“Cassian was not there often enough, and Maude would have scolded me and forbidden me from going beyond the boxwoods.”
“Who is Maude?” he asked. That wasn’t a name mentioned when the dryads were being introduced to his sister and cousins.
“She was a widowed witch whom your aunts hired to raise me. She was like a mother to me, and a governess, and taught me everything that I needed to know.”
“Where is Maude now.”
Nina glanced down at her hands. “She died last year.”
“Does that mean you have lived alone until Cassian returned.”
“Yes. It is not so difficult.”
“No servants, nobody?”
Nina laughed. “I can cook, and sew, do laundry and clean.”
But to Orion, it wasn’t funny. “You should have a maid or a companion at the very least. You are the daughter of a comte.”
“Then I suppose that I should have a butler and housekeeper as well?”
Nina may find the very idea humorous, Orion did not. It was bad enough that she lived alone in the sacred grove, but it was not safe either. He had not really realized until this moment how vulnerable she had been since Maude died. Even now she was because Cassian couldn’t let on where he really lived and was often away. “Who protects you, Nina.”
“I do not need protecting, Orion,” she said sweetly. “Nobody comes to the grove.”
“What if someone managed to do so?”
“You worry for no reason.”
Perhaps she was correct. He had gone five and twenty years not even knowing that this portion of the grove existed.
Nina woke the next morning happier than she’d been in a long time. Not that she had been unhappy before, but everything seemed brighter since she had met Nephele and then Orion.
He seemed to indicate that he would call on her again today, but Nina didn’t want to hold out hope because if he didn’t, she’d be disappointed.
“Oh, I hope he visits,” she whispered to herself as she walked to the temple, book in hand in case there were no visitors today.
Except, she was too anxious to read. Her pulse was just a little faster today, and her heartbeat heavier and it took her some time to realize that it wasn’t so much anxiousness but nervous anticipation for Orion’s visit.
Not only did she have the same dream about him each night, but she was coming to really like him.
Not just like, but possibly infatuation.
Blowing out a sigh, she set the book aside and paced within the temple.
This was dangerous.
She could not afford for her heart to become involved. Even if Orion began to feel the same way, which was unlikely, they could never be anything more than friends. She was bound to the grove, and he was to marry a witch.
She needed to be careful. Infatuation could lead to love and that would never do.
It didn’t matter if he invaded her dreams every night, or that she thought of him when she was alone, or that her breath seemed to leave her when she spied him walking toward her, like now. She was susceptible to more than infatuation and Nina vowed to guard her heart.
He was a friend, and she was happy to have Orion in her life and soon, any infatuation she held would go away. He was simply someone new, and he was beautiful, so it was no wonder that she was smitten. But that was all, and there would never be more.
“What do you have?” she called as he drew closer. Orion was carrying some things in his hands, but she could not see what they were.
“A pear and a peach. Which do you prefer?” Then he held out his hands showing her.
