Page 41 of To Hunt a Ruby Remedy

“That sounds perfect.” Master Weslet had shoved a parcel of fruit and cheese at us before we left the inn. We could easily have eaten as we walked, but I was more than happy to enjoy this slice of paradise for a little longer instead.

I settled with my back against a tree. Ranulf handed me an apple, took a bite of a second himself, and stretched out next to me, resting his head in my lap.

“How much farther?” I asked after I had eaten half my apple.

“An hour or so. You don’t mind how isolated the cottage is, do you? I know you said—”

I smoothed my hand over his hair. “I love the tranquility of the forest. Now, that’s not to say that I might not be interested in visiting the villages a bit more than is your preference, but it doesn’t feel isolated so much as . . . insulated.”

“Even flying, the trip won’t be as pleasant in the middle of winter. We really are more isolated then.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I’ll have a dragon to keep me warm, isn’t it?”

The corner of his mouth quirked up. “I can’t actually breathe fire, you know. I don’t know what organ allows real dragons to do that, but the best I could manage was the ability to blow smoke.”

I took a sip of water and passed the flask to him. “It’s just as well I was actually imagining you in human form keeping me warm, then.”

Ranulf pushed himself into a sitting position and drank. Then he stood and offered me a hand. I let him pull me up, stumbling against him when he didn’t let go. He kissed me. “I’d offer to keep you warm right now, but that sort of welcome to the forest should probably wait until there isn’t a hunter lurking around.”

“Let’s get home and make a plan to take care of the hunter, then.”

Ranulf squeezed my hand. “Yes. Let’s go home.”

A steady thunking sound made me slow as we neared the cottage.

Ranulf laughed. “Rosalia must be annoyed about something.”

I looked at him, and he laughed again, leading me down a path that would take us behind the cottage. When we got closer, I saw what was causing the noise. Rosalia swung an ax with unrestrained fury, chopping wood. Though she didn’t have the same muscle mass as her twin—or even her grandmother—she could split the logs with shocking ease.

“She does this when she gets angry?”

“No, Grandmother makes her do it when she won’t stop complaining.”

Rosalia noticed us and lowered the ax to the ground. “It’s about time you two got back. We need to plan.”

“What happened?” I asked. I had never seen Rosalia like this.

“Ortfel had an emergency yesterday.”

“We saw the summons.” Ranulf began stacking the logs Rosalia had split in a holder by the back of the cottage.

“But do you know what the emergency was?” Rosalia didn’t wait for our answer. “That bastard shot a child. A child! All in hopes of trapping you when you flew down in answer to the summons.”

“He did what?” I pressed a hand against my chest. “Is the child alright? Were you or Grandmother Molle hurt?”

Rosalia kicked one of the logs still by her feet. “I healed the boy. The bolt was in his thigh. Even with a healing charm, he could have bled out if it had hit the artery, but luckily, it wasn’t quite that bad. The idiot hunter never even saw me. He wasn’t watching for a wolf.” She tugged her braid over her shoulder. “We need to do something about him before he does any permanent damage.”

I stared at the long black braid hanging down to Rosalia’s waist. Her hair hadn’t been that long the last time I saw her.

“Scarlette?”

I realized the twins were waiting for me to join them. I ignored the mystery of Rosalia’s hair and followed them into the cottage.

Grandmother Molle had four mugs of tea ready on the table by the time we entered the room. She sat at the head of the table. Ranulf took the seat at the foot of the table, and Rosalia and I settled into the other chairs across from each other.

“Clearly, ignoring the hunter and not shifting is no longer enough,” Ranulf said. “But I’m not sure what else we can do.”

“He shot someone,” I pointed out. “Shouldn’t we inform the constables?”

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