AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ourtomorrows.
I know it as fact, as thoroughly as I acknowledge the force that’s still spilling from my center. The heart of my beast, hers to tame forever. The essence of my life, hers to hold for all time.
I’m lost in the magic of the admissions, hoping that this layered maze has no findable exit door.
But all too soon, someone’s hauling that hatch wide open.
This time, it’s an actual door. Somebody’s opening the big wood thing that leads in from the cottage’s front porch, with its discernible weight and Zen chime door decoration.
“Hello inside? Anyone up and about?” The cheery call is followed by puzzled mutterings.
“It’s Morgana,” Kara whispers. “Oh, no. She must’ve brought breakfast earlier too.”
“All right now?” the witch calls again.
“Uh…yeah!” I croak-shout in return. “Just a minute!”
Kara breaks into a fresh giggle as I stand to stuff myself back into my jeans. After one more moment for a couple of calming breaths, I’m relieved to learn my legs still function. Though I’m only capable of Frankenstein steps, I manage my way to the main room. On the way, I take care of yanking my hair into a sloppy half bun.
My hands drop fast as soon as I open the door and behold the huge tray the woman on the porch is hoisting.
“Morgana. Hello. Wow, look at all this. You really didn’t need to walk up here with—”
“Nonsense.” The woman rolls her shoulders and waves a dismissive hand. “When you two didn’t come ’round at lunch, I thought it best to save a new platter and bring up the victuals.”
“Only to walk in and see we didn’t touch the breakfast platter either,” Kara returns while entering behind me. “That’s on me, Morgana. I’m so sorry. I was more tired than I assumed. So once we got back here—”
“Hush,” Morgana injects with firm force. “Everything is right as rain, got it? You’ve been dragged through one trial after the next. It’s astounding you’re up and about at all. Honestly, if Hecate wasn’t insisting so much that—”
“What? Morgana?Whatis she insisting?”
I’m the one punching it out first, though it’s a relief to see I’ve probably beat Kara by only a few seconds. Her features sharpen with the same demand underlining my voice. Is she hearing and seeing what I do now? That some edges of the Iremia fabric aren’t stitching together?
The witch fiddles with a long brown curl that’s broken free from her kitchen kerchief. “Oh,bugger. I…uh…I think I’ve already said too much.”
I stalk forward, not ready to let her back off, but Kara hooks an unnaturally strong grip around my elbow. The shake of her head is just as adamant. For a second, past all the ferocity, I glimpse something else in her reaction.
Is she…afraid?
Why?
“So, if either of you need anything else, just head to the sala. One of us will be happy to assist.”
Morgana doesn’t let a second pass after her offer. While she leaves with dedicated speed, loaded breakfast tray and all, Kara and I remain in place.
Once the tall sorceress is gone, my little demon releases my elbow. But her stance remains tense. I don’t tell her about the relief beneath my observation. She probably already knows. Though clearly the machinations of her brain have taken precedence for the time being.
She nibbles at a nail while pacing across the living room. After crisscrossing in front of the hearth, she settles onto a couch arm with a frustrated frown.
“Okay, maybe somethingisn’tadding up around here.”
I stay where I’m at. My growling stomach wants to see what’s on the lunch spread, but my mind overwrites it, too obsessed with the unsettled glints in her gaze. “I wish I was glad you finally said it.”
She looks ready to chew her thumb again but instead pushes tight knuckles against her chin. “Still, not adding up doesn’t mean that the numbers are bad. I’m sticking with my first point. I really don’t think we have the full story yet.”
There’s fresh tautness across my forehead. “And you still want that? Even after the little pop-by from your mom and Arden?”
“Especially after that.”
