Cmnf - Fantasy _verified_

Without the Tithe, crops would wither. Without the Tithe, the boundary walls against the Howling Wood would collapse. Without the Tithe, a woman’s own untamed magic would burn her from the inside out by her thirtieth year.

He reached into his desk and pulled out a simple linen shift—unbleached, undyed, soft as milkweed. “Put this on.” cmnf fantasy

At sixteen, she was sent to the capital, Verid Lux, to serve as a font —a living magical battery—for the Royal Collegium of Arcanists. She was assigned to Master Kellus, a gaunt man with spectacles and a kind, tired face. He wore a high-collared robe of midnight blue, stitched with silver threads that mapped constellations. Elara stood before him in his tower study, naked as a peeled apple, shivering despite the hearth. Without the Tithe, crops would wither