“I suppose that falls under the category of watching over you, doesn’t it?” he asked. “Making sure you eat…”
We both settled back on the hearth and I waited until he had flipped the three flatbreads in the pan before reaching out to rest my hand on his knee.
“I’m very grateful for your loyalty,” I told him, “and your cooking skills, no matter how subpar.”
Chapter twenty-two
Home & Hope
“Is this alright?” Iasked, smoothing down the front of my cream-colored linen dress. After eating breakfast and painstakingly washing flour out of my hair in the sluice, I had spent at least twenty minutes selecting what to wear. It was a lovely dress, and flattering, with pink musk roses embroidered around the collar, sleeves, and calf-length hem, but I was anxious nonetheless. Devil stood facing the shelf that ran along the outside of his room, selecting arrows for his quiver, but he looked back at me as I came through the archway from downstairs.
“Perfect,” he said quietly, eyes lingering just long enough that when he reached for another arrow, he knocked the entire stack of them onto the moss-carpeted floor. If I hadn’t known better, I would have sworn he blushed as he bent to pick them up. I walked over to help, but my hands were already shaky with nerves, and I grabbed an arrow he was already holding. The head slid across his palm, leaving a shallow cut, and I couldn’t help but gasp at what spilled out—not blood, but light. The same soft, golden light he could conjure at will from his fingertips. It lived inside him, just as he had said. No blood, and no heart, just magyk. I reached out, trying to smile even though my own heart was hammering inexplicably.
“Here, let me heal it.”
He shook his head, looking dismayed. “Your gift was meant to fix…living things. Blood and bone and sinew and skin.”
“But you have all those,” I laughed, “except blood, I suppose. Let me close the wound, at least.”
“Ihavealways wondered…” he murmured.
“About the gift you gave me?” I took his hand and laid my thumb over the cut. “You ought to know, it has saved a great many lives in Nottingham. If you even care about such things.” I tugged gently on the thread of magyk inside me, unwinding it as if it were on a spool beneath my breastbone. The familiar pulling sensation raced down my arm, but when it reached my thumb, it began to tangle and unravel. The light in Devil’s veins turned to a flame, burning up my thread like a wick. I yelped and pulled away, leaving the cut still open.
“What happened?” he asked, yanking his hand back.
“I-I’m not sure…” I rubbed my palm, which was aching slightly, and let out a weak laugh. “It felt like your magyk…bit me.”
“It does not work for creatures like me,” he muttered, wiping the drops of liquid light with his sleeve. Rather abruptly, he took a stray strip of linen and tied it around his hand, then went to take his bow off the wall and string it. I started to assure him that I was not upset, but thought better of it. Our conversation earlier had been emotional enough, and I still did not fully understand what he had told me about his own ‘birth’, nor my role in it, but he seemed reluctant to discuss it any further. So, I remained silent while waiting for him to finish, and ran my fingers through the bits and baubles hanging from the branches overhead.
Shafts of sunlight hitting the suspended treasures created a patchwork of patterns on the floor and walls. It was like being inside the kaleidoscope Tuck had made me once when I was a child. A simple toy—just a shabby spyglass he’d bought from a tinker, then filled with tiny, colorful beads. But when I held it up to the light, it had transported me to another world entirely. Maybe this world. The memory of it made me smile, and I twirled around, trying to knock as many of the strings as I could at the same time, but I almost ran straight into Devil.
“You really must stop sneaking around like that,” I chided, then reached above his head and tapped a spiraling, unicorn-horn seashell. “What is all this anyway?”
“These are my bargains,” he said, a note of soft pride in his voice. “A young woman left me that shell in exchange for a new bottle of kohl, so she could attract the attention of a lover. And this one…” He showed me a string of shining teardrops in every color of the rainbow. “This was left by a boy, the son of a glass-maker, who wanted his own bow and quiver of arrows. They are only pieces of slag from his father’s workshop, but to him, they were treasures valuable enough to bring to the Arden.”
“And do you always give people the things they ask for?”
“Of course. When I can.”
“So, you do not spendallyour time spying on me, then,” I said with a smirk, and he rolled his eyes.
“I should be allowed some hobbies, shouldn’t I?”
I continued wandering around the room, touching each object one-by-one. “Do you make the things people ask for? I mean, could you make a bow and arrows out of thin air right now? Or a bottle of kohl?”
“No.” Devil flashed a feral grin. “The things I give must be…procured…”
“So, you’re a menaceanda thief!” I scoffed.
“Is it truly thieving if the people I take from can afford to replace their things immediately?” he asked with a laugh. “The son of a wealthy family would assume that he simply misplaced his bow and arrows, and would get another within a week. But those ‘toys’ were prized possessions for the glass-maker’s boy, and he became quite skilled with them. Perhaps he now uses those skills to earn a living, or feed his family. All thanks to me.”
I pursed my lips. “Yes, all thanks to you.”
“Come,” Devil said, holding out his hand. “I promised I would deliver you quickly and here it is, hours later. Antenor will surely report that we’ve been…otherwise engaged.” He took my hand and pulled me closer, wrapping his arm around my waist. I closed my eyes and leaned my head on his upper arm, having noticed that whenever we traveled by magyk, I felt a little ill afterwards.
“Why are you bringing your weapons?” I murmured.
“Once you are with Oberon, I must begin hunting for the herb that will cure Lady Helena of her love-sickness,” he said. There was a softwhooshingin my ears, then I looked up to see that we were standing outside the Bower again. It looked different in broad daylight. No less imposing, but the ethereal quality lent by the faerie lights and the moon was gone.
