In the end, Famke said she was loyal to my father and to me.Maybe when I graduate from this school I can bring her with me, wherever I end up going, though it feels a little pathetic that the only way I’ll have any sense of family is by paying her to be my housemaid.
And all at once I’m hit with the intensely hollow feeling I get when I miss my father out of the blue, the profound shock of his absence mingling with the present.
“Are you in pain?”Narae asks me, and I glance at her in surprise.She’s finished doing up my boots and is holding out herhand for me to stand up.I quickly reach up under my eyes to find my cheeks wet—I’ve been crying.
“I suppose I am,” I say hoarsely, swallowing the lump in my throat before taking her hand as she helps me to my feet.
“Your feet are too big for my shoes,” she points out, thinking that’s why I’m crying.“It might be painful for a bit.Try not to walk too much today until you get your clothes.”She drops my hand and then starts fixing my hair, bringing out a few pins from under her bonnet and putting my strands up in a loose bun, letting a few strands hang loose.
“There,” she says.“Now you look less like you’ve fallen into a lake.”Her gaze hardens.“You know you can talk to me about anything, Katrina,” she says in a low, steady voice.“You’re a special witch and I think you know it.Perhaps alchemy isn’t your strong suit yet, but with your bloodlines, you have the ability to go far.You can do anything.”Her look softens.“You’ll find your place here, with the right people.Sometimes it just takes time to find the right path to take you there.”
She pats my cheek gently and then takes me by the arm and leads me to the door.
I wonder how much of what I feel is visible on my face.She can’t possibly know everything I’m going through.Then again, she could be an empath witch.Either way, when I thank her for her help and I step out into the hall, I feel lighter than I did when I first entered.In fact I barely feel the pain from her boots when I shuffle down the hall and back to the men’s wing.
There are Crane and Brom together, waiting for me outside Crane’s room.
My men.
My people.
They’re what’s waiting at the end of the right path.
God, I hope this is the right path.
Crane is leaning against the wall, fiddling with his watch, but straightens up when I approach, his storm-cloud eyes pinned to my every move.Brom is beside him, brooding in an ever-present state of tension, but his shoulders relax when he sees me.And for the first time today, I really see Brom.Because the horseman won’t be inside him until dark.I see my old friend, the one I used to trust more than anything.It gives me a dash of hope.
“You look nice,” Crane says, clearing his throat as he looks me up and down, taking his clothes from my arms.
“Ms.Peek was kind enough to lend me her things,” I tell him.“She also gave me some information that I think you’ll want to hear.”
“Do tell,” Crane says, unlocking his door and tossing the clothes inside so they land on a heap on the floor, not even bothering to hang them up.
This man is such an enigma sometimes.
Then he locks the door and puts his hand at my lower back.I can feel the heat of his palm through the fabric, and my eyes close for a moment at his touch.
“I’ll tell you when you feel like telling us about your late wife,” I say, using the information as leverage.
He lets out a huff of amusement, the corner of his sculpted lips rising.
“Well played, little witch,” he says.Then he sighs.“But all must wait because first you have to see your mother.”
I balk.“She’s here already?”
Brom nods toward the windows at the end of the hall that face onto the courtyard.“I just saw your mother’s horse and cart go down the path toward the women’s dorm.”
I make a face as my heart sinks.I don’t know why I’m so scared but I am.
“We’ll go with you,” Crane says as he gently prods me down the hall.I notice he saidweas in him and Brom and not just him, for once.
I sigh heavily, squaring my shoulders, the tight bodice pulling at my back as I do so.“I want you both there, but…I need to do this alone.And I don’t think she’ll let either of you in the girls’ dorm.”
“Not even your future fiancé?”Brom asks flatly, which makes Crane’s fingers press into my back, his breath a sharp inhale.
“No,” I say, trying to weigh my words so that I don’t hurt Brom, knowing what he said to me last night.“They can think what they want to think about us getting married, but the both of us know that’s not going to happen, not when they want it to happen for reasons we don’t understand.”
Crane’s grip relaxes slightly, but I can’t ignore the pinch of rejection on Brom’s brow and I instantly feel bad.Why does everything have to be so damn complicated all the time?
