bag. He looks up at you, his face lined with pain. You slip the antidote into his hand, and hope sparks in his gaze.
Before the prince can stop him, the duke drinks the antidote from the vial you passed to him. He sputters, coughs.
Nothing more seems to happen. His face is still drawn. The mark of the fairy curse still shadows his skin.
A slow smile spreads across the prince’s face. “Even a skilled apothecary has her limits, I see.”
He turns to you, and in his piercing gaze you find a warning. “It seems you cannot help the duke. You may leave.”
He knew all along that your potions will not stop a fairy curse. He brought you here to make you see that.
Your face burning, you turn and leave.
Go to The Castle Steps.
Demur
You drop your gaze, guarding yourself against this dazzling enchantment.
“Your skill is proven,” the prince says, admiring the sculpted marble of his arms. “You have impressed me.”
While he’s distracted, you slip the antidote from your bag and press it into the duke’s hand. Hope sparks in his gaze.
“But what do you have in your hand, brother?” The prince steps toward the duke.
Before the prince can stop him, the duke drinks the antidote from the vial you passed to him. He sputters, coughs.
Nothing more seems to happen. His face is still drawn. The mark of the fairy curse still shadows his skin.
A slow smile spreads across the prince’s face. “Even a skilled apothecary has her limits, I see.”
He turns to you, and in his piercing gaze you find a warning. “It seems you cannot help the duke. You may leave.”
He knew all along that your potions will not stop a fairy curse. He brought you here to make you see that.
Before you turn to leave, you lean and whisper to the duke, “I’ll find a way.”
Go to The Castle Steps.
Visionary
As the feather ruffles the surface of the potion, the medicine turns to brilliant blue.
You imagine yourself slipping the vial into the duke’s hands, imagine his grateful glance as he drinks the potion…
But you still don’t know what plans his brother the prince has for you.
Go to The Castle Summons.
Captivated
“Give the duke the potion. Let’s see if it improves his spoiled looks.”
You grasp the vial in your fingertips. The sunlight makes the beauty potion glow red as a pomegranate. “This isn’t the potion he needs.”
“You’re right,” the prince says. “The duke has no reason to improve his appearance for a mere commoner.”
Your face heats.
“Nevermind,” the prince says. “I’ll drink it myself.” He takes your wrist in one hand and unstoppers the vial with the other.
In one quick motion, he lifts your hand and pours the contents of the vial between his lips.
The sun seems to brighten in the windows. In a moment, the prince’s delicate fairy features turn more delicate still, even while his skin seems carved from marble. The strong line of his jaw sharpens, and his eyes turn to deepest gold, full of shifting lights that ensnare your thoughts.
Marvel openly at the prince’s beauty? Go to Admire.
Drop your gaze? Go to Demur.
The Castle Steps
How foolish you were to think that you could stop a fairy curse. If your father would only return…
You gaze regretfully at branches veiled with blossoms like the very ones drying in your shop. You’ve tried to live up to your father’s reputation, but there’s still so much to learn.
The clatter of boots on the steps behind you makes you turn. The prince has come after you. To gloat?
“Forgive me,” he says, his golden eyes gleaming with mockery. “It’s been so long since I had any real amusement. But I can see I’ve upset you.”
“You asked me here so that you could laugh at me.”
“What’s the harm in a little fun?” he replies. “And you are very fun to toy with.”
He comes closer. You feel the cool of moss and stone at your back.
You look up at him and ask, “You don’t care that your brother suffers?”
“He isn’t the only one who suffers.” The prince reaches to scrape moss from the damp stone. “This place is dreary…
“I would rather return to the land of fairy,” the prince says, his voice heavy, “than to stay here in the human realm.”
Your reply mentions…
The fairy realm? Go to Restricted.
His half-human nature? Go to Torn.
Butterfly
You can’t evade the prince’s demand. He expects you to give him the rare beauty potion you’ve brewed.
Which means you won’t be able to sell it to the customer you’ve promised it to.
And yet… you can’t help imagining the prince’s expression when you show him the potion you’ve managed to brew.
His golden gaze flashes through your mind, even while it’s his brother you should be concerned with. At least you can still brew the antidote the duke needs.
Wracked with nerves, you study your father’s instructions for brewing a healing potion: “Oil of rosemary, shredded beetroot, feather of rare lark–stir clockwise.”
Add the feather to the brew and stir with a spoon? Go to Practical.
Stir the brew with the feather? Go to Visionary.
Admire
You can’t help but marvel openly at the prince’s beauty.
“Do I impress you?” the prince asks, lifting a hand to admire his marble skin. “You impress me, as well.”
Your heart beats fast. But in your simple dress, stained and splashed with potions, you realize he can’t possibly mean that it’s your appearance that catches his attention.
“Your skill is proven,” he says, and the compliment makes you glow with pleasure. “But don’t tell me you didn’t bring something here for my brother?”
He knows the duke asked you to brew an antidote. Before the prince can object, you slip the antidote from your bag and press it into the duke’s hand. Hope sparks in his gaze.
Greedily, the duke drinks the antidote from the vial you passed to him. He sputters, coughs.
Nothing more seems to happen. His face is still drawn. The mark of the fairy curse still shadows his skin.
A slow smile spreads across the prince’s face. “Even a skilled apothecary has her limits, I see.”
He turns to you, and in his piercing gaze you find a warning. “It seems you cannot help the duke. You may leave.”
He knew all along that your potions will not stop a fairy curse. He brought you here to make you see that.
Before you turn to leave, you lean and whisper to the duke, “I’ll find a way.”
Go to The Castle Steps.
The Shadow of Magic
The prince pauses, perhaps weighing how much to say to you. He stands so close you wonder if he can feel you shivering in his cool shade.
“I dream of the fairy realm’s beauty every night,” he says. “But the queen forbids me from returning there.”
“Why does she forbid it?”
“I am half-human. I can’t return to the fairy realm without her help. And she would rather remain here, where her rank is greater. Here she is a queen, because she was able to catch the heart of the king. In the fairy realm, she has no rank.”
All of his mirth and mockery is gone now. You lean toward him, if only to escape the frigid stone at your back.
But he suddenly pulls away. “I know my brother has helped you find certain rare ingredients for your potions.”
“But anything touched by fairy magic is mine by right,” he says. “If I catch you using such ingredients again, I’ll bring you before the queen.”
You shrink back at the thought. The prince smiles. “And the queen won’t be pleased.”
End of Chapter 3.
Read the next chapter? Go to Chapter 4.
Return to the beginning? Go to Start Here: The Prince’s Demand.
Come back soon for Chapter 4: The Fairy Queen. The fairy queen’s hold on the duke grows stronger, but her power over the prince is just as poisonous.
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