“Twobble, how are you holding up?”
His eyes flicked up, and his gaze met mine.
“Not well,” he admitted.
The honesty of it squeezed my heart even more.
He looked around the room before coming over and taking a seat. The fact that he didn’t ask for a pastry of some sort told me everything.
“You couldn’t have stopped her,” I said softly.
“I could have tried harder. I should have blocked the path or tripped her. I thought about screaming at her and lobbing some hard scones at her.”
“You did scream,” Caleb said mildly.
“Yes,” Twobble replied. “But politely. I needed assistance because I didn’t believe what I was witnessing.”
“She told me to stay put,” he continued quietly. “And I listened.”
“You respected her boundaries,” I said.
“She was walking toward danger. I knew it in my bones,” he said, his voice tight. “But I saw it in her eyes. She wouldn’t have listened to me if I jumped on her back and rode her piggyback. I wish I’d taken Skonk’s shift down in the UnderLoom to collect the herbs. Then it would be his fault he didn’t stop her.”
I laughed softly and patted his bony knee. “It’s nobody’s fault, dear Twobble.”
“That doesn’t help how I feel.”
“She trusted you to find and bring me the letter.”
His small shoulders trembled once. “I didn’t like how certain she looked.” His voice was almost a whisper.
Keegan stepped closer behind me, silent but steady.
“We’re still together,” Caleb said firmly. “That matters.”
“Yes,” my grandma said softly. “It matters very much.”
I looked around the cottage at my father, at Keegan, at Caleb, at Twobble.
And thought about outside where wolves and orcs stood guard together.
The Priestess had built her power on control, and this wasn’t part of that.
This was people choosing each other, and still, my mother was gone.
“My mom believes she’s saving us,” I said quietly.
“Then we’ll make sure she doesn’t have to do it alone.”
My father nodded. “And we’ll bring her home.”
The fire crackled softly.
Above us, Karvey shifted once on the roof.
Panic still circled the edges of my thoughts, but beneath it something steadier began to grow. It wasn’t anger or fear any longer. It was resolve and that had always served me well.
Chapter Seventeen
