AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She harumphed. “Yeah, you’d better not.”
Darla slipped back into her room, returning later with a stereotypically olive, drab blanket draped over her arm. “Shall we?”
“Let’s.”
We didn’t quite banter as much on the way to the garden, but it was a longer walk, which gave more people a chance to stop Darla. Naturally, everyone and their mother wanted a chance to talk to the beautiful, personable psychic. I wasn’t exactly jealous of their taking up so much of her time, but I was a bit irritated they were delaying me from the lemon squares. I’d saved the fort with my tapping into the relic, hadn’t I? One would think it’d allow me to enjoy my desserts in peace.
“Hey, don’t look at them like that,” the psychic said after maybe the fifth time. “Can you blame them for wanting to be a bit close to the witch who saved all our skins?”
I shot her a look. “If they wanted to be a bit close to me, why are they all talking toyou?”
“Probably because I spread a rumor, as your counselor and friend, that I diagnosed you with severe social anxiety, so everyone’s being respectful by giving you space.”
She batted her eyes at me, and I shook my head. “I can’t believe you did that.”
“I know, but it’s working, isn’t it?”
She had a point there.
Interruptions or not, we did eventually make it to the western garden, where we spread out the blanket. Darla artfullydraped herself across it, because of course she did, while I knelt by the edge, scissors at the ready.
“All right, lemon square me,” I said, extending a hand.
“Don’t you want to sit and enjoy it before doing your herby stuff?”
“My herby stuff?” I said with a chuckle. “No, I like to munch while I work.”
“Said the totally non-workaholic.”
I narrowed my eyes at her, willing a little bit of shifter gold to my gaze. “Lemon. Squares.”
“All right, all right. Geez, don’t go feral on me.” I could tell she was joking, as if her pleased grin didn’t give her away. I got the feeling the psychic liked feeding the people she cared about, even if she didn’t say it out loud.
Finally,finally, I was handed the confection I was waiting for, and I took a generous bite before resting the square on the edge of my basket. Closing my eyes, I let the sugar and lemony tartness melt across my tongue, truly savoring it.
When was the last time I’d had something so frivolous? I couldn’t say. So much of my life was about locking myself away from everything. It was easy for simple things like tasty food to be put aside.
“So, about the spell,” Sergeant Khan said after a few minutes of quiet.
“You’re gonna have to be a bit more specific,” I murmured back. Finishing up with the feverfew and going on to the yarrow that was beginning to go to seed. I hoped the southern herb garden wasn’t in the same state, otherwise we were going to miss out on an entire harvest.
“The relic thing you did. I only know the cliff notes, but I hear my bestie basically shifted the entire tide of battle.”
“I don’t know about that,” I said before taking another massive bite of the lemon square. “I mean, I accomplished ourgoal, using the theory you and I came up with during our return trip, if that’s what you mean.” Oh, wait, there was something else I should object to. “I’m not your bestie.”
“Of course not, dear.” Darla got a sly look whenever she felt like she was being clever, which was most of the time. “Speaking of shifted…”
I froze at that, my senses on high alert. She wasn’t going where I hoped, was she?
“I heard this absolutely crazy rumor you shifted during battle. In front of everyone.”
“...maybe I did.”
“Maybe?”
“Depends on why you’re bringing it up.”
“Well, you can’t blame a girl for being surprised, can you? Here I thought I was one of the privileged few to know about your little shifty secret, but I guess I’m not so special anymore.”
