Page 34 of Sinful

“That’s true.” I tipped my head to look at her. “I didn’t mean any offence. I’m just trying to learn and understand your ways.”

“I know, and I’m not offended. Believe me, some of your outsider ways seem just as strange to me,” she said, lips curving in a small smile. “Like that secret society of yours.”

“Touché.” I grinned. “Now… seeing as I taught you something about my world, how about you teach me something about yours? Something you haven’t already told me.”

Rose’s forehead wrinkled. “What would you like to know?”

I stroked my jaw, pretending as if I hadn’t already planned out this exact conversation in my head earlier. “The cave. I’d like to know more about that.”

She stared blankly. “There are lots of caves in this area. Which one do you mean?”

“The cave Dubois and Brouxard found. Your father told me the story. It was over four hundred years ago, right?”

“Ah. The forbidden cave,” she replied, nodding slowly. “Yes, it was a very long time ago.”

“What happens there now? Do people ever go in?”

“The elders, healers, and alchemists frequently go there. They have the sacred knowledge to keep the Darkness inside, and they must tend to it often to keep the village safe. The rest of us cannot go there at all, and we don’t want to anyway.”

“Why?”

“We are too frightened. You see, if one of us went inside, the Darkness could easily latch on to us and escape.”

I shifted my body slightly closer to hers. “So you know where it is?”

“Yes. We all know. But I won’t tell you where it is, Sebastian. I cannot risk your safety like that.”

“I understand.” I cocked my head. “You said something about alchemists. What are they?”

“Alchemists work to prolong human life using certain materials. Only our brightest men can become one. They mustattend an outsider university to study multiple subjects, and it takes many years.”

“Which subjects?”

“Chemistry, biology, and…” Rose trailed off, brows knitting. “I cannot remember the third word right now. It isn’t one we use here often. Something to do with farmers, I think.”

“Agriculture?”

“No, the word sounds like ‘farmer’.”

I frowned. What kind of farming would these freaks be doing in a cave? Fungus farming? Was that even a thing?

A lightbulb suddenly seemed to switch on in my brain. “Pharmacology? Is that it?”

Rose’s face brightened. “Yes, that’s it. You know it?”

“I certainly do,” I muttered, turning back to face the silvery river.

Why the fuck would an isolated mountain community need to have members with an extensive knowledge of pharmacology? Separate from the healers, too, who at least had an obvious reason to study the effects and use of different drugs.

Whatever the answer to that question was… it lay in that forbidden cave. One way or another, I had to find it and go inside. See what these freaks had killed my mother to protect.

“You seem troubled,” Rose said, casting a curious look at me. “Did I say something to upset you?”

“No.” I looked back at her, eyes skating over her lips. “I was just thinking.”

“About?”

My eyes were still on her lips. “I was wondering if you ever thought of leaving Alderwood.”

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