I turned around.Alexander stood at the threshold with his arms crossed, his shoulders nearly filling up the doorframe.
“Just helping Edmund get settled,” I said, closing the trunk with a thud.
Alexander rolled his eyes.“Don’t tell me the emissary expects to be served like a prince.Did you have to unpack his trunks or something?”
I stuck my head out in the hall.No movement.I pulled myself and Alexander back in and shut the door.“Please don’t insult someone who is right above us.And no, I was not.We were discussing business matters,” I whispered.“So.What do you think of him?”
“He’s polite enough,” Alexander said.
“Polite is good,” I said.“And?”
“He seems...friendly?”
“Is he friendly or not?”I demanded.
Alexander raised his hands.“Alright, heisfriendly.”A small crease appeared between his brows as he lowered himself into a too-small armchair at the corner of the room.It was upholstered in the same yellow floral fabric as the bed.“And this man...he’s just here to look around?”
“That’s the idea,” I said, taking a seat on the bed.My mattress wasn’t nearly as creaky as Edmund’s.“He’ll report his experiences to the King's Council.Once everyone knows Witch Village is a perfectly normal place they’ll—”
“They’ll what?Take it over?”
“No, of course not!It’ll bridge the distrust between witches and humans.And the Witch Committee is discussing whether the village should be open for visits.”
Alexander frowned.“Visits?This isn’t a menagerie.”
“I know.I don’t particularly like the idea either,” I admitted.Although I had spent the better part of the year aboveground, I didn’t know how thrilled I’d be to have humans in Witch Village.“Maybe this will be proof that we’re civilized and not wicked.”
“The fact that we even have to prove that is ridiculous,” Alexander said, running a hand through his hair.“Sometimes I wish the Non-Magic Age never ended.”
“There were witches getting sick, Alexander,” I said.
He sighed.“I know.But I just wish we could be left alone.”
Witches like Alexander never thirsted for more.He was too young to feel the health effects of spending a lifetime underground.He had his family, his fields, and his trips to the Witch Market every week to sell his produce.It was fulfilling work for him.
But for me, the village had never been enough.
We stewed in silence for a few seconds until Alexander said, “So, what sort of business were you talking about?Does it have to do with whatever you’ve been doing aboveground?”He waved his hand vaguely in the air.
I scrunched my nose.It was strange how little someone who knew me since childhood knewaboutme.“I opened a dress shop and I got to be the royal seamstress for the winter.We traveled all around Olderea.”
Alexander’s eyes widened.“Did you really?”
I felt a smile tug at my lips.The one good thing about homecoming was getting to brag.With unbridled enthusiasm, I told Alexander all about the Witch Committee, the winter tour, and the whole debacle with Celeste.
“You mean she was Cecelia all along?”Alexander shook his head in wonderment.“I knew that witch was crazy.”
Then came the not-so-impressive parts after the tour.How I rented Mrs.Lewis’s building.The confusion with Jeraldine being the royal seamstress instead of me.Then my eviction, and finally the offer to show Edmund around Witch Village.
“But things are looking up,” I said with a sigh.“Edmund just offered to feature me in his up-and-coming fashion magazine and I’ll have plenty of funds after this to open another shop in a better area.Plus, I get these two weeks to work on Narcissa’s wedding gown.”
“Is Lady Narcissa really as beautiful as you say?”Alexander asked.
I threw a pillow at him.“That’swhat you chose to fixate on?”
He caught the pillow sheepishly.
***
