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“What?”
“This summons…it’s urgent,” he confessed softly. “I have to go.”
“Now?”
His lips pressed into a hard line, and despite the heat in the bathing tub, I suddenly felt cold. He inclined his head sharply.
“Oh,” I whispered. Then I realized I was sitting on him and scrambled to get off. “Of course. I understand.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. And to his credit, it sounded like it. His jaw was tight, his teeth gritted as he stood from the tub, water sluicing off him.
“Will—will you be back?” I asked.
He must’ve heard the vulnerability in my tone because he said harshly, earnestly, “Of course, Marion. Of course I’ll be back. I just need… I don’t know how long I’ll be gone. But I will be back.”
In my mind, I thought,And how much longer will we be able to keep each other when he is always pulled somewhere else?
Lorik leaned down to press a hard kiss to my lips.
“Wait for me?” he asked against my lips. “Then we can continue this conversation, I promise.”
How long?I wondered.
“All right,” I whispered, looking up at him when he pulled away. “Be careful.”
“I always am, little witch.”
Then he was gone. I heard him dress, I heard the front door to my cottage close. And I was alone again, sitting in the tub that was still hot with his magic.
I was alone again…only this time it felt so much worse.
Chapter
Nineteen
Market day in Rolara had always been something I’d dreaded. A necessity, though I’d always felt the lingerings of guilt when villagers lined up near my usual stall before I even arrived.
I should enjoy this more,I’d always thought as I’d lugged my cart of potions all the way from the Black Veil into the village. Every month, like clockwork. People depended on my potions. They made their lives better. And itdidmake me content. There was a sense of pride in my work.
But I was no longer the fresh-faced, starry-eyed recruit in the Healers’ Guild as I once had been. I’d hidden myself away after Aysia’s tragic death, unable to take the whispers and pitying looks that followed me everywhere I went. I was comfortable in the Black Veil, comfortable in my solitude with my glowflies and Peek for company.
Every month, as I lugged my cart to the market, there was a sense of duty now. Duty because I was a keeper of glowflies and the keeper of the rarest of them all—shadevines. Duty because I’d taken an oath, bound in magic. Duty because…well, I needed the money to keep my cottage running, to buy any provisions I needed, and to pay the witch for the monthly protection spell.
So, no, I didn’t enjoy going to the market under normal circumstances.
But today?
Today, I hurried from the Black Veil at the crack of dawn and made for Rolara.
When I’d first encountered Lorik all those months ago, when he’d sauntered up to my stall with a mischievous smirk, his keen eyes scanning my table, covered in a cloth with holes in it…that day had begun to make market days a little more interesting. Because I always knewhe’dbe there. I’d had a silly, childish, fun crush on the mysterious Kylorr-Allavari male…
Only now I knew him. I knew he was as charming as he looked. I knew he could kiss me until I felt like I was floating and that he made my tea perfectly in the mornings. I knew the way his arms felt around me, how they made me feel safe and protected.
I knew I liked him and he liked me too. And I knew that I was in danger of falling in love with him. And I knew he’d left me in the washing tub nearly four days ago and he hadn’t come back…
My heart was in turmoil, a maelstrom of emotions. Elation and hope that I could see him today—because he’dalwaysbeen at the market days. Disappointment and hurt because I felt abandoned, with no indication of when I’d see him next.
When I reached the town’s outskirts, I saw that the banners and streamers signaling the market day had been put up overnight. Colorful ribbons that danced in the cold breeze. Most of the vendors during the event had their own shops in the village…but there was a sense of community and excitement surrounding the market, a small celebration in itself to close out the end of every month. There would be music and dancing and food. And overpriced items that you could buy for half the following day in the village.
