23
The rest of the weekwas horrendous.
On the first day, Ma took Edmund and proceeded to parade him around the neighborhood, knocking on every door and introducing him to every witch that passed.Maddox went along too, as was his duty as a guard, and I watched them all from the window with narrowed eyes.I had been detained at the house with a pile of sewing from our neighbors, which Ma had thrust upon me that morning.
“I promised Pamela that you would mend her doily,” Ma had said brusquely, placing a hefty bag on my bed.“And Larissa would like napkins made from the linen she just weaved.Saoirse has an apron that’s falling apart.”
I gaped at the giant bag of mending that created a dip in my mattress.“Ma!I don’t have time for this!”
“Then make time.You’ve been gone for nine months and didn’t even say goodbye to our neighbors.The least you can do is give them a helping hand before the Harvest.And you wanted a job, didn’t you?”
“Ihavea job!I have a wedding dress to sew and an emissary to guide—”
“I’ll take care of the emissary.”Ma shut the door behind her before I could argue.
I fumed, fighting to breathe through the sudden feeling of being trapped.My life aboveground had been a decadent taste of freedom.To be thrust back here, without agency, with my time no longer my own, was a cruel, cruel punishment.
Glaring at the bag of mending, I grabbed my thimble and stuffed it over my finger.I was going to get this done.Fast.
Christabella and Sonny passed me by on the window seat of the parlor.
“What’s all that, Gigi?”Christabella asked, watching me cut large squares from Larissa’s linen.
“Napkins.”I snapped my fabric shears closed with more force than necessary.Sonny jumped back.
Christabella made a face.“I thought you were supposed to sew the crown princess’s wedding dress!”
“Iwas.But Ma volunteered me for free labor,” I grumbled.
Sonny sighed.“Tell me about it.She’s making us help the weather witches.”
“Ah.With relighting the village?”
Christabella nodded.“Some of the weather apprentices are gathering in the village square to discuss what to do.I might be able to help with light.Sonny is there to run errands.”
“All the best,” I said half-heartedly, stacking the linen squares in a pile and brushing the lint off my skirts.
I had finished hemming the napkins and was mending Saoirse’s apron when Ma came back with Edmund and Maddox in tow.There was another bag slung over her shoulder.I gritted my teeth.Surely it couldn’t be...
“More mending,” Ma said, dropping the bag on the finished napkins.“Clarisse wants new pillowcases.Gertrude’s son has trousers that are too long for him.Klaus’s daughter needs the hem of her skirt let down.”
My eye twitched as I suppressed the scream bubbling up my throat.
“Mr.Edmund de Clare.I presume you haven’t seen our irrigation system?”
“Er, no—”
“Perfect.We can go now.”Ma wrapped her shawl around herself and headed back out the door.
Edmund shot me a helpless look and followed her out, Maddox trailing not far behind.
I stabbed my needle into the pin cushion on my wrist.Why did Ma insist on taking over everything in my life?
The mending didn’t stop for the next three days.Whether it was dishtowels, table runners, sleeves or hosiery, Ma collected them all from the neighbors on her daily outings with Edmund.Even the speed charm in my thimble could barely keep up.Christabella and Sonny returned by the end of each day yawning and exhausted—it seemed that Ma insisted on workingallher children to the bone.
