“You feel that?” he asked quietly.
“Yes,” I whispered. I held my breath.
The feeling was dark and cold—strange. Chills spread across my body, and the hairs on the back of my neck raised. But just as I began to panic, the feeling was…gone.
I let out a shaky exhale.
“Does…does that normally happen?” Quill questioned, eyes darting around the forest. “What was that?”
“I’m not sure…and no.” I wrapped my arms around myself, looking up into the trees around us.
“Have you encountered any witches in this forest?” he whispered.
I shot my gaze back to him, acknowledging the worried look on his face. Witch was a common slur for my kind. I hated it.
“No. No, I haven’t,” I said coldly. My eyes traveled away, and I resumed walking toward our destination.
He would never treat me with kindness if he knew who I was. I can’t forget that.
I thought back to the conversation Mother and I had earlier. I could create friendships…so long as my mask was on. But I had no interest in that. I didn’t see a point.
We continued quietly to a familiar area where I knew sage was planted.
“Here,” I said while pointing at the plants. Blueish-purple flowers appeared in clusters, and I knew I had found what I was looking for.
I crouched down and began to snip off the leaves of the plants with the small clippers in my bag.
“That smells…earthy,” he said with a scrunched-up face as he watched me.
“Baby,” I teased. “Be happy we aren’t out here picking valerian.”
I could feel him pause, so I looked up at him again, his expression pleasantly surprised.
“What?” I asked plainly.
“You’re just…not like anyone I’ve met before.”
“How’s that?”
“Well, normally, the girls I meet are—”
“Polite? Soft-spoken? Enthralled by you?” I retorted.
He blinked. “Well, yes, something like that.”
I let out a fake laugh. “Welcome to the Outer Ring,” I muttered as I resumed my snipping.
“I didn’t mean it as a bad thing…” he said quietly.
I paused. “Pfft” was the only response I could think of. I finished gathering enough sage to last us for a while, hopefully, and stood back up.
“That should be enough. We should hurry back.” I breezed past him, heading back to the kingdom. We walked the rest of the way in silence.
Chapter Four
Whenwereturnedtothe cottage, I quickly handed Mother the sage before she insisted Quill and I wait outside. The last thing we needed was for him to see her enchant the elixir. I thought he’d finally leave, but he said since he was heading back up to the Inner Ring anyway, he’d stick with me until my task was complete.
How annoying.
