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“Mother–” Tarley started, annoyed, knowing all along this was how the conversation would go.
“I saw him,” Mattias said, removing his outer garment and hanging it on the wooden tree their father had made. “Good looking fellow,” he said and added, “Stared at Tarley a bit too much.”
“He didn’t,” she said but felt her skin heat recalling what had occurred between them—a secret she had no plans on divulging.
“He did.”
“He was safe,” she insisted even as the thought caught in her brain and spun on itself contemplating Ollie walking through the river and grasping hold of her, kissing her, claiming what had happened between them hadn’t been a mistake.
“You’re blushing?” Scarlett asked, smacked her wooden spoon into the pot, and started across the room toward her.
“Just a man—Ollie—and as I’ve already told Tai, he was near death. I couldn’t leave him.”
“You could have.” Scarlett closed the distance and grabbed Tarley’s hand to push up her cuffs, exposing her red ribbon.
“What are you doing?” Tarley jerked her hand away. “You wouldn’t have.”
Scarlett smiled, then kissed Tarley’s knuckles. “You’re safe.”
“Are you going to lock her up in here too?” Auri asked, her words laced with bitterness.
“I don’t have to,” their mother said.
“Because she didn’t lose her ribbon.” Auri slammed something against the table.
“What does that have to do with anything?” Tarley looked at each of her family members before removing her jacket. “What has gotten into you? You’re acting strange.”
“There were hunters after you, Tarley–”
She looked at Mattias, hopeful he’d keep that part secret. Sure, it was a part of the safety, but the threat was past whereas Ollie wasn’t. There wouldn’t be any point in sharing it, and she hoped Mattias would see it that way too. There wasn’t any sense in adding to their mother’s panic. She begged Mattias with her expression, and Mattias’s eyes widened with his obvious conflict about it. But then he stayed silent and Tarley took a deep breath.
Scarlett returned to the kitchen. “Go clean up. You’re filthy. Then join us when you’re done.”
Tarley mouthed a “thank you” to her brother and left the room. Baffled by her family and the added lunacy, she leaned against the closed door of the backroom. Usually when she returned from a trip, there were greetings, along with shared business as usual as her family filled her in on anything she’d missed. Then there were things like any new babies born or house calls Mother had made. Sometimes it was a spooky story shared by her father while he and Mattias were in the woods. Other times it was something as mundane as who had the chores that week. She supposed her flight to the woods, the queen’s appearance, and her arrival with Ollie were only the most interesting thing to happen since theGreat Nap Escapade. Mattias was right, though—something did seem off.
Tarley stripped out of her dirty clothes and stepped into the steaming bath, sighing as she slipped down into the warm water. The lovely rosemary and citrus infusion her mother put in the water reminded her she was home. She leaned back and closed her eyes, memories of Ollie flashed in her mind. His arrogant grin, his needling her to react as he threw rocks, his head between her thighs. Her eyes flew open, and she busied herself with washing. She didn’t need to be thinking about Ollie and his magical tongue. But then she recalled the way he’d watched her from the platform of the stable as she’d left, and her heart pinched in her chest at how alone he’d looked.
As she slid the soap across her skin, a knock came at the door.
“May I come in?”
Auri.
“Yes.”
Her youngest sister’s face appeared followed by the rest of her body as she squeezed through the crack in the door. Auri looked out once more as if to check if she’d been followed, then shut it. When she whirled around, her face looked pale. “So much has happened.”
“She found out you were sneaking out, didn’t she?”
Auri pushed away from the door and came to sit outside the tub. “Here. I’ll help with your hair.” She massaged the soap into Tarley’s scalp. “She already knew.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.” Auri was silent, her fingers working through the strands of Tarley’s hair. “I swear to you that woman has spies everywhere.”
“Unlikely,” Tarley said, enjoying the feel of her sister’s ministrations.
“You’d be surprised.”
