She lifted her head and sighed. “He wanted to see if you were coming to meet me. I’m not sure if it is good or bad that he figured that out, too.”
“Probably a coincidence,” I told her. I didn’t want Powell to turn his attention to Mina, so I agreed it was best if ourmeetings stayed secret. Still, it hurt to hear her express such uncertainty about her cousin. At least I could reassure her on that point. “It looked like he was getting ready to pay Widow Penniwell a visit.”
“I’m sure he was. In fact, he was probably waiting to pay Widow Penniwell a visit from the time I left after supper until you walked out the door. But if he gets hung up on the idea that we are having a tryst, he might forget the conclusions he drew about your role in the forge. I’m not sure how the charm will impact things.”
A slow smile spread over my face, causing Mina to look at me oddly. I couldn’t help it, though. She was afraid that whatever she had said to Sam had given him the impression that we were romantically entangled. Plus, she wasn’t worried about Sam knowing she was spending time with me in general, but only in relation to how the knowledge impacted the charm’s hold on him.
I slid my arm behind Mina’s shoulders, urging her to lean into me. “A tryst, huh?”
“You engraved a rose on the knife you made me.” She settled against me, her head resting on my shoulder. “I think Sam might have put it together with my ring, too.”
“Wait, Sam knows I made the knife?” When Mina had said Sam was putting things together, I hadn’t expected that much progress.
“I let him draw his own conclusions, but between the rose and the superb balance, he knows Powell didn’t make it.”
“I wonder if that will be enough. You know, it always hurt the most that Magistrate Wrison and Sam never saw what was going on with Powell. With Cole and Jeff, I felt at fault. Like if I hadn’t drawn into myself so much when Ma got sick, maybe they would have stayed on my side. But I expected the Wrisons to look closer.”
“It wasn’t your fault. Friends support each other through grief. Even if there was no charm involved, it wouldn’t be your fault if your friends had pulled away after you went through such a loss. They should have been there for you.”
“They were when my father died. It makes me wonder if Powell was magicking people even earlier than I first thought. Because Coleand Jeff stopped visiting right when Ma got sick. I wasn’t seeking them out, so I didn’t notice right away, but that wasn’t like them.”
“I wonder if Powell knows a mage in Haiwella personally. He has too much access to heart-changing charms made with ill-intent. They would cost a fortune if he was paying black market values for all of them. Not to mention the price of renewing the main one every few weeks.”
I shrugged. How Powell came by the charms didn’t matter to me.
“That’s a question for the constables, I suppose.” Mina lifted her head from my shoulder. “Tell me, why weren’t you and Sam closer before the charm? You’ve mentioned Cole and Jeff plenty, and I know Sam is good friends with Jeff and friendly with Cole. Have I simply not heard the stories about you and Sam because the charm prevents him from reminiscing about those times?”
“No, Sam and I were never very close. Though I do have a story from one time when we were both playing with Jeff.” I chuckled. “Come to think of it, that incident might be why Sam and I never became good friends.”
“Oh? You can’t say that much and then stop.”
“This was probably when Jeff and I were about six and Sam was seven or eight.” I slid my hand down Mina’s shoulder, tucking it under her arm against her waist. I wondered how far I could give into the pull between us before I risked becoming overwhelmed with desire. Best to move slowly.
I continued my story, though most of my attention was on the curve of Mina’s hip. “We were outside, and it had been raining recently. Sam didn’t want to play any games that would get him muddy, which meant he didn’t want to do anything I considered fun. So, when he turned away, I scooped up a huge glob of mud and chucked it directly at his back.”
My lips quirked at the memory. For a moment there, Sam’s outraged expression had been completely worth it. “I didn’t consciously try to frame Jeff for the deed, but I moved aside after throwing the mud. When Sam turned around, Jeff was in the right spot, laughing uncontrollably. Sam ran over and punched him.”
Mina gasped. “He didn’t!”
“He most certainly did. Knocked Jeff on his ass. Then Magistrate Wrison walked up.”
“Oh, no.”
“Oh, yes. He took one look at the three of us and knew exactly what had happened. He sent Jeff off to Mistress Penniwell for a poultice before saying a single word to Sam or me. Then guess what he said?”
“Something about controlling one’s temper?”
“No. He looked at Sam and asked, ‘Did you even look at his hands?’ Sam asked, ‘Whose?’ and Magistrate Wrison replied, ‘Well, that’s the problem. You don’t even know whose hands to check, yet you’ve made a judgment.’”
Mina went statue-still against me. “That’s why you expected better from the Wrisons when the village first fell under the charm’s influence. You knew that they always look for whose hands are dirty.”
“I didn’t even consider the possibility of magic at first. I thought it was obvious that Powell was up to no good, but when even Magistrate Wrison acted like nothing was amiss, I doubted myself.”
Mina slid her arms around my waist, hugging me tight. “Gods, Alan. The fact that you have dealt with this for years is astonishing. I’m not even sure there would have to be a second charm affecting you directly. After everything you experienced, it is no wonder you had given up hope.”
“I think you were right about the second charm, otherwise I would have left Skorsa years ago. Luckily, I now have something stronger than that charm.”
Tilting her chin up, Mina smiled at me, her eyes sparkling. “You don’t need a reminder, then?”
