Tasia watched his back move as he filled his lungs. She prepared herself for the clarifying questions he was going to ask. Explaining in detail how dumb she had been had her hunching against the dismissal and scorn she had come to expect.
“Tell me about the family you are staying with now. Galanis, is that right?”
It took her a moment to adjust to what hehadasked and not what she thought he would ask. “They are something like eight cousins four times removed.”
“Oh, so you’ve always been close, then.”
A laugh flavored with relief and amusement poured out of Tasia. “Yes.” She giggled. “Very close.”
“I bet you’ve been exchanging letters since before you were born,” he teased.
Her posture relaxed in increments as he asked more questions about her “cousins.” He thought that Chara sounded like a cute handful and sympathized overMotherAnthi’s refusal to acknowledge uncomfortable subjects. They spent no small amount of time hypothesizing about Stavros’ employment and about the actual fairness of being expected to donate “all” of her earnings to the family coffers.
When she told him about Pagona and her friends, Mitch turned around to raise one eyebrow at the name Bunny. This derailed Tasia’s train of thought so thoroughly, they had to stop before crossing the log bridge so she could finish laughing.
They parted ways soon after. Tasia knew Mitch hadn’t fully bought her story about what had happened in Diomland, but she was grateful for the reprieve. She would share the rest of the details, in time. For now, it was enough that he hadn’t rejected her yet.
Chapter Nine
In Which Unpleasant Revelations Are Made
The following week was uncomfortable for Mitch on multiple levels. He knew that Tasia was holding back, and that stung more than he wanted it to. The fact that that wretched story was circulating this far from where it originated was another thorn in his side. One slip-up on his part, and it wouldn’t take long for the villagers to put two and two together and come up with pitchforks and torches.
The weather conspired to make him miserable, as well. The thick clouds had vanished, leaving behind clear,coldskies. The muddy ruts froze into ankle-turning nightmare paths, and icicles lurked on every eave, hanging in wait for unsuspecting, stab-able passersby. Depending on the heat fastness of his lodgings, in the past Mitch had preferred to spend cooler nights curled up on the bed in his wolf form. His current paranoia meant he spent the full week colder than he liked to be and jumping at every sound. By the time the next rest day begrudgingly arrived, he was ready to crawl out of his skin.
Tasia met him outside the village, a spot of color against the increasingly dreary woods. A few stubborn trees held onto their brilliantly hued leaves, though not many. Her cloak shifted as she waved, and he saw that she was wearing many more layers than usual, which explained the slight waddle and stiff arm movements.
“Think you’ll be warm enough?” he said with a smirk.
She beamed back at him. “Yes, thank you!”
“Good. Let’s go.”
Tasia started their walk with an amusing story about mistakenly freezing the laundry she hung out to dry. Mitch chuckled in the right places and managed to make encouraging noises so she would know he was listening, when in reality, he was caught up in the sound of her voice and how pleasant he found it. She could have been reciting the alphabet or math facts and he would have been as enthralled. An easy-to-ignore voice in the back of his mind noted that this was a bad sign.
When they crossed over the log bridge a good while later thanks to slippery patches of ice, Mitch determined that they were sufficiently far from civilization.
“Do you mind if I assume my wolf form?” he asked. “It’s warmer, and I’m steadier on four feet.”
“I don’t mind,” Tasia chirped. “As long as I can use you for balance when needed.”
“Fine by me.” Mitch allowed himself the grin trying to break through because he knew his transformation would hide it in seconds.
“I can still see you smiling, you know.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “Your whole body gives you away.”
Fully wolf, Mitch playfully nipped at the hem of her cloak. She laughed and darted to the side. When she slipped on the frozen path, he hurried to put his bulk between her and the ground. She thanked him after catching herself on his back.
Then something tickled his nose. Something he had only smelled once or twice before. Concern led him to sniff her basket. The slippery aroma traveled up his nose and lured his mind toward sleep. He jerked his head back and sneezed, desperate to get the scent out of his system.
Confusion, with a growing dash of alarm, lined Tasia’s face as she watched him regain the human shape he had discarded only moments before.
Mitch’s words were harsh. “Why are you delivering filemu?!” He knew he was scowling, but his disgust and fear were holding the reins.
The sweet-tempered gal looked down at the innocuous-looking basket in her hands. “I don’t know what that is?”
She didn’t protest as he all but snatched the basket from her hands and dug under the cloth cover. The undignified yelp that left his mouth was only slightly less embarrassing than the way he flung the basket away from them both. The pair stared at the offending parcel where it lay on its side next to the path.
“There’s enough filemu in there to drug half the village inn!”
