“They were so close to my age, and I enjoyed seeing the families and how girls my age lived and behaved.” Oh, how she had longed to be free of the grove then, but she also feared leaving. Not only for her life, but she would never fit in. They were all pretty and smart and confident. “Then one day they were all gone, and Nightshade Manor stood quiet and empty until your aunt and Lord Bentford arrived earlier this year with his three nieces and for the same reason all girls of Drakos blood come to Nightshade Manor.”
Nina didn’t even look at Orion, certain that she was going to be scolded. It was rude to watch others, especially when they didn’t know they were being watched.
“It must have been very lonely for you,” he said quietly.
Oh, she did not need his sympathy. She did not want it.
“There were times, but I had Maude and the Dryads. Your sister and cousins were simply the first time that I had seen girls my age and they were a curiosity.”
Nina made light of the situation and hoped he believed her.
But recalling those days brought an old familiar ache. That had been the first time she realized what she would never have. Living in the grove had suddenly become far lonelier because she hadn’t really known any different until she saw the girls, so much like her, on the other side of the cove.
In time, and with maturity, Nina again accepted who she was and where she would spend her life.
She was content with her life. She needed to be as she had no other choice.
Nina turned to smile at Orion. “But now I have a friend and your sister has visited, as did the Norcott sisters. That is good is it not?”
There was still sympathy in his brown eyes, but Nina didn’t have the words, or the strength, to try to convince him that she was quite content, because it wasn’t true.
Thirteen
Orion suffered a fitful night of sleep. First, he was angry at his mother and his aunts. How could they leave Nina in the grove with only an older witch, dryads, and occasional visits from her brother? Why couldn’t his sister and cousins have met her then? For seven years, at least one family had been here. His sister and cousins could have befriended her then. Instead, Nina had to watch from afar, as a child left out of the fun, rejected. Though his sister and cousins hadn’t excluded Nina intentionally because they had not known she existed. However, his mother and aunts should have realized that a child was growing up lonely.
Unfortunately, Orion couldn’t confront his mother because then she’d know that he had been visiting.
Nina tried to hide the fact that she’d been lonely, but Orion was not fooled. She may be trying to fool herself now, but her living there alone, with a brother who occasionally visited was no life.
But, she had him, and he would visit every day. In fact, he may not leave Nightshade Manor after everyone else departed. Nina needed more in her life than a brother and dryads, even if it was only him.
“You are quiet today,” his mother observed over breakfast.
“I did not sleep well,” he ground out.
“A foul mood as well.”
He said nothing for Orion feared what words would spill out. Instead, he tossed his napkin on the table and stood. “I am going into Bocka Morrow.”
“I will go with you,” Petra said. “I need supplies from The Hourglass.”
Orion wanted to be alone, and he hadn’t truly intended on going into the village, but there was no excuse he could make. “I will call for the carriage unless you wish to walk or ride.”
“We can walk,” Petra offered.
“I would rather ride.” Walking would take too long.
“Give me a moment and I will meet you by the stables.”
“I will bring the horses around.” Orion stomped out of the house before anyone could stop him or also ask to come along.
“What is wrong with you today?” Petra asked as soon as they had ridden through the gates.
Did he tell her?
The anger still simmered and if he didn’t let some of it out, he may just explode.
“I am angry with Mother and our aunts.”
