He studies it for a minute. “I know where this is. Come on.”
I gulp. “You’re coming with me?”
He blinks. He’s got very nice brown eyes. I like to look at them. “Of course. You didn’t think I’d leave you all alone here, did you?”
“I… I didn’t know. Thank you. I thought I’d have to do it by myself.”
“The Capitol isn’t necessarily dangerous. They keep a tight control on crime inside the walls. But guards can’t always be trusted, and if you’ve never been here before, it will take you forever to find it.”
“But you only have four hours. You need to take your cheese to trade.”
“I’ll still have time. Come on.” He takes the handle of his cart, pulling it behind him as he starts moving.
I have to walk faster than normal to keep up with him since his legs are so much longer, but I’m too relieved at having him as escort to complain even internally.
It takes almost thirty minutes of walking to reach a clean, well-kept street of row houses. (All the streets in the Capitol appear clean and well-kept.)
“Thirty-six is across there,” Mason says, taking my arm again to lead me across the street between the designated lines for walking.
I take a shuddering breath as I stare up at the house.
“She’ll treat you nice, won’t she?” Mason asks after studying my expression.
“What? Oh yes, she will for sure. But I’ve never met her husband. And I’m always nervous about new things. But I’ll be fine.” I square my shoulders and smile up at him. “Thank you so much for going out of your way to bring me here.”
“Of course. I’ll be here in three hours to take you back to the motor. If you decide you want to stay with your sister, you can let me know then.”
“That’s really nice of you. Thank you.”
“But I did want to say—” He breaks off, glancing away.
I stare up at him with wide eyes. “You wanted to say what?”
“I wanted to offer you another option. In case you want one.”
“What option?”
“I need someone. A wife. It’s too much work to do on my own. And you need out of that house. So if you want to stay in the village, you could marry me.” He’s trying to sound casual, but he’s not. He can’t quite meet my eyes.
I gasp, raising a hand to cover my mouth. “But… but what about Aria?”
He looks at me in obvious confusion, his eyebrows pulled together. “What about Aria?”
“Aren’t you engaged to marry her?”
Now it’s his eyes that get wide. And after the astonishment, a brief flicker of disgust passes over his face. “No way in hell! Why would you even think that?”
“Because they said… they said…” I make a choking sound as I realize that the long-expected marriage was only a reality in their minds.
They must have had it as a goal and wanted it to happen so much they assumed it would become real.
A wave of feeling washes over me—relief and amusement and excitement all at once.
He’s not going to marry Aria. He’s not so stupid and shallow.
“I’m not engaged to anyone,” Mason goes on gruffly, still looking confused. “But I got more work than one person can do. I’m not saying it’ll be easy. You’ll have to work too. But it’ll be better than living with Lorraine and Aria. And I’ll… I’ll treat you as good as I can.”
He’s gotten self-conscious again. He’s focused on the pavement beneath his feet.
