Beauty and the Magician (Tales of the Red Witch Book 1)

Chapter 25 - Courting trouble

"Stupid... childish... washy son of a worm!" Annika mumbled as she brought a rake down again in the last little bit of the garden that was yet to be cleared.

Annika came to the realization that for the last few days, Eben had been avoiding her. He spent most of his time locked up in his room and only managed to be in her presence for brief moments in passing or at meals. She got the feeling at one meal that he had somehow bribed Toby into playing the go-between, because she was beginning to notice his domination of the meal-time conversations and his strict adherence to boring benign topics. Topics such as the weather.

Honestly, if she had to sit through another long in-depth conversation about the weather in various regions of Landet Gress, she was going to pull out her claws.

She was spared from the mind-numbing exercise yesterday when Eben disappeared for the day. Upon not so subtle questioning, Toby said that he was off looking for the prince again. Though he had added that Eben had gone out the Wohnort door.

Ha! Annika could have told him that the prince wasn't in Wohnort. Why on earth would the prince of Landet Gress be in sleepy boring Wohnort? And if he had been there then he surely would have left at a gallop when Femke and Betje along with the rest of the local females discovered him. No, only cads pretending to be princes to win favors from country bumpkins who didn't know any better ever went to Wohnort.

She sighed. She really should not be so concerned with Eben, but she couldn't help it. He was so much like one of the riddles her father gave her. She was determined to puzzle him out. And she was determined to make sure he followed through on his deal to help her in exchange for the garden. But that was hard to do when he wouldn't talk to her.

She brought the rake down hard into the earth. The metal prongs making a satisfying thud as they sunk into the ground. She grumbled as she took out her frustrations on the hardened weed congested dirt.

She caught herself glancing up towards his window against her better judgement.

His avoidance made her alternately sad and angry, like a carnival ride of highs and lows. She scanned the garden area. She put down the abused rake and picked up another of the well-used garden tools. Toby had turned the hoe into a tool with a wide flat end and she had used it to smooth and pack down the ground of the areas they had already managed to turn. She stamped down the flat end producing a smooth dirt floor that would serve as the base of her greenhouse and the planter boxes that would be built inside.

It was nearly ready for the greenhouse, she had just one last spot to finish. This meant she would have to corner Eben at some point to see about getting one.

It seemed like as good an excuse as any to get him talking.

***

The next morning she made the decision to confront him. The foolishness had gone on long enough and she refused to accept his childish behavior any longer. She had learned from Toby that omelets were Eben's favorite and so that's what she had made. It was the perfect bait. She made sure the smell wafted up to his room. She knew it was unfair to utilize this kind of chemical warfare, but he had left her little choice. With her trap set and the lure steaming and delicious, she planted herself in an empty chair, crossed her arms and waited. Her tail flicking her impatience as if it was shaking off drops of water.

He came slinking down the stairs some time later like a dog with his tail between his legs. Annika's stern look made him shrivel further.

"You've made a very great effort to avoid talking to me. Tell me, what did you have to give Toby to get him in on it?"