I should move away. I shouldn’t give in. The mantra goes around and around in my head.
But it doesn’t stop me from leaning in just a little as he explains in that playful, knowledgeable tone of his.
'This one is the same as you smelled earlier for megrims. This one is for dizziness and lethargy. The last two are ingredients I need for a healing draft and for a healing salve.'
He presses a little closer, his voice somehow deeper, even more alluring. I can feel the heat of his body despite the clothes between us.
Surely I’m just imagining it.
‘Oh,’ I whisper noncommittally, and, when my eyes find his face, I see that he’s staring.
Our eyes meet, and he leans in. I do as well. We’re so close, just a little further.
No!
I step back and ignore how close our lips were to meeting.
Instead, I turn away and we leave the healer's rooms together quickly, with purpose.Wordlessly. We go out to the street via the apothecary. I walk beside Jak, trying to steady my heaving breaths and take my mind off the past few moments.
The silence between us stretches out awkwardly and for once I want to fill it. I say the first thing that comes to mind.
‘Was Mayson the one who?—’
‘Yes,’ Jak interrupts.
‘Did Morgan?—’
He nods. ‘He can’t hurt you again.’
The conversation ends abruptly, but as we walk in the open air, my mind begins to clear, and I don’t think about what almost happened. I refuse to. I try to forget it and act normally.
Some of the villagers we meet in the street don't even move out of my way now. One even waves at me and it really does seem as if they're becoming used to my presence.
When we get to the Trading Post, Jak is waylaid by an elderly man with a cane asking about a burn salve. The hatch is wide open, so I walk straight in ahead of him, eager to do this myself.But when I get to the front, Tavish himself is there, scratching in a ledger. I hesitate as he looks up and openly sneers.
'The Dark Realmer,' he mutters with a roll of his eyes. As I near, he snatches the small parchment from my fingers.
'I don't have any of these,' he says, not even glancing at it, and throwing the list back in my face.
My eyes widen as I pick up the paper from the floor.
'There's no need to be rude,' I say angrily, unwilling to let anyone treat me as if I'm a slave any longer.
'I don't give a fuck,' he snarls low.
I hear a small gasp behind me, and I realize it's Claudia with little Orlan by her side.
'My apologies, Claudia,' Tavish says with a small bow. 'The Dark Realmer was just leaving.’ He gives me a scathing look. ‘You know how they are.'
Claudia surveys Tavish with an expression of such revulsion on her face that I’m glad it isn’t directed at me.
'This woman is a healer, and she has been naught but kind and accommodating since she came here. What sort of people are we if we don't change our minds when something or someone is different than we expected? We are all human. And the fire was two years ago. And, anyway, you're the main tradesman of Halsford as well as a member of the Council, not some stranger or traveler. You hold a respected position, Tavish. You should not be using what authority you have to be speaking ill of those who have been given leave to remain here,’ she sneers, turning away and taking her list with her.
She gives me a determined nod.
‘Please tell your wife that I’ll see her for tea tomorrow morning as usual,’ she calls over her shoulder to the merchant. ‘Perhaps you should ask Bryn for a tincture for her as she was complaining of women’s troubles yesterday.’
I blink after the woman, taken aback. No one has been so overtly kind to me since I came here, and none of the villagers have stood up for me before. Jak and Morgan were right. If I show the people here who I am, they’ll want me here.
