Elden chuckled. “You were happy in your bakery and…compassionate to me when I came to you as a hungry child. Though, truthfully none of that mattered for me at the time. I would have done anything to bring you and your magic home with me. Your magic could not be ignored.”
“You could have been a little nicer about it,” I grumbled.
“Would you have come?”
Heat filled my cheeks and my heart skittered. “No.”
“You asked me why I gave you the old cottage in the middle of the garden’s labyrinth,” Elden said. “I’d felt the love you had for your bakery and wanted you to have the closest thing to it in your kitchen. I knew the old cottage would be perfect, if a bit rough?—”
“A bit rough?” I laughed. “There were cobwebs the size of bedsheets in the larder!”
“I knew you would feel too exposed in the royal kitchens, be around too many unfamiliar faces, but out in the cottage, you could fix it up to your liking and cook at your own pace.”
I was strangely touched by the sentiment. There really was something nice about having my own little spot in the gardens, a place of my own that I could mold in the manner I saw fit.
“Why did you visit me as a boy in the first place?” I asked.
“I visit all the great masters personally every year in disguise, to find those I wish to take on.”
“But I was not a master.”
“Your prosperous business proved otherwise.” Elden smiled infuriatingly.
I groaned. “The price I pay for succeeding.”
“The more you shine, the more attention, desired or not, you bring upon yourself.”
“I wasn’t exactly shining, hidden away in the kitchens as I was.” I rolled my eyes. A lot of good that did me.
“Someone as brilliant as you will always shine,” Elden’s voice was like a song on the wind.
I squashed down the way those words made me feel—all light and flaky, then closed my eyes, focusing on what kept me going. A happy thought to banish all doubt. “Well, all I know is that if we succeed,whenwe succeed, I will see my family again. I have the word of the king.”
A pause, a little too long, then, “yes, I gave you my word. If we break this curse, you will be free to see your family again.”
I let that thought, that promise fill my heart. I would see Daisy and mother again. I wanted that more than anything. I would get to go home…but is that what I really wanted?
I shook my head as if I could clear the intrusive thought that easily. It wouldn’t do to dwell on Ravensong, the magic I’d felt here, and this new something between Elden and me. First, we had to go into the heart of Winterthorn and find this cure.
A storm blew outside, rattling the windows, but inside we were cozy and warm. Comfortable in the small cottage that gave us shelter during the storm.
In two days, we would arrive at the foot of the great mountain of Winterthorn. What kind of dark magic awaited us there?
Eldenand I awoke early to find Scarlet and Rowan packing supplies in the kitchen.
“To wish you luck on your journey.” Scarlet handed me a satchel jangling with several glass jars. One of milk, several jars of raspberry preserves, and a large packet of sugar.
Elden shot me a glance that said,Remember, do not refuse them.
I nodded, touched at the hospitality and hugged Scarlet with tears in my eyes, “Thank you for your generosity. I know you have little.”
“We have enough. We will be well.” Scarlet pulled me deeper into the embrace and whispered, “And you have something very rare indeed. Do not squander it.”
I pulled back, “I do?”
Scarlet shot me with a sly smile. “The love of the Elf King.”
“But I?—”
