Shade tried to explain for me. “If I might?—”
“Oh, shut the fuck up, Shade,” Fiella groaned. “I asked Ginger.”
Surprisingly, Shade didn’t argue.
“Go ahead, honey,” Kizzi urged.
I took a deep breath. It hurt when it slid down my throat. “He fell in.” My voice cracked and trembled.
And then the waterworks started again.
Tears streamed down my cheeks and clogged my throat, and horrible sobs squeezed my chest. I doubled over.
Arms wrapped around me, but they didn’t feel like shadows, and that only made me cry harder.
My friends whisked me away, leaving Shade on the bank of the river.
“Why was he by the water?” Fiella asked.
I tapped my fingers on the hot mug of tea in my grasp. It was comforting, but I still felt cold.
I feared I would never feel warm again.
“During a storm, at that,” Redd murmured. He held his own cup of tea, but he didn’t drink it.
“He was chasing a stupid moth.”
Kizzi choked. “I’m sorry, what?”
“You’re joking,” Fiella added.
Four pairs of eyes turned toward my small fireplace, where three dragons were snoring quietly.
The cottage felt full to bursting.
“I wish I was joking.”
“A moth,” Tandor echoed. He sounded more understanding than the others, which was to be expected. The huge orc loved all living critters, it wasn’t a stretch for him to love bugs, too.
“A moth.”
“And he fell in?” Kizzi prompted.
I shrugged. I took a long sip of tea to chase away the chill spreading outward from my spine. “He did. I didn’t see it happen, but I found him there.”
“Gods,” Redd murmured. “Poor little beast.”
I nodded solemnly. “He couldn’t fly, all soaked and in the water like that.”
“How did he get out?”
My breath hitched. I cleared my throat against the tightening. “Well, actually?—”
“You can’t swim, boss, so I bet he climbed out, huh?”Tandor interrupted.
“That’s just it. I?—”
“Ginny, you can’t swim?” Fiella asked, shocked.
