‘Clever girl,’ Frederick said with a grin. ‘Always compliment the mother.’
‘Uncle Fred,’ Xander said in a warning tone.
‘Just teasing, Xandy-boy,’ Frederick said with a wink. He took Bisma’s hand to kiss the back of it, his touch lingering as he squeezed her palm with his gloved hand. ‘Delighted to meet this wonder again.’
Bisma bit back a laugh. ‘Xandy-boy?’ she mouthed at Xander.
He rolled his eyes, but the act was affectionate. It was evident that Xander’s mother and uncle adored him, and that adoration was now being extended to Bisma, as well, which felt … lovely.
‘Alright, we’ll let you kids go now,’ Eleanora said, squeezing her brother’s arm.
‘Have some fun on our behalf, as well,’ Frederick said. ‘Though nottoomuch fun, mind you!’
Eleanora nudged her brother scoldingly.
Xander and Bisma waved goodbye, walking away, but Bisma looked over her shoulder to find Eleanora watching her.
Eleanora waved, smiling.
Was she that good of an actress? Did she not hate Bisma for the hand she thought Bisma had played in Leilani’s death?
Bisma couldn’t think of it further for something else required her attention; a handful of village boys were approaching. She recognized some of them. The unfamiliar faces seemed to be from the richer set; she could tell as much from their outfits.
‘Xander!’ one said, laughing as the group drew nearer. His eyes settled on Bisma, recognizing her; even if she did not know the boy personally, all the villagers of Old Town knew who she was.
She scowled.
‘What’s this?’ the boy said, turning to one of his friends. They all snickered, clearly amused by the fact that Xander was here with her.
Embarrassment burned through her, though she had nothing to be ashamed of. Bisma turned to Xander and saw his face was red and splotchy. Her heart crashed. He was embarrassed as well.
‘Strange choice of prize, Xander,’ one of the boys said.
‘Get lost,’ Xander snapped, his voice lethal.
And she realized he wasn’t embarrassed. No. He wasfurious.
While he was usually verbose, now he could hardly grit out the two words. That seemed to frighten the boys enough that they stopped laughing, but they didn’t make any move to leave.
Suddenly, Bisma did not feel embarrassed anymore.
‘Didn’t you hear him?’ Bisma said, glaring. ‘Or do you need some encouragement?’
She reached into her bag, pulling out a closed fist as if to blow poison on them. They screamed, sprinting away, faces white with fear.
For a moment, Xander looked surprised, until she showed him her empty palm.
She inched closer to him, then revealed the contents of her purse.
‘Just an energy potion,’ she said.
Xander was surprised, but then he began laughing—they both did.
‘Well played,’ he said.
‘I thought so,’ she replied. Her reputation had come in handy.
She felt silly now for being afraid of stupid boys from the village. It was hard to be afraid of anything, really, when she was with Xander.
