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I try not to giggle at Edith's assessment, but it escapes in a snort and bright light assaults my eyes when her bony white hand rips down the quilt.
“What did he do?” Her face is far too close, her violet eyes peering into me too intently for comfort.
“How do you know it was something he did?” My question catches me off guard; it’s certainly not like I want to defend him. Edith's hand captures my jaw, and she squeezes my cheeks, shaking my face.
“Because you are all that is good and perfect in this world and can do absolutely no wrong.” She releases my face with a pat to my cheek, finally sitting back. I can almostfeelSeldon’s eye roll next to me. I shift on the bed, shimmying to loosen the quilt trapped around me. Finally free, I sit up on my elbows so I can see them.
“Well, I can’t argue with that,obviously.”
Edith pats my leg affectionately.
“I swear to the Gods, if you do not tell us what happened, I am going to choke you with this cashmere,” Seldon finally bursts, aggressively waving the sweater in my face. “And that would be atravestybecause it would probably stretch and this is incredible.”
Another laugh escapes me, and I don’t miss that I have laughed more in my weeks here—well the week and a bit I wasn’t in my little nest—than I ever did back home. Rather than give in to the reminder of the laptop and phone, both with dead batteries, sitting like a ball of dread on the table, I swallow it down and bump my shoulder into Seldon’s knee where he sits next to me.
“Shut up.” My sigh is big but so is the weight of their eyes while they wait for me to talk. “Fine! Okay. We, uh, hooked up.”
“Ha! About time. Woodsy owes me fifty bucks.” Edith ignores Seldon’s little triumph, staring at me hard until one eyebrow raises in question. I can feel the heat of my blush creeping up my neck all hot and itchy.
“What happened next, Theo?” I try to stare her down, but it doesn’t work. She’s too confident, too calm.
“He said we shouldn’t have done it. He regretted it.” I hate how small my voice is. How weak. Especially under Edith’s piercing gaze.
Beside me Seldon clicks his tongue and makes soothing noises, reaching for me and hauling me up to him, wrapping his arms tight around me. I didn’t even know we were hugging-level friends, or that we were really friends to begin with, but I surrender to his cuddle because it’s nice and it breaks Edith’s hypnotic gaze.
“Did hesaythat?” There is something in the witch’s words that makes me think she knows more than she is saying. Edith usually does. She just enjoys toying with her prey. The heat in my cheeks blazes into an inferno.
“Well, no. Not the actual words. I stopped him. I couldn’t hear them a second time.”
Edith's arched brow is raised to include a knowing head tilt and pursed lips. Shit. “Come again? A second time?”
Seldon’s harsh intake of breath tickles my ear. My eyes find the pattern on the quilt cover and I focus on it with all the intensity I can muster.
“Uh, yeah. The night we camped with the centaurs? I kissed him. He was just so… and I was all upset and he comforted me and then I kissed him and it was fucking incredible. And then he said that he shouldn’t have kissed me back because I was vulnerable or whatever. He washorrified. I felt like a fool.”
“To be fair, hun, you’d just been rescued from being kidnapped and, um, not to defend him because obviously he is one hundred percent the villain here, but maybe he had a point and youweren’tin the right state for a quickie with a guy you’d known for a couple of days out in the middle of the Woods with your brother and a centaur herd and Gods knows what else lurking nearby?”
I tip my head back to glare at Seldon’s face, his sharp but pretty features pulled into a wince. Edith pats my leg sympathetically.
“Baby boy.” Edith is the only person on the planet that can get away with calling me baby boy, “I hate to say it. But maybe he had a point. You have been through alot. You are only just getting yourself back. Have you, and I know this is a wild thought, but have youtalkedto him?”
I scoff and squirm uncomfortably in Seldon’s lap, unable to look anyone in the eye. Because I definitely didn’t talk to him. I’d thrown a tantrum and hid in my room. Shame snakes through my belly, making me feel queasy and uncomfortable. I hate it.
“Look, my darling, I think that might be the first step. Roan will understand. I don’t think-” Edith moves her face to catchmy eyes so I have no choice but to look at her. “I don’t think he meant what he said. And if he did, maybe he needs some convincing. Yeah?” My nod is small, the idea of talking to Roan and discussing my outburst makes me want to vomit from embarrassment.
“You can do it. But you need a new outfit. In fact, you need all new outfits. I’m in the mood to shop, and you have credit cards to burn.” Seldon shakes my shoulders, squeezing me with affection. “Get your butt out of bed. We’re going shopping.” My nose scrunches at the suggestion, anxiety joining the shame party already making me feel queasy.
“What time is it? Don’t you have work? Not today, I don’t even know-” I’m cut off when Seldon shoves me off the bed, sending me sliding on to the floor with a loud yelp. Edith only cackles at my pain, managing to jump out of the way in the nick of time.
“Enough excuses. It’s midmorning; I only came here to see you, and you need to stop hiding in all my hand-me-downs. You’re too young and too cute to be walking about like a child in their big brother’s clothes. It’s time to find whoyouare, Theo. And what better way to do that, than with new clothes?”
Unlike my haphazard dismount, Seldon slips off the bed gracefully and stretches out his hand to pull me up. His plan sounds dubious at best, but I’m too caught up that he came to the tavernspecificallyto see me onhis day off. And now he wants to spend the day with me. It’s absurd how the notion of it all lights up something inside me, fighting away the dark thoughts clamouring for me to crawl back into my nest.
Maybe heisright; maybe a new outfit will give me the confidence to face Roan and explain, well, everything. I might just have to figure it out first.
“You coming, Witch?” I accept Seldon’s hand and let him pull me up. Edith has found my suitcase, rummaging through the lot just like Seldon did.
“Absolutely not. You boys have fun. I’ll let myself out when I’m done.” She doesn’t even look up, just holds up a shirt before discarding it and waving us off over her shoulder. I hesitate for just a moment but decide to let it slide. Edith’s going to do what she’s going to do—a locked door is certainly not going to stop her. I grab some cleanish clothes from the stack and duck into my shower.
