“Gracious, I’m not the one with a right to be angry,” he said, propping up on one elbow. “I assumed you were angry at me. I deserve it.”
“I am angry at you, but that’s beside the point. Why won’t you talk to me?”
He chuckled. “I’m trying to sort through everything, and I can’t think about more than one subject at a time because I’m a man. I wish I could, but I can’t. It’s a failing of the species, I’m afraid.”
Valenna swirled her spoon in the soup. “I know that my magic was a shock to you. And so was my parentage. But I can’t help either of those things, and I’m wondering if … if you …”
He cast her a piercing look. “If I what?”
“Could you forgive me, and perhaps we could try again? Pick up where we left off?”
What was she saying? She couldn’t start over with Evander; she had to find Olivette. But, in that moment, she couldn’t make herself care about anything but him and his stupid, stupid headaches.
Evander's lips parted in an expression of shock. “You want to pick up where we left off? With me?”
“I’m sorry,” Valenna cried, her cheeks flushing. “This isn’t a good time.”
“No, it’s fine.” He stood and paced to the window, then turned to face her. Valenna’s stomach dropped. His mouth was set into a grim line, and she knew he was about to break her heart. Again.
“Could you forgive me?” she asked, her voice raw.
“What’s there to forgive?” he said with an incredulous laugh. “You haven’t done anything wrong. I’ve never met anyone like you. I’ll never meet anyone like you. I want … I wish … Val, it’s just … I have this problem, and I don’t know how ... I don’t know if I can … I am not managing this well at all. I’m sorry.”
“You can say no, Vander, it’s alright.”
“No … I mean, not that kind of no. I don’t want to say no. But I think I have to.”
A piercing nausea came over Valenna. He didn’t want her—of course, he didn’t. What right had she to presume he would?
Her head spun, and she felt like a mouse locked in a box with no holes for light or air.
A tapping at the door interrupted them, and Valenna, eager for something to do, got up to answer it, but Evander lunged after her and caught her arm. “I’ll open it. It could be a highwayman.”
“And what are you going to do if it is?” she asked. Evander didn’t even carry a decent dagger. Trained as a warrior from childhood, Valenna always had a knife concealed under her jacket or skirt.
He shrugged. “I’ll think of something.”
Before he could grasp the handle, Valenna darted in front of him and wrenched the door open, but it was not a highwayman. It was the girl Evander had paid to watch Hera.
“I’m sorry to bother you,” she said. “I had some information I thought might help.”
“Yes,” Valenna replied, taking the girl’s arm and directing her to the chair by the stove.
The girl didn’t sit—just hovered, hugging her slight body.
“I wanted to warn you,” she said. “Those woods are dangerous. Our people don’t go into them.”
She addressed Valenna, ignoring Evander, as if he weren’t in the room.
“Why?” Valenna asked.
“I don’t know what they’re called, but I’ve seen terrible creatures there.”
Valenna exchanged an anxious look with Evander. “What kind of creatures?”
“Plenty, but the ones I’ve seen were plants that eat men.” She jerked her head toward the window and the lightning flashing outside. “They come out and feast on lightning. One ate my husband. Swallowed him whole. I ran to the village for help, but when we returned, the plant had disappeared, and my husband with it.”
Valenna tensed against a shudder. How was this girl old enough to be married? “I’m so sorry,” she stammered.
