She got up, grabbed her jacket, and exited the lodge, leaving the door open just long enough that Midnight could follow her.
“You’d better hurry,” Eden said. “She isn’t good at waiting.”
“I’m starting to get that.” Harper flashed a smile as she stepped towards the door. “Nice to meet you, Eden.”
Eden’s face went red again. But her smile stayed put, growing slightly as she gave Harper a small wave.
“Thanks for showing me the way.” Harper had to almost run to catch up with Angela’s brisk pace. “I didn’t realize you were out here. Maya didn’t mention.”
Angela kept her eyes forward, leading them between two cabins and along a cleared path in the snow.
“Aleksander wanted to make sure the arcane equipment I made for him is still functional and recharge the ones that aren’t.”
“Sounds complicated.”
“It isn’t.”
Angela went silent again. A silence that felt rather needling based on Angela’s curt tone.
“And Eden?” Harper asked. Angela’s tense expression faded for a second.
“She’s my apprentice. I wanted her to stay in Chicago, but she doesn’t like being alone for long periods of time. I’ll be out here for at least a week.”
Angela’s jaw ticked. She sped up, her long legs outpacing Harper with no effort. Not counting the pointed glances inside the lodge, she hadn’t looked at Harper once.
“Do you have a problem with me or something?” Harper asked sharply. Angela sneered.
“What makes you think that?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe it’s all the tension in the air. The terse responses, too. And the glaring. If I did something to upset you, I’d rather you said it to my face instead of seething about it.”
“You didn’t upset me,” Angela said tightly. “You upset Maya.”
Harper’s annoyance deflated in a heartbeat. Rather than anger burning in her chest, shame took over, slinking into place with practiced ease.
“I know. I got kind of stuck in my head for a while. And I told her I was sorry.”
“Saying sorry isn’t good enough. Maya hasn’t had it easy. There are very few people who even bother getting to know her, and almost all of them cut her off, with no warning, the moment they heard the rumors. You may not have realized, but going silent on her from one day to the next was the most hurtful thing you could have done.”
Harper hadn’t thought about that. Willfully so, maybe.
When they were together, nothing mattered other than the two of them. Because of that, Harper kept forgetting about the elephant in the room that everyone other than her could see. That Maya’s easy charms shielded a past so filled with terror that everyone ran away from it.
“I didn’t know that,” Harper said. “Maya hasn’t shared anything. About what she’s gone through.”
Harper hurried on when Angela opened her mouth.
“I’m not asking you to tell me. I don’t want to know.”
Angela slowed to a halt. “You don’t?”
“No. Well, I do, but… I don’t want to hear what everyone else thinks. Whatever she went through, I don’t need to know it right now. I can wait until she’s ready to tell me.”
Angela’s eyes narrowed. Not in disapproval like before, but in surprise.
“Then why did you stop talking to her? If it wasn’t because of the rumors?”
Harper crossed her arms, shrugging. “It’s complicated.”
