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“And I just have half a mind,” I started up the hill with a swift and powerful leap, taking the lead. I glanced back at him,unenthused. “How unfortunate for us both.”
THE DENSE WOODS FINALLYopened up after what seemed like thousands and thousands of paces. I didn’t bother to count. If we ever made it out of this labyrinth of spindly branches and hilly mounds that smelled like turned earth and animal droppings, I hoped we would project. My mind was too weak and Kalen too impatient to try and retrace the path we’d carved for miles. I’d almost fallen to the ground and sobbed when we breached the clearing to find an empty field.
Not a single living thing resided there. Even the grass had turned brittle and colorless. Years, it looked like, since anything may have taken up residence there, let alone a person. When I looked to Kalen for an explanation, he was annoyingly calm.
“Did you drag me out here to kill me?” I smarted, trying to catch my breath. My arms and legs were coated in sweat. Thick droplets coursed down my back underneath my shirt. “Or were you hoping our journey through the woods would have done it? I’ve got to give it to you. This is the perfect place to bury a body.”
Kalen kept walking until he reached the center of the field. I followed, stopping at his left shoulder. “Too bad I survived, huh?”
“Are you quite finished?” he asked, expression flat.
“No.”
Kalen snorted.
“I hate you,” I added. “Alright, now I’m finished.”
“Good.” A brief flash shuttered in my peripheral and Kalen gave me a small smile. “Look again.”
A common house made of cobbled stone stood before us, erected out of the dying foundation from seemingly nowhere at all. The clay gables of its roof sunk in a bit on the right side. Thick strips of ivy grew up the sides, though there was no start to their roots. The house itself looked out of place. Like a large stone bush that someone had planted in the ground.
Kalen began walking to the wooden porch, and I forced my screaming legs to move with him. Knocking sharply against the door, Kalen whistled faintly in an odd little tune. The darkness of the house subsided when whoever lived inside lit an oil lamp. I watched the flame float through the window, growing in size until it slipped out of view and behind the solid frame of the house. Seconds later, the door swung open, revealing a tall, middle-aged woman, elegant and lean. She wore a nightgown of heather green and a cloak to match. Her hair was laid out in the most luxurious curls of sable that fell behind her shoulders. It complimented her beautiful oak-brown skin, glowing in the candlelight. At the sight of Kalen, she made a face of displeasure. Even soured, she was grievously beautiful.
“You know I hate surprises, Preserver.” Her voice was low and smooth. The teasing look in her eyes as she spoke to him made me feel like an intruder, barging in on what should have been a very private reunion.
“Nice to see you too, Aya,” he said with a wink and I flinched.
She sighed and looked him up and down, disapprovingly. Smokey quartz eyes slid over to me and grew wide. Without looking away, she clawed at Kalen’s arm and shoved him inside, closing the door between us. Through the gaps in the frame, I could hear her start in on him.
“Please tell me you did not march her through the entirety of Grovsney to my front door?” The question was both sardonic and filled with alarm.
“March?” he responded. “You make me sound like a bore.”
“Well, I am sorry I wasn’t clearer. I meant to make you sound like a moron.”
The shadow of Kalen through the curtained window drew back. “Adrien has been stationed here for weeks, Kalen,” she continued, and I cocked my head at the name. Kalen had never mentioned an Adrien. “You know as well as I do that if hegets wind of her return...and finds out that you facilitated all of this...” she paused, and I grew self-conscious. My presence always seemed to be a danger to everybody else. “Adrien will kill you for it right where you stand,” she continued. “He’ll kill us both.”
The floorboards of the house creaked with weight as one of them began to pace.
“Which is exactly why I brought her here,” Kalen said, probably to avoid her wrath and with a little bit of his own fear. “Honestly, I love what you’ve done with the place. New curtains, polished floors, glamour,” he said accusingly.
“Don’t take it personally, Kal. I had to disappear. Besides, the spell clearly doesn’t work on the likes of you. I’ll be sure to fix that once you are gone. Which should be in about two seconds when I acquaint you and your backside with the grass.”
“Aya,” Kalen spoke her name as if to reason with her. I recognized a sweetness in his tone laced with a hint of flirtation. It was the way he talked to me whenever I grilled him to answer one of my questions. “I need information that only you have. Your glamour will work on my Shadowfader brother, and we will be out of your hair before the soup on your stove turns cold.”
Brother? My mouth gaped open, and a gnat flew smack into my face. One of Kalen’s brothers was a Shadowfader, a soldier of Sythe, and he was after me—or knew that I existed somehow? I shook my head, frustrated. How many times had I let Kalen lie to my face? How long would I continue to let him lead me blindly through my own life? I shouldn’t have felt so surprised.
“Get in.”
The door had opened as I’d been sulking. Aya stood with one hand firm against her hip and the other resting on the golden doorknob. I swallowed and ducked my head, stumbling awkwardly into her home until I stood face-to-face with Kalen.
I couldn’t hide my fresh hate for him, so I turned immediatelyto the woman and felt the urge to introduce myself. I’d never formally met anyone outside of Kalen and Rebekah, and I’d hardly call the meeting with the Sages anything along the lines of formal. Rebekah had once told me that introductions were what strangers did when they entered each other’s homes. I would have wanted to know the name of any person who’d wandered into my grove, so I stuck out my hand and said, “Hello, I am Gwynore.”
Aya did not move to take my hand. Instead, she stared, shocked, like I had offered her a rotting apple in the palm of it. Kalen reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind his ear and cleared his throat loudly. Wrapping a hand around mine, he lowered it back to my side. “There is no need for introductions, Gwyn.”
I shot him an icy glare, and snatched my hand back.
“But if you insist,” Kalen said and turned back to our host, gesturing between us with his other hand. “Aya, Gwynore. Gwyn, Ayona Burnwell. Otherwise known as the witch who saved your life.”
