A stuffed unicorn head, with a wooden heart impaled upon its horn, hung outside our family apothecary.
My great-grandmother sat black shawl-wrapped in a shadowy corner of the shop, amongst gleaming bottles of curling herbs. “Your great-grandfather was a fearless explorer who searched the Hidden Isles for rare and powerful plants. On a mountain top one dawn, he was startled by a wild, goat-eyed unicorn. He shot his musket, but the horned beast’s dying desire was his death.”
“And his pierced heart hangs on the sign outside?”
She wiped a tear from her lashes. “No, my dear. That is mine.”
Author bio: Lucy Underhill lives in London with her partner and a chug named Dolly.
Courage is part of 101 Fiction issue 18.
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