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“Wehna—”
I raise my head and fix the most paradoxical smile I can manage. “They always said not to hold too tightly to this world.” My voice quavers strangely through the last two words. I swallow. “I guess they are putting their faith into practice.”
He shuts his mouth, a frown throwing his deep-set eyes into even further shadow. “I’m sure they wouldn’t have left you if they thought there was any chance they would not be coming back.”
Closing the final drawer, I look back at him reluctantly, not even able to pretend to smile anymore. “I guess we can’t know, can we?” My breaths grow shallow, and the panic I’ve worked hard to mask over the last few weeks rises to the surface. If Bryn were to offer words of comfort right now, I’m certain I would lose every last ounce of self-control.
“Whot ye got there, love?” A hunched, beggarly woman walks up to my cart and invades my personal space, mercifully sparing me from a complete emotional breakdown.
The odor surrounding her assaults my senses, and it is almost impossible to keep from reacting. “Ye peddlin’ some more baubles?” she asks in her abrasive tone, one wide eye fixed determinedly on me.
Remembering that I would like to earn a bit of arlum if I can, I pull open some of the drawers. “Yes. Please, look.”
Without hesitating, she snatches a bracelet and holds it high, fingering the carved beads. They are in the shape of leaves. Bryn lifts a hand and opens his mouth like he is concerned she’s going to make off with it, but I give him a subtle shake of the head.
“Do you like that one?” I ask instead, taking a small step back so I don’t make her feel like I’m hovering. And to hopefully put myself in the path of a breath of fresh air.
“Oh, it’s love-a-ly. Just alove-a-ly,” she croons. “Gots me a matching piece, I do.” She digs into the front of her stained frock and pulls out a long necklace.
My jaw drops. The green beads are identical to the one on the bracelet.
“Where did you get that?” I ask, now doubting my first inclination to trust the woman.
She smiles, revealing a mouth full of rotting teeth. “Well, it was ye who gave it to me, wasn’t it?”
I reach for the bracelet, and she pulls it back beside her ear and scowls.
“Now, now, dearie, don’ ye say ye be forgettin’.”
Heat climbs up the back of my neck. “I don’t remember because I didn’t do it.” In my peripheries, I see Bryn step closer.
“Perhaps you are mistaken, ma’am,” he says.
She tightens her fist around the bracelet and brings it under her chin. “I ain’t crazy, if that what ye be thinkin’.”
“No one said that.” Bryn holds a palm out to ease her.
“I remember ye and that husband of yers.” She fixes her eyes on me again. “Ye were always kind to me. Whot happened to him, I wonder?”
I think I understand.
“Could you possibly be thinking of my mother?” I ignore the way my throat wrings at the mention of her.
Her eyes narrow, and she comes far too close to search my face. I hold my breath.
“Whot, it weren’t ye tha’ brought me food when I was nigh to death?” Confusion clouds her already clouded eyes. “It weren’t ye tha’ pressed this jewel in me hand?”
I shake my head slowly, chewing on my bottom lip.
She gives an abrasive sniff, then puffs out a stale breath. “Nah, it weren’t ye.”
I smile weakly, relieved her memory is returning.
“It weren’t ye I seen lyin’ side by side on the road with a man. It weren’t ye I seen with the life drained right out of ye.”
I go cold from the roots of my hair to the tips of my toes and slump to the side. Firm arms hold me upright.
“Wha ... what did you say?” I whisper.
