AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Lorraine let out a sigh of relief. “Good, because I’m tired of hiding. I just want to go home.”
A pang of guilt shot through my chest.
“I’ll be back,” I said. “I’m getting someone to put something together for us.”
Lorraine nodded, not asking questions. She’d resigned herself to the fact that living in a world of magic meant some things—most things—couldn’t be explained.
I left the cabin again, my stomach twisted into a knot of nerves. I shouldn’t have been worried about what she would think when I told her what I’d done. I shouldn’t have cared so damn much. I was a selfish son of a bitch, and I didn’t care about anyone else.
The problem was that I did care. At least, I cared about Lorraine and what she thought of me. Fuck knew how that happened, but she wasn’t just some human I’d saved anymore. We’d become close, and when I told her… well, I doubted she would be thrilled.
Maybe I would be wrong, and she’d be happy to stay with me for a while longer.
I guess I could only hope.
I headed into the trees to find Rowan, the drus who could make orchards spring up at will and who had contacts who could put together a magical picnic basket for me so that I could treat Lorraine to something nice before I dropped a bomb on her.
Gods, this was going to be fun.
ChapterThirty-Five
Lorraine
Iwaited for Ash to come back. I was excited to see him, to spend a bit of time together. It felt like ages since we’d last spent time together that meant something. So much had happened in the past while, it was difficult to keep track of time.
How long had I been here in the vale? It had to be weeks… no, months? I had no idea how long it had been. It felt like I’d been here a lifetime.
Ash returned after a while, carrying a basket.
“What did you get?” I asked.
He chuckled and walked to the rug in front of the fireplace. “You stoked a fire,” he said.
I nodded. “It wasn’t easy, but we all have to learn at some point, right?”
He grinned at me and unpacked the picnic basket. He laid out freshly baked bread, grapes, cheese, cold cuts of meat, and a bottle of wine out on the rug.
“Oh,” I breathed. “I haven’t eaten like this in months.”
Ash glanced at me. “What?”
I looked up at him. “You know… how long have I been here?”
“Two weeks,” Ash said. “Or just a little over.”
“What?” I blinked at him. “That can’t be right. I’ve been here for weeks. Months, even.”
Ash shook his head. “If you’re not used to magic, then time gets very strange out here. It’s different, even for us. Centuries don’t feel like centuries, and time goes by pretty fast.”
I shook my head. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Nothing here makes sense to the human world.”
I guessed that was true.
“How are you feeling?” he asked when I dug into the bread and cheese as if my life depended on it.
“Starving,” I said. “But good.”
