Abducted [W&W Book 3]

Chapter 18

The morning arrived and noises woke Ildri. She opened her eyes to see that Maxine was already up and dressed and preparing for the day.

"Good morning, Ildri," she said cheerfully.

"Good morning, Maxine," Ildri agreed.

"Here," Maxine said, holding up some clothes, "I'm going to give you a clean dress. I'm afraid the one that you were wearing is a little worse for wear."

"Yeah," Ildri agreed. "It's been through as much as I have."

Maxine nodded with a kind smile. She turned and picked up a shiny bottle off of her boudoir and swallowed it back in a single swallow.

Ildri was curious but she thought it might be rude to ask what Maxine had taken.

Maxine was not oblivious to Ildri's curious expression. "It's what keeps me looking young," she explained with a sardonic smile.

"Oh. Well, you look lovely," Ildri said and she meant it.

"This is how I looked about twenty years ago," Maxine smiled again. "I don't really care how I look myself, but I need to play to my audience. I never quite know when a customer might drop by. You understand; I make my living selling such potions. I would hardly sell a one if I looked my own age."

Ildri was somehow surprise that Maxine was as old as she said. She retained a vibrancy that Ildri doubted had anything to do with the potion. "I think you still would."

"That's kind of you, but the sorts of people who I sell these to are mainly interested in what the cover looks like rather than the words on the pages." She paused. "But, Ty will be ready to leave soon so I'm going downstairs. I'll leave you to get ready," Maxine said as she set the clean dress on the bed. With another smile as she whisked off down the stairs.

Ildri smiled to herself. Maxine was so nice. All of Ildri's qualms about coming here seemed to have been in vain. Ildri washed up and pulled on the clean dress. She felt so much better and so much more herself. She glanced in the mirror and saw her wrinkled face looking back at her. It was a shame that she could not wash the disguise off so easily. She missed looking like herself. She did not want to look so terrible around Ty.

Not that it mattered, of course. Ildri turned away from her reflection and almost tripped over a rabbit. "Sorry, Rebecca," she said. She picked the rabbit up and scratched it behind the ears before carrying it towards the stairs.

Halfway down, she heard the sound of lowered voices. Instinctively she slowed her pace and perked her ears.

"Ty, just leave Ildri here with me," Maxine said.

"Maxine, I don't think—"

"You said yourself that she did not see anything in that camp she can add to your testimony. Surely your word is more than good enough for the king. If they need her, the king can send an armed guard to pick her up from here after you arrive at the capital. You know that you were wrong to drag an innocent young girl all over the country and as much as I know you are a very capable warlock, it's dangerous."

"What would you have me do? I made a mistake. You might recall that I am human. The circumstances were most suspicious when I found her and I did not believe until later that she was innocent. I could not very well leave her in the woods, Maxine. They almost killed her."

"You're right. You could not very well leave her in the woods alone. But you could leave her here, Ty. You know that she would be more than safe with me and you could travel more quickly alone."

"I know. You're right," he agreed slowly.

"But you don't want to leave her, do you?" Maxine asked in a softer voice.