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Chapter 21
The sun was glittering through the thick crowns of the trees as our horses slowly trotted along an old path that Alrick said would lead us to my cousin’s estate. The old woman was still walking next to me, grinning enthusiastically and waving. Suddenly, she grabbed my dress. I brought Fiona to a halt and looked down at her. Her old face wrinkled as she smiled at me.
“You can’t marry the Rhine King,” she said, throwing a curt nod toward Alrick, who was riding in the front. “Not now that you and he are one.”
I sighed. “No man shall have me. My heart is mine and mine alone,” I said.
The old woman frowned. “Fear and pride make lonely companions.”
“What?” I asked.
“No matter how closely you watch your feet,” she said, “you can still fall. So what good does it do to live life as if you have already fallen?”
“I...” My face turned toward Alrick, who was now looking over his shoulder at me. “I don’t think I understand.”
I looked down at the old woman again, but she was gone—disappeared without a trace.
“How strange,” I mumbled to myself.
“What did she want?” Henrike shouted over.
I rode Fiona up to them. “Nothing.”
“Nothing?” Henrike asked. “She seemed awfully jolly for nothing.”
“She is probably still excited about trading my hair on the market.”
“What?” Henrike barked at me. “You left the hair?”
“Of course I did. She gave us most of her food and several days’ worth of supplies.”
Henrike flared her nostrils. “That won’t last us even half the way. We needed to trade your hair in the next town for more supplies. Unless you want to starve in the middle of nowhere? How can you be so dull-witted?”
This woman! Just when we were starting to get along.
“She will need the hair to restock her own supplies,” I countered. “We will find a way.”
“No, we won’t.” Henrike turned her horse. “I will go back and get it. We need it more than she does.”
“I forbid it,” I said. “It’s my hair, and that’s all there is to it.”
“You forbid it?” Henrike laughed. “And what are you going to do if I don’t listen, Night Queen?”
“We will ride without you,” Alrick said, slowing his horse.
Henrike and I both turned toward him in shock. Did he just defend me?
“The old woman was kind to us, and it’s Mina’s hair to do with as she pleases. You can come with us or turn around and choose your own path. Your choice.” Alrick brought his horse back into motion. Without another word, I followed him, beaming on the inside. In a strange way, I felt sad for Henrike, who was now following in silence, her lips pressed together so tightly they looked white. And she wasn’t wrong. We didn’t have enough supplies to make it all the way. However, as surprising as it was, I wasn’t willing to take everything from an old woman without leaving something in return. Even if our lives depended on it.
For the first time in my life, I thought that maybe, and only maybe, my heart wasn’t as dark as the night. Or, at least, the night had a sudden flicker of light.
