Page 149 of The Black Witch

“Youknowthat’s not an option for me.” She’s quiet for a long moment. “He insisted on bringing me to this secluded spot behind the history buildings so he could kiss me and...” She looks away, blushing.

“And what?” I press, concern spiking. “Did he hurt you?”

“No, no. He’s not like that. He’s just gotten very...insistent. Kissing used to be enough. Now he...grabs at me. Ihateit. It’s embarrassing.”

“What do you mean, grabs at you?”

She slumps, her face coloring. “He...he grabbed at my chest.”

I shake my head, angered on her behalf. “Aislinn, they need to find someone else for you.”

“It doesn’t matter who it is!” she cries. “I wouldn’t like these things with anyone! I just don’t like it. I don’t likeanyof it.”

“Have you told your parents how you feel about all this?” I ask, trying to find a solution.

Aislinn wrings her hands together. “I spoke to my mother about it.”

“And...what did she say?”

“She said that all virtuous Gardnerian women dislike the type of...attentions wandfasting and sealing bring. But that it’s something that has to be endured so we can have the joy of children. I love children, Elloren, you know that. I’ve always wanted to be a mother someday. But I’m shy. I don’t want any man to touch me...not like that. I wish there was some other way to have children.”

I let out a short laugh and grin at her. “What, like laying eggs?”

Aislinn breaks into a small smile at the ludicrous thought, and I’m glad for it. “Laying eggs would be good,” she agrees.

Aislinn stares out the window, over the barren fields pressed down under a cold, dark sky. Another freezing rain seems imminent. Her smile grows shaky, as if she’s apologizing for her thoughts.

“I just feel so miserable lately,” she laments.

“We could walk over to the dining hall. Get some tea,” I offer.

She shakes her head. “No. No, thank you. I’m going to go back to my lodging. I’m tired. I’m going to study for a while, try to get my mind off...everything.”

I get up, embrace her and bid her good-night, and she leaves, shoulders slumped in defeat. I stare after her, troubled and perplexed. Wishing there was some way to get my friend out of this mess.

CHAPTER THREE

Elfin Art

A few nights later I return from my kitchen shift to find Jarod and Aislinn waiting for me in the North Tower’s upstairs hallway, Wynter perched lightly on the windowsill behind them. Wynter is watching us all with a look of curiosity, her dark wings loosely wrapped around herself.

“You’re visiting me!” I cry, made inexplicably happy by the sight of a Lupine, a conservative Gardnerian and an Elfin Icaral bunched together in such a calm and peaceful way.

Aislinn shrugs. “I’m finding that I like meeting new people,” she says quietly. “People different from me. I’m tired of being afraid of everyone.” She looks up at Jarod shyly, and he smiles warmly down at her.

“We’re going to see the Elfin art exhibit,” Jarod tells me, his arm wrapped around a few books. “Your roommate expressed an interest in accompanying us. We hoped you’d join us, as well.”

“We’ve just discovered that we all share an interest in art,” Aislinn tells me, clarifying this strange trio that has sprung up out of nowhere.

“And poetry,” Jarod adds. He gestures to the books with his chin.

They look at me expectantly.

I’m way behind in my Apothecary and Metallurgie studies, I have a Mathematics exam in two days and I’m supposed to have drawings of virtually every species of Verpacian cornflower done by tomorrow.

And I don’t care.

“Just let me throw my books on my bed,” I tell them, unable to contain my excitement at the thought of so many new friends coming together.

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