“Celia and Larch found…ways to meet each other,” murmured Briony, the squirrel-tailed girl, “at the edge of the forest. They never got to be together very long—”
“But it doesn’t take much time to make a child, does it?” said someone behind me. I had not even noticed Devil’s arrival, and when I stood to face him, he stepped back a pace. I suppressed a smile and wondered if perhaps he was trainable after all.
“You’ve eaten already?” he asked, and I nodded. “Good, then I suppose you’ll want to bathe before tonight.”
“Oh, so the Arden’s wayward children do understandsomehuman customs?” I teased. “Like the need for cleanliness?”
“Bathing happens to be a cherished pastime in the Arden,” he told me. “Sort out your clothing. I’ll wait here.” His eyes slid down my body, over the black shift I still wore beneath my cloak, and I turned away to hide the burning in my cheeks.
Back in the cottage, I dug through my trunk of new clothes and pulled out one of the cotton wrap dresses. This one was a soft green with tiny nodding violets embroidered around the collar and sleeve cuffs. At the bottom of thetrunk I found several pairs of knee-length cotton leggings and a simple cut-off bodice with laces on the front to serve as undergarments. I changed quickly, then secured my wrap dress with a beautiful leather belt, etched with intricate images of frolicking rabbits.
When I stepped outside carrying a simple cotton blanket to dry myself with, Devil was standing nearby, speaking to Larch in hushed tones. Both men looked incredibly serious, and Larch immediately stopped talking when he saw me. Devil, however, just gave me a winning smile.
“Excellent. I hope you’re ready to walk. It is a fair distance.” He flared his great wings out. “Unless you’d prefer to fly again.”
“My legs work just as well as your wings,” I sniffed. “Shall we?”
“Are you taking her to the falls?” Aliena asked.
“She’ll need to be rid of that human stench before I take her anywhere,” Devil replied with another grin.
Aliena rolled her eyes, then came over and whispered, “There’s a private pool in the caves behind the waterfall. And whatever anyone up there says, don’t let it upset you.”
I tried to smile, but her words set me on edge, and I couldn’t help wondering what I was walking into.
It turned out that I was walking into a walk. A long walk. Entirely uphill. The Hollow grew wider and more sloped the closer to the foothills we got, following the little creek splitting it in half. I cursed my human stamina all the way, huffing and puffing while Devil practically skipped ahead of me.
“This…had better be…the most luxurious…bath…I’ve ever taken…” I grumbled after we’d been walking for nearly half an hour.
“I offered to fly you there,” he chirped, using his wings to lift him over the creek and landing in front of me. I stopped and planted a hand on my hip.
“An offer which I’m sure would have come with conditions.”
“If I wanted to make another bargain with you, I would have said so.”
“Would you?” I raised an eyebrow and stepped around him.
“Youstilldo not trust me?” He kept pace beside me, but walked backwards so he could gloat.
“Why should I?”
“Because I have done you no harm, and have kept my promises.”
“You have kept nothing,” I snapped.
“But neither have I broken anything,” he replied, “and so you have no reason not to trust me.”
“Youdounderstand that it is possible to simply…be wary of someone, yes? Neither to trust nor mistrust?”
“Being a human seems so incredibly dull,” said Devil with a wide, false yawn. “So fearful that you cannot leap into the darkness feet first, eyes closed, with only a warm hand to clutch and a prayer that you make it through to the light.”
“I believe that’s what I did yesterday when I let you bring me here, rather than fighting you tooth and nail like I could have.”
“So you admit that you trusted me yesterday?”
“Why do you care so much whether or not I trust you?” I cried, stopping in my tracks again.
“If you do not, it will certainly make this evening much more difficult,” he said with a shrug.
