Embarrassed, I glared at him to stop. “Sorry about him. Please ignore the cat.”
Edwin didn’t look concerned. “We get lots of stray cats around the barn too.”
Adriel stepped inside next, trailing behind her father. To my surprise, as Edwin headed back toward the kitchen, she briefly paused in the entryway, crouching down to give Nix a quick paton the head. He purred loudly. Evidently, his suspicion of Edwin didn’t extend to his daughter.
Our conversation got off to a slow start, filled with frequent pauses, each of which lasted just a touch too long to be comfortable. I was, however, eager for news about the people living in Dewwick Village, many of whom I met or interacted with during Kaylin’s house calls. Eventually, we fell into an easier rhythm, chatting about village news. Adriel, bored by the grown-up talk, soon drifted into a deep sleep, curled up in a chair by the fireplace.
Edwin, a social man, was happy to oblige my questions about everyone’s lives. He told me Rosemary Thorncrest was pregnant with her fourth child. I perked up at the news that Agatha Somners was now traveling into the city to sell her pottery. Apparently, she had become quite talented. Edwin’s hand shook with a slight tremor as he downed a large drink of water from his glass. I furrowed my brow. Was he ill? Surely, if Kaylin’s affliction was contagious, they would have caught it by now. Her dizziness and nausea progressed rapidly into difficulty breathing, but her cause of death was never officially determined.
“Are you feeling alright, Edwin?” I asked, concerned. “Do you have everything you need at the farm?”
The look he gave me was tinged with guilt. “I feel fine. Yes, I have everything I need.”
“And Adriel? Does she have everything she needs?”
Edwin clenched his glass, knuckles turning white. “You can’t take her from me.”
“What?” I repeated dumbly. All the air left the room, tension filling its place.
“I. Will. Not. Let. You. Take. Her.” He enunciated each word, a hard edge to his voice.
I tried to give him a reassuring smile, but all I could manage was a queasy grimace. “You have my word, Edwin. I will leave your daughter alone. I promise. It’s the same promise I made to Kaylin—and I don’t intend to break it. You have nothing to worry about.”
I wasn’t even sure when I was supposed to take an apprentice… Or how to select the best person to continue the line. Juniper grabbed Kaylin when she was ten years old, just like she’d grabbed me. However, I certainly wasn’t ready to raise a child. I kept my eyes trained on Edwin’s hands, which were shaking uncontrollably.What would happen if he didn’t believe me?
Edwin reached for something in his pocket, placing it between us.
A knife clattered to the table.
My whole body stilled.
“You should know…a man offered me a handsome price to kill you.” He gulped down the remainder of his water. “I’m…I’m ashamed to admit…” He burrowed his face in his hands, a soft sob tearing from his throat. “I considered it. Just now…I considered it. Adriel is all I have left. The only thing I have left.” His voice wavered, thick with emotion. “What’s wrong with me?”
I felt oddly detached. A loud roaring noise filled my ears. Icy tendrils slowly spread through my veins.
He came to kill me?
Nix jumped onto the table. “Ask him about the man.”
Edwin recoiled in surprise.
I did as he instructed, my voice hollow. “What did he look like, Edwin? This man?”
“Hmm?” He frowned, a glassy-eyed look on his face. “I…I can’t seem to remember.”
Had somebody glamoured him?The Fae were capable of altering a memory. There was a time when they delighted insuch trickery. But Edwin lived in Solaris, where such offenses were harshly punished. There were protections in place. And the humans living there had a degree of immunity to such magics now anyway, after sharing the same land for generations.
Adriel shifted in her chair, murmuring softly, “I remember, Papa. He smelled like fresh rain.”
Edwin exhaled with a deep groan. “I’m so sorry…but maybe it’s better that you know.”
“Know what?”
“You have enemies, Elvira.”
Edwin rose from his chair, gathering Adriel into his strong arms before carrying her out the cottage door.
He left the knife behind when he departed.
