“I don’t mind,” said Selene suddenly. “I trust him.”
Erisa stared at the young woman for a moment, and something passed across her features. She nodded. “I understand. An unfamiliar place can be unsettling.” She and Johnathan argued a little more after that, but Will’s mother had made up her mind.
As his family left and closed the other door, he heard his uncle continuing the fight. “This is exactly how you wound up in trouble, Erisa.”
“Shut up, Johnathan,” said Will’s mom.
They were alone, then. Will stared at Selene for a moment until she finally broke the silence. “I like your family.”
She positioned the cot to one side of the hearth while he made pallet of blankets for himself on the other. “Don’t worry,” she told him. “I’ll make sure you’re warm.”
He stared blankly at her for a moment.
“There’s a spell,” she hurried to add. “So the floor won’t be cold.” She held out her hands and formed a simple spell above them that consisted of just five runes.
“Wait,” said Will. “Let me see that.” He studied it for a moment, memorizing the structure. Then he attempted it for himself.
“Whoa!” she warned. “Smaller, much smaller. Make the lines thinner too. You’ll make the floor so hot it will burn if you do it that way.” He tried several more times, but she wasn’t happy with any of them. “Let me do it,” Selene said at last. “You need more practice.”
When her spell was done, he saw a faint, rectangular area of turyn form around his sleeping pallet.
“The spell is timed,” she explained. “It should last eight hours, and if you oversleep the cold will wake you.”
“That’s handy,” he said enviously. “I wish I’d known about that before I tried to escape to Branscombe the first time. I nearly froze to death.”
“You’ll learn a lot more at Wurthaven. You’ll see.”
“Assuming we survive the next few days,” he reminded her.
They bedded down, and thanks to his unforgiving schedule in the army, Will fell asleep almost immediately. Something woke him later, though, and he lay quietly in his cot, listening until he heard a strange sound coming from Selene’s direction. Is she in pain?
Opening his eyes just a crack, he looked in her direction. She was sitting up on the cot, clutching her chest with one hand. Through her fingers he could see a glow.
She stood abruptly, and he closed his eyes. He felt her approach, and it seemed as though she stopped beside him. A few seconds later, she moved on and he heard the distinct sound of the door opening and closing. Where is she going?
Rising quietly, he went to the door. She hadn’t closed it fully, probably to avoid unnecessary noise. He pushed it further open and peeked out. The moon was hidden by the trees, so he adjusted his vision until he could see clearly. Then he spotted her.
She hadn’t gone far, no more than thirty feet or so. She appeared to be talking to herself, so he adjusted his hearing as well.
“It wasn’t planned,” said Selene. “I had to improvise.” She paused as though listening, but Will couldn’t hear anyone else talking.
“I had my reasons,” she said. “He’s no ordinary mage. You’ll understand when you meet him. I’ve seen him do things we were taught were impossible.”
She listened some more, then responded, “No, that isn’t it. I just thought it would be a shame to let him go to waste, but after I learned more, I realized he could be incredibly valuable to you.”
She stopped then, bowing her head as though she had been scolded. When she lifted her head, her eyes were clear and her voice sincere. “My feelings have nothing to do with it. I have to win his trust. He’s very suspicious of sorcerers. You’ll always be first in my heart. Whatever I do, will always be with your interests foremost in my mind.”
Son of a bitch! thought Will. I knew it.
“As you wish,” said Selene, and it was apparent her conversation had ended. Will pulled the door back and hurried to his bed. When she entered, he kept his eyes tightly closed.
He heard light footsteps cross the room, and she stopped beside his pallet again. A soft rustling sound suggested she was doing something else, but she hadn’t moved on. Then something tickled his face. Will opened his eyes and found her face just inches above his own. Her hair had given her away.
“What are you doing?” he asked calmly, though he already knew. Making certain I was still asleep before she crawled back into bed.
Selene jumped, nearly falling back into the fire. He caught her hand and pulled her back, watching her face all the while. Her eyes darted to one side as she tried to find a reasonable excuse. She came to a decision and answered, “This,” and then she closed her eyes and leaned in, pressing her lips to his.
Her action filled him with fury, for he knew it was a lie. She’d do anything to fool me. Was a kiss the limit? Who knew how far she would go to gain his trust? For a split second, he was tempted to find out, but instead he gently pushed her away. Remembering Tailtiu, he said the first thing that came to mind. “I didn’t give you permission to do that.”
She flinched as though she had been slapped.
“If you were fae, I could demand an unbound favor for something like that,” he added.
Selene was already climbing onto her cot. She rolled over and put her back toward him. “Is that how they work? What does an unbound favor entail?”
“Anything,” said Will coldly. “I could even demand your life.”
“Is that what you want?”
“Give me back my six clima,” said Will suddenly.
Selene sat up violently, throwing back her blankets. He heard her bare feet slapping the wood floor as she stomped across the room to rummage through her things. She found her coin purse and extracted the coins, and he heard them scatter across the floor as she threw them in his direction. “There,” she said venomously. “Was it worth it?”
“You tell me,” he snapped. “You think your kiss is worth six silver?”
He heard her moving again, but he didn’t open his eyes. She lay back down, and the floor began to grow cold beneath him. “Asshole,” she muttered. “I hope you freeze to death.”
Will got up, gathering his blankets, and moved to the other room. Maybe the goddamn cat will come looking for his rent and eat her, he thought ruefully.
***
He rose early, since his sleep had been restless after their argument, and by the time his family began emerging from the bedroom, breakfast was nearly ready.
“Where’s Selene?” asked Sammy.
“Outside,” said Will, before muttering under his breath, “probably trying to warm up her cold, dead heart.”
His cousin went to find her, and soon they were all crowded around the little table. Sammy made noises of appreciation as she enjoyed the food, but Erisa and Johnathan had already noticed the chill in the air. They exchanged meaningful glances. “Told you it was a bad idea,” said his uncle around a mouthful of food.
“Shut up, Johnathan,” said Will’s mother.
“Are you fighting?” asked Sammy innocently.
“No,” Will said immediately.