I look to Rowan, feeling the room go cold.
“Um…okay. I hate working with nature.” The lie is sharp. Clear.
“That is impossible,” she whispers. Kael shifts.
“What?”
She steps closer, studying me as if I’ve cracked something open. “Truthbind seizes the tongue. It knots the jaw, burns the throat.” Her gaze lifts to mine. “You should be in agony right now.”
“I’m not,” I say quietly, touching my throat as if I might find a mark there. The shop feels smaller, the herbs overhead no longer feeling decorative.
“Alright. That’s… unsettling,” Kael remarks. Rowan hasn’t moved, his eyes fixed on the herbalist.
“Remove it from her system,” he says.
“It’s already dissolved,” the woman replies, taking a silver coin from her pocket and handing it to him. “No charge,” she adds softly.
“That wasn’t what I was worried about,” Rowan says. Kael claps his hands together, breaking the tension in the room.
“We should get going,” he says. The woman nods at us as we make our way out of the door. I offer her a small, polite smile, but she doesn’t return it. She studies me instead.
Something cold settles low in my stomach.
The bell chimes as Rowan pushes the door open, his hand firm at my back. I glance back over my shoulder to find she’s still watching me.
“Come on, let’s go,” Rowan says, pulling me away. I’m not sure how long it takes us to walk back to the horses, but somewhere in the strange silence we arrive. Taking Rowan’s hand and settling myself on the saddle, I ease into the feel of Rowan behind me, less nerve-racking now.
“Are we headed back to the castle now?” I ask, noticing the sun dip below the tree line. I’m sure it’ll be dark soon and I’m not sure how comfortable I feel about riding through these forests without the sun to light up its dark corners.
“We have one more stop,” Rowan grumbles from behind. One more stop?
The road narrows long before the cottage appears. Where I’ve grown used to seeing stone pave the surrounding floors, it’s replaced by packed earth. Softened by moss and rain, wooden fences replace iron gates. When the house finally comes into view, I see it for what it is.
A home.
The roofs meet at sharp angles, layered and uneven. Smoke curls from one chimney, thin and steady. It looks lived in. Softly glowing windows cast a warm light, illuminating the moss on the walls on either side.
“Where are we?” I ask aloud.
“Home,” Rowan says, lifting me down from the horse once again. My gaze remains fixed on the cottage in front of me before my focus shifts to the wooden door opening with a creak. A woman stands in the doorway, smiling and waving at us.
“My boys!” she calls as Kael sets off in a slight jog to meet up with her.
“Are you coming?” Rowan asks me before walking towards the woman. The fact that he asks, rather than orders, leaves something warm in my chest. But before I can sit on it any further, I hear Kael’s voice calling me to hurry. I walk towards the front door, watching the woman hug Kael and Rowan, her arms knowing where to go without asking. It's familiar, warm, and I feel almost cold standing watching in the shadows. As I approach, the woman meets my eyes over Rowan’s shoulder. She pulls away from him as he continues inside the home.
“And you must be Elodie.” She grabs my elbows and pulls me in for a hug before I can even answer her. “I’m Mara, Kael’s mother "
“Oh, it’s lovely to meet you. You have a beautiful home.”
“Thank you, dear,” she says, wrapping an arm around me and guiding me inside, she turns to Rowan in the kitchen, “I need help with food. Come,” Rowan gives her a small salute before following her, glancing back at me before he’s rounded the corner.
“Elodie, this is my sister,” Kael says, placing his hands on my shoulders and pivoting me towards a girl about the same age as me. Straight hair as dark as the night and cheeks pink with blush, she’s pretty.
“Bryn, this is Elodie,” Kael says, beaming.
“Hi, Elodie,” she smiles.
“I’m glad to see they got you your own clothes,” she says, glancing down at my dress.
