‘That stupid man of yours dragged me from my bed in the middle of night. I’d have slapped him across that beautiful face of his, but I could tell from the haunted look in his eyes something was wrong. He sat me down. Told me he’d brought you back. Needed me to mentor you. Told me what happened in the fog.’ She frowned at Pablo who was sniffing a flopping lily, before sneezing as the pollen exploded up his nose.
‘He was terrified you’d die and also a bit in awe you were still living. But then he told me how strange it was.’ She leaned forward, tilted her head. ‘Told me about the sparrow.’
The air dissipated; a chill clawed down my rigid spine. I closed my eyes, bit my cheek, and prayed to Evella I wouldn’t need to face this.
Glesni sighed. ‘Do you know what your husband told me, Sorrow Elmswood?’
I met her gaze, my lips firmly closed, and the old woman huffed.
‘Well, it was long ago. Perhaps you forgot? He said it was odd Evella gifted you with the power to control the beasts. He’d always thought you had a different gift. Matthias told me how you’d found a sparrow in the jaws of that big old ginger tom you hated.’ She stopped talking.
Heat rose up my face at the intensity of her stare.
‘You should have seen the way his eyes lit up as he told me how you chased that cat up a tree, how determined you were tosave the little sparrow. It’s rather noble by the way. To place such value on the life of a creature others deem insignificant.
‘Anyway, Matthias said you managed to follow it up a tree. The cat hissed, spat the sparrow out before it scratched a good few chunks out of you.
‘You still wanted to save that sparrow though. You jumped down, twisted your ankle and gathered it up in your hands.’
‘It was stunned,’ I said, my voice trembling as much as my hands. ‘The sparrow. It was only stunned. Matthias thought it was dead, but?—’
‘Itwasdead, girl. It had been mauled by a cat and fell eight feet from a tree onto cobblestones. Matthias said he saw the blood seeping from its shattered skull.’
‘He was wrong.’
She huffed her frustration. It was getting harder and harder to get the words out as my throat constricted.
‘He wasright, girl, and you know it. You held a dead sparrow in your hands and a minute later it flew away. Attacked the cat, by all accounts.’
I slammed my hand on the table, leaping up, scattering the mugs.
‘Stunned! It was stunned! Imadeit attack the cat. It was me.’
‘Stupid, stupid girl.’ Glesni was in my face, her features twisted. ‘You’re a De?—’
‘Don’t you dare say it.’ Tears streamed down my face.
‘Deviant.’ The old mentor raised her chin, crossed her arms and stared at me.
I glared at her, at the wry smile hooking up her thin lips as my ragged breaths heaved. Pablo was there, offering a whine.
‘I can’t.’
She tilted her head, leaned forward and tried to take my hand, but I snatched it back.
‘Have you even tried?’
Panic flooded me, and I shook my head, clenched my tingling fingers. Visions of blood, the screams of a little girl. Mama. I shut them down. Swiped the tears from my cheeks.
‘How do you suggest I practise on the dead, Glesni?’ My hair had unravelled from my unkempt braid and I dragged my fingers through it.
She snorted. ‘People die every day.’
‘And they have families, friends, those who love them. Do you think they’d want me to bring back a thoughtless beast wearing the skin of the one they’ve lost? If you think I was a fucking liability with a mouse, you should see what I do with a corpse.’
‘I know you well enough to know I can’t force you to do this, even with the threat of the blight ready to steal your mind. But what about Matthias? Keya…’ The old woman swallowed, took a deep breath before starting again. ‘Keya and I had a whole lifetime together. I don’t regret a single moment I spent in her company. This is the future you can have with a man who’d sacrifice his kingdom for you. At least give yourselves a chance. Think, child. A life filled with more love, more friends than others could dream of. Do it for them, Sorrow. Do it for him.’
I shook my head, swiped the tears and headed to the door. I faced Pablo who hesitated, his head swivelling between Glesni and me. As I called him, he stared at Glesni, before she nodded and the wolf came.
