Midge tells us the grooming will take about an hour, so we leave the carrier in the salon and wander back out into Wysteria’s shopping lanes. The cobblestones are dry now, and red and gold leaves drift down from the trees and crunch pleasantly under our boots. It won’t be long before all the trees are bare and snow coats the ground. I almost shiver just thinking about it. For me, winter usually means gathering a copious number of books from the library and refusing to leave the comfort of the fire until spring arrives. But with Aric in my life now, maybe this coming winter season will be different.
“Do you have your dress for the ball yet?” Aric asks, jerking a thumb over his shoulder at the dressmaker’s shop. The window display features three mannequins draped in gowns of various colors and cuts, each beautiful in its own way.
I shake my head. “Not yet. I’m supposed to go shopping with the girls soon though.”
“Can I come with?” he asks with a cheeky grin.
At the thought of Aric watching me try on dresses, my face flares with heat. “No!”
Aric laughs and slips a broad arm over my shoulders. “Fine. But you have to tell me what color you pick so we can match.”
A little ember of joy flickers inside me, and I nod as we continue down the lane.
Despite eating cinnamon rolls at the Wandering Cup, I’m still hungry from the long walk into Wysteria from Coven Crest, and when my stomach grumbles, Aric steers me toward a little bakery. Inside, he buys us each a flaky breakfast roll stuffed with sauteed onions and garlic, sweet slices of bell pepper, and just enough green chili to make my lips tingle.
We eat on a park bench, people watching while Wysteria bustles around us. The air is still crisp, but the sky is blue, and everything feels so perfect that a voice in my head creeps up to whisper,It won’t stay like this. Something will go wrong.
The thought makes my stomach turn. I cast a glance at Aric, and he’s finishing up his roll, watching with a slight smile as a father sprinkles fallen leaves over his daughter’s head, causing her to squeal and sprint across the park with a howl of laughter.
I don’t want to feel like this, like I’m living in a sliver of happiness before reality comes crashing in. But no matter what I do, my worry lingers there, feeling like it’s ready to pounce and rip all of this away.
“You okay?” Aric asks, and his hand finds mine where it’s resting on my thigh.
I quickly snap out of my gloomy thoughts and nod. “Yeah. Just thinking about the ball,” I lie. Well, kind of lie. I have been thinking about the ball—alot. There’s still so much to figure out, and it’ll be here before I know it.
“You need help with anything?” Aric asks.
I’m about to say no, but I stay my tongue. Then I nod. “Yes, actually. I need to design the invitations, and when they’re done, I have to deliver one to every dorm room.”
Which means climbingeverydormitory tower, which I’m not really looking forward to.
“I can help with that,” Aric says, his tusks flashing as he gives me a smile. “It’ll be like running drills at runeball practice.”
His mention of runeball practice reminds me of how he didn’t show up for our tutoring session this past week. I’m trying not to feel hurt by the fact he forgot, but again, it’s another thing that doesn’t want to go away, no matter how many times I attempt to show it to the door.
“That’d be great. Thank you.”
“Anything for you, Brains.” He leans in and kisses me on the temple, then casts a gaze at the sky. He told me once that his mom taught him how to tell time that way when he was young. “You wanna start heading back? Pepper will probably be done soon.”
“Yeah.” I push to my feet and smooth down my skirt, then reach out to accept Aric’s hand when he offers it to me.
We join the bustle of shoppers clipping down the cobblestone streets, and Aric pulls me close as we walk, his body heat keeping me warm despite the chill in the air.
As we approach a shopfront, a glint of something catches my eye, and I turn my head.
In the window of a small jewelry shop, nestled on a blue satin pillow, is a hairpin shaped like a crescent moon. It’s silver, probably no bigger than my thumb, and it catches the sun streaming through the window and shimmers, casting little rainbows of light. A single dark blue gemstone, probably a sapphire, winks from the center of the silver moon.
I stop walking, drawn to it despite not typically wearing much jewelry except for little hoops in my ears.
Aric moves beside me, following my gaze. “Do you want to go in? Maybe try it on?”
“No, that’s okay,” I say quickly. “It’s pretty, but I don’t need something like that. I’d never wear it.”
He tips his head, still looking at the hairpin. I partially expect him to pressure me to go inside, but I already know there’s no way I’d be able to afford something like that. A dress for the ball is going to be expensive enough. Mama said she’d help me buy it, and I already know I’ll have to work hard at the café over my Yuletide break from Coven Crest to help pay her back.
“All right,” Aric says, and as he steps away from the window, he tightens his fingers around mine.
But as we start away, merging into the sea of shoppers, I glance back once more, admiring the gentle shimmer of light and the way the gemstone shines.
