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We don’t need him anyway. It’s slow.
Did Mother and Father leave?
Adeline nodded.Hours ago. While you were staring at the wall, brooding.
Tyr snorted.I don’t brood.
King of the Brooders.Adeline laughed with a distant look at the door.I miss her too. Maybe she’ll come back, and it will be like this never happened.
She’s not coming back, Addy.Tyr turned back toward the keg with a hard frown. He tried once more to tighten the spout, and it broke off in his hand, provoking a stunned giggle from Adeline. He shot her a look. “Fuck,” he whispered. To Addy he signed,Going to get the backup keg. Be right back.
The backup keg is broken.
I thought Evert fixed it.
She laughed again.
Tyr groaned.What about the spares?
Father took them to the storage shed.
You mean the one with the old well?
Adeline nodded.
Tyr scanned the thin crowd before looking back at his sister with a reluctant groan.I’ll go grab a couple. Scream if you need me.
I’m not an infant.She glowered.Go,or I will.
Ana shifted several yards from the tavern, landing beside a tucked-away shed that had fallen into disuse. It had once been the home of the town well, but the pulley system had been dismantled when toxic minerals had started coming up with the water. Villagers occasionally used the old structure as unofficial overflow storage for their businesses, but mostly it was a forgotten relic, making it one of the few places in town where she could take a moment to gather herself and find the concentration needed to hold her illusion.
The front side had a large doorless entrance, exposing the interior to the elements. The remaining three walls listed, rotting, one bad storm from total collapse. The top of the well had been sealed years ago, but time and decay had pushed the warped wooden disk halfway off the stone cylinder, and there it hung, matted in cobwebs, dust, and the neglect of several generations.It was going poor in my time,her grandmother had once said.Should just tear the whole thing down and start anew.
Ana stepped inside and bent down over her knees, catching her breath.
Her eyes closed as she let the force of the stone well support her. She breathed in fresh strength and exhaled unwelcome weakness. Again. Every day she was stronger. Every day she was weaker. Every day she learned another method to cope, to prevent her fragile world from toppling. Every day she teetered further and further over the edge of the threatening abyss.
“I am a warrior,” she whispered, channeling Grigor, but the sound of the words, trite and meaningless, made her laugh bitterly. She was no warrior. Speaking the wish aloud didn’t make it any more real than her fanciful dreams.
Boots crunching in snow preceded a furious “you havegotto be kidding me.”
Ana arrested mid-breath. Tyreste. He’d already spotted her, so there wasn’t time for illusion. Fighting a cringe, she glanced up and saw his hair mussed, cheeks glowing from the cold—and maybe anger. It was certainly in his eyes, wild with accusation.
“What are you doing here, Anastazja?”
Ana fiddled with her cloak clasp at her neck. She drew in a rough breath, directing her gaze slightly past him. “Nothing. I’ll go.” She averted her stare and pitched forward, attempting to pass, but he thrust an arm out, blocking her way. The force of her sudden stop caused her eyes to lift.
“What are youdoinghere?” he asked again. His contempt landed like a boulder.
She was close enough for his scent to transport her to happier times. Of fires and ale and a trace of something softer, entirely him. She’d inhaled it enough lying against his chest and tracing the words on his flesh that she could never say aloud, and never in a language he understood.Volemthe. Volemthe. Volemthe.“I was up the mountain, and I landed here to catch my breath.” It wasn’t a lie, and for that she felt a small stab of pride.
“Why here?” He sucked in a hissing breath that took hers. Every bone in her body ached to be near him. To peel his arm from the doorless frame and wrap it around her, disappearing into the only safe place she’d ever known.
“It’s just... It’s where I landed,” she said weakly. “I didn’t know you’d be here. I didn’t expect to see anyone at all.”
Tyreste’s arm tightened on the frame as he laughed, his muscles flexing under the thick fabric. “Why don’t I believe you?”
“You don’t have to believe me.” Ana braced and tried to duck under his arm, but he corralled her farther in and backed her against the well. She bent backward with a light gasp, which made him retreat a step.
