Well there was the confirmation, then. The other elf, Allistair, hesitated, but finally nodded, and Crispin’s mother walked away from the others, coming to stand before us.
Ignoring me, she looked at Crispin. “This way.” She jerked her chin toward the path.
With that cold look in her blue eyes, I wasn’t sure if we should follow her, and Crispin seemed frozen to the spot.
“Walk,” she said, then did just that, turning down the path and clearly expecting us to follow.
I shook Crispin’s arm and he startled, then shook his head. Not meeting my eyes, he took my hand, then tugged me along to follow his mother.
Crispin kept close to my side as we passed more homes, most occupied with elves peeking out through curtains or over stone garden walls. The smell of both greenery and woodsmoke were thick in the air.
Crispin’s mother hustled along, boldly giving us her back. But maybe she knew that even after everything, Crispin wouldn’t lay a finger on her.
I, however, was still pretty pissed that she had sold him to a less than kind wizard as an apprentice. And Ididhave a sword.
She led us down a path made of hard-packed earth between a few small fields of crops. There was one more home at the end of the path, all on its own. A surrounding gate was closed and partially overgrown with brambles, not inviting any visitors.
Reaching the gate, Crispin’s mother jerked it wide open, fighting the overgrowth. A narrow foot path made it clear she usually only opened the gate wide enough for her to slip through. Once she had the gate as open as it would go, she continued toward the home.
I went next, then glanced back as Crispin entered, the slithering of vines catching my attention. The brambles all retreated at his touch, leaving the gate a little lopsided from lack of support.
Ahead of us, his mother opened her front door, then went inside.
I looked back toward the path we’d traveled, seeing a small crowd of elves gathered to watch us, but keeping their distance.
“The trees delivered the news to them,” Crispin explained, then gestured for me to head for the open door.
The trees? I would definitely be asking him more aboutthatlater.
We stepped inside, finding that the sitting room, dining area, and kitchen were all one modest room. It seemed a small space for someone who seemed to have some authority within the village, but maybe she liked it that way. Maybe after Crispin had destroyed his childhood home, she’d wanted something different.
I wondered if she was so cold because she blamed him for that loss, even though it hadn’t been his fault. Wild magic left untrained could be destructive. I had been learning a whole lot about that.
His mother waited near a small dining table with only two chairs, her arms crossed over her chest. “Why are you here?”
Crispin’s jaw twitched. “Eva, allow me to introduce you to my mother, Serentha.”
Serentha’s eyes narrowed.
“Eva is a celestial. She’s here to reopen the pathway.”
Not so much as a blink.
“Now is the part where you say,How wonderful! Welcome home, son!”
Serentha finally blinked, but that was it. “How about,sorry for destroying your home, mother?”
I shifted uncomfortably, feeling like I shouldn’t be witnessing any of this.
Crispin took my hand before I could think about stepping outside. His tone was defeated as he said, “We are here to repair the pathway. We just need to know if there’s anything dangerous here that might come through.”
Serentha’s eyes lowered to our joined hands, then drifted back up to Crispin’s face. “Only in the night.”
14
Ididn’t really like the idea of sticking around to see how dangerous nighttime was, but we needed to be sure before we returned to the others to repair the pathway.
But that wasn’t the only reason I’d convinced Crispin to wait. We could always explore further with the other guys along, but right now, Crispin clearly needed to work things out with his mother. Even if it was only to part ways for good, there was something within him that brought us here. He might not want to see it through, but I would.
