She holds up the dyed threads. “May I bring this with me?”
I hesitate for a moment, but the last thing I want to do is annoy one of the few people who’ve treated me well.
“Fine, but you’d better hope I find more bugs.”
“I’m sure Ramsey will know where to look.”
Before leaving the hut, she sniffs, blinking rapidly. “I think you should know that you smell strongly of the Tempest spices.”
“That was the goal,” I say, wiping my eyes.
“Why?”
“Ramsey hates how I smell. He tells me every time we interact, at least three times a conversation.”
“Hm.”
“Hopefully, I’ve layered enough on, though my eyes do sting.”
“Are you trying to get him to want to have romantic relations with you?”
I gasp. “No—why would you think that? Did Arwin put that in your head?”
“I was just wondering if you made yourself smell more like food that he likes to provoke an act of romantic cannibalism.”
My jaw drops.
“If that is the case, you’ve got it wrong. Ramsey likes your scent, which is why he tells you he hates it.”
Furious at her offensive suggestion, I blurt, “But that makes no sense.”
“It makes perfect sense. He sees you as weak, and he hates the fact that he is, on some level he has no control over, attracted to you.”
I wipe my eyes again, but the stinging remains. “Well, I’m sorry to tell you, but logic has failed you for once.”
“As you say.” She exits without another word, leaving me to ponder her comment.
Ramsey has turned loathing me into a sport. It’s absurd to believe he could be attracted to any part of me.
Yet his visceral reaction to my scent suggests Nori could be right. Or maybe I just want her to be.
The door swings open, and grumpy Ramsey enters his hut, hanging his axe on a nail.
His nostrils flare. “Have you been eating in my hut again?”
I blink the sting away. “No?—”
“Yes, you have. The entire place smells of thearnroot.” He fans his hand under his nose. “I thought you Penticari could not handle Tempest spices, yet you reek of it.”
He’s not wrong. It’s practically burning my eyes.
Ramsey blinks half a dozen times. “How much have you eaten to smell so strongly of it? I do not know if your stomach can handle it.”
“As I said, I haven’t been eating in your hut.” I wipe my eyes, feeling the irritation growing.
“Then where is the odor coming from?”
“Because you hate my scent, I rubbed it all over my skin, so you don’t have to deal with it anymore. I picked thearnroot because insects and rodents hate it.”
