My arms laden with Phin’s packages while Hailon carried leftovers for Seir and Phin possessed a selection of elixirs Greta had pulled from a cabinet, we finally walked out into the cold evening and through the portal, the familiar embrace of the crossroads calm and quiet.
I could only hope it wouldn’t take long for the agitation in my body to disperse again.
Hailon presentedSeir with his plate of shepherd’s pie and took him straight home to the glade once he gave me a quick briefing, leaving Phin and I alone.
“Should I take these to your room?”
“If you don’t mind.”
I waited for her to go ahead of me and deposited them all on her bed. “You found everything you wanted?”
“More than. I felt a bit like a dress-up doll.” Phin started unwrapping and sorting out the items, the stack shockingly large for as few bags as I’d had to carry.
“Oh?”
“Mostly I stood in the little curtained cubicle and tried things on. They handled which items, the colors, all that.” A dreamy smile lit up her face. “I’ve never done anything like that before.” She laughed, the sound bright.
I’d never once had the desire to shop in such a way, but I found myself wrestling with jealousy that I hadn’t been there.
She held up the items as she took them to her armoire to be hung or reverently folded them before stacking them in her dresser drawers. A blush raced across her cheeks, and she stopped when she got to what I could only assume were undergarments at the bottom of the pile.
“Those are nice,” I said, gesturing to the new decorative items as a distraction.
“They had so many things at the markets. I don’t think we even saw half of the stalls.”
“You’ll have to go back, then.”
She smiled again. “I’d like that.” Her gaze went distant. “They told me something that sounds impossible.”
“And what is that?”
“That they are all fated. They’ve all found their mates.” Her palm scrubbed over her heart, but I wasn’t even sure she realized she was doing it.
My breath stalled in my chest. “Yes.”
“How?” The word was almost gasped as it left her lips. “The odds on that must be unfathomable.”
“Indeed. It definitely defies all logic. And yet, it’s true.”
She looked away, frowning in concentration. Her hand strayed to the necklace dangling over her breastbone. At dinner, I’d noticed all my sisters-in-law had been wearing theirs as well. I could only assume she’d seen them too, at the very least.
“They told me I’m family.”
“Then it must be true.” My stomach swooped, acid rising in my throat.
“I never thought I would have any of this.”
“You deserve everything.”
Hundreds of thoughts crowded my mind as she stared at me, thousands of words backing up in my throat. I didn’t dare give voice to any of them or I would want to say all of them. Confessions. Pleading. Explanation. It was likely none of it would endear me to her, and I didn’t want to take the risk. I wasn’t brave enough.
“Would you mind terribly making us some tea?” I asked, throat tight and chest painfully aflame. I was no longer sure what, if anything would bring some kind of relief.
“That’s a good idea. Sure.”
“Thank you, Phin.” She smiled at me as I left her room. I stumbled across the hallway, hand clutching at my chest once I was safely out of her sight inside my own bedroom.
There was only one way I could ground myself again when things got like this. I quickly changed into different clothes, then crossed the hall and went into the room next to hers.
