“I didn’t come from wealth or luxury,” I said. “You’d understand, I’m sure.”
Didn’t mean for it to be offensive, but, based on the run-down cottage, Ginger didn’t seem like much of a wealthy person either.
More silence. Then, softly, “I used to have a nanny,” she said. “And a tutor… which is how I learned to read.”
Frowning, I looked at her.
This truth revealed something: she hadn’t grown up poor. I figured she taught herself to read.
But now that I thought of it…
She did seem quite educated. Like shehadread a lot of books.
On herbs and plants, specifically.
“How’d you end up out here?” I asked. Had she grown up in Corallure in a wealthy family? Why wasn’t she married off to a wealthy man, then? Or reveling in the things that high society did?
“Once my stepsister came into the picture, I was no longer needed.”
Stepsister?
“Anyway.” She cleared her throat, fingers idly tracing the edge of the book. “Life’s like a wild garden—you think you’ve learned every leaf and root, and then a new bloom rises from the soil, one you’ve never seen before. Just when you think you know it all, you find out how much you never really did.”
She was right.
Because I was in the thick of it right now.
Just when I thought I knew enough about people, there was this young woman before me.
A mystery–a beautiful mystery.
Someone I wanted to figure out.
Even if I knew anything between us was forbidden, maybe even wrong and unnatural.
We were so different. Too different.
And yet… I brushed my hand against hers. Her skin was soft. Her hand small compared to mine.
The touch sent warmth through my entire body.
Her breath hitched.
“Mind reading me the rest of the story?” I asked.
I had too many things to worry about: the twins, figuring out who ambushed us, making sure the shipbuilders did a good job repairing the Crimson Wake, and figuring out her… Ginger.
But it could all wait for a moment longer.
She smiled softly and opened the book.
CHAPTER SIX
MALIA
The days wore on forever. It was like waiting for herbs to dry.
One evening, after Alaric excused himself, I paused, watching him move slow but stubborn as ever to the other room. Now the sound of water splashing echoed faintly from the washroom.
