Winterskin (Book One of Wrath & Winter)

Magic Does as Magic Will: Part Three

When orange lit up the sky, we trekked down the path together. Eva and Maddy clinging to my forearms, Gram striding behind us.

Montbereau had transformed. Going from grim and dull and snowy, to kaleidoscopic in its assortment of flying banners, hanging tapestries, whipping streamers that seemed to pull themselves from old smoky houses and sprout from the mud-laden ground. Before the well that sat in front of the Jarl's longhouse, five long tables had even been set up. All overflowing with food that certainly wasn't in season.

I can almost feel Horace. Sashaying through the crowd. Confident—overly confident. Offering us rowdy, red-faced, hugs before going off to get rip-roaring drunk with his buddies.

Perhaps it was the drink that killed him. Not the fiends.

And I'm pretty sure Maddy and Eva see him too, for they stiffen in the crowd of raucous people. Somehow deaf to their chants and shouts and proud songs. Their eyes linger on the stool he sat at last summer. When these same long tables and streamers and banners were set up.

Maybe this was a mistake.

Eva squeezed my arm. "Are those your shieldsiblings?" she asked, pointing toward the loudest group in the crowd. At the center, Jod roared with red-faced laughter.

"Unfortunately."

"Shouldn't you go...say something?"

"We'll have time." I decided, "Why don't you two go have fun?"

Then, it was just me and Gram as Eva and Maddy danced toward their friends and took off. Giggling, smiling. All of it forced, but forced for my sake.

I kicked myself for not telling them that I didn't need it. If they needed to be gloomy, to be worried and frightened for what would become of me tomorrow, then they were free to do so. Their worries won't harm me, I want to tell them.

But they giggled and pranced away.

"Well?" Gram came up beside me, took my arm and led me to the edge of the crowd, "does that also apply to you? Are you allowed to be happy, Kitten?"

Though she spoke to me, her eyes weren't on me. They went over my shoulder, meeting with someone else.

Like feeling Horace's undead presence, I felt him too. But unlike Horace, his presence made my skin tingle and my heart stop.

"I'll keep you safe." She said, turning me, "I promise."

And there he is. Hanging on the edge of the crowd. Wearing a black and gray surcoat that sticks to every ridge and plane of his muscular upper-body and tapered waist. His black-silver hair is pulled back. Those fiery eyes alight on mine and we're alone. The crowd has frozen solid at our left and the world has stopped in that peaceful place. The space between breaths.

Elisedd scanned me, devouring me with his eyes. Came closer. Gently took my hands in his. Lifted my right one as he looked my gown over, marveling at the intricate designs Eva and Maddy stitched in.

"Stunning." Was all he could say.

Sometimes it's hard.

He isn't human. He isn't like me. But whenever I look at him—especially this nicely dressed—my mouth goes all dry and my heart takes a terrifying leap. This time, though, it's different. There are butterflies wings in my stomach. The big ones. The ones with the pastel-painted wings and long, graceful, antennae.

"Why are you here?"

I hate myself. I hate myself. I hate myself.

But, surprisingly, he laughed. Still with my hands in his. "Because I care." He said, smiling at me through his lashes, "Because this is an important night for you." The rapturous voices of the crowd come screaming back and all too quickly, I realize that I am pressed against his chest. His heartbeat beating slowly against my hand, "Because...," and he tilts his head slightly to the side. Letting his body do the work.

Dancing is customary, but not like this. Not with someone that makes my body feel like it belongs somewhere. Like a fallen branch that's somehow rerooted to a tree by a druid. I know that we shouldn't be seen. That Elisedd is not a familiar face in Montbereau, and it'll only bring questions. But as we dance silly jigs and hug each other close when the music changes, I'm suddenly seeing a whole host of unfamiliar faces. And more people pouring in from the outskirts. Tramping along the muddy trails to the town center. A horde of them.

And in the corner of my eye, Gram's eyes shine.