Page 85 of Monsters in Love

How could trees be worse than demons?

Even with the mist and shadow, the trees didn’t feel as dangerous as the tremors at night. And she’d overheard the butcher talking in hushed tones about people leaving Windhaven for the forest. Mama claimed the woods killed Belle’s father, but whenever her mother made that claim, she looked at the belfry—the highest tower in the Chastry, where the deacons rang the bells for mass, and the only part of the church they could see from their cottage—and not the forest.

Despite the sun, Belle shivered.

“Here, love.” Thomas placed her cloak around her shoulders, then his hand slid across her stomach and he pulled her gently against his chest, warming her back while they both stared at the forest.

His chin rested on the top of her head. “Do you want to leave Windhaven?”

She jerked with surprise and half-turned, staring up at him in shock. “I didn’t say that.”

“I know.” His mouth curved into a rueful smile. “But I’m fairly certain we were sharing that thought. Dreaming of a world where you can kiss without judgment…” At her nod, he squeezed her waist. “I’m not supposed to talk about it, but my father has been meeting with others. There’s talk of traveling through the forest to see if Finch or Goldbreak still stand.”

Oh, Gods.

An actual city?

Fire lit inside her at the thought, so fierce she couldn’t understand how the sun wasn’t beaming from her fingertips. “I would love that! Yes!” Grinning madly, she bounced with glee. “Papa told me about other lands, how he drew maps for merchants and lords before…”

Before he married and had children.

Before he had me, and my sister…

She covered her mouth with her hand and stared at Thomas, her joy crumbling like a stale biscuit. “I… I can’t.” Her throat worked, and she let her hands fall from his chest to hang limp at her sides. “I want to. But I can’t leave Emmi. And she won’t be able to leave until her majority.”

Which would be five years after Belle’s.

A fortnight was one thing, but five years? She couldn’t ask Thomas to put his entire life on hold for that long—just as she couldn’t leave her younger sister alone in that cottage with their mother.

Lips trembling, she met his gaze. “Y-you could go. Get settled—”

“Belle…” He cupped her face. “I—”

“You… you could send for me when you’re ready,” she whispered. “I’d wait as long as it—”

“I’m never leaving you behind.” He brushed his lips across hers.

The faintest touch, and yet a thrill ran from her mouth all the way to the tips of her toes. Gods, but she loved this man. They’d made promises to each other, and she knew in her heart the vows spoken over grain and soil were more binding than anything before an altar.

“Who cares what the Chastry says,” she said, pressing a light kiss to the corner of his mouth. “We love each other and—”

Bong.

The Chastry’s main bell rang, its deep knells signaling that the afternoon drew to a close.Demons bite my ankles. She sent Thomas a rueful smile. “I have to go home and get ready for the ball. I promised Emmi I’d help with her hair, and Mama will never let me hear the end of it if I don’t.”

He kissed the tip of her nose. “Of course. But before you go.”

Bobbing his eyebrows, he made a production out of pulling a small package from the pouch tied to his belt. He held out a small square of folded parchment, tied with a cord of woven straw.

“For me?” she asked quietly.

At his nod, she took the tiny package and carefully untied the cord, making sure everything could be reused. Inside the parchment was a bed of dried moss. And past the moss…

She gasped as she uncovered a silver ring.

As if the silver had been woven together to resemble a wreath of grain, the strands shimmered in the fading light. It slid onto her finger as if it had been forged just for her. She supposed it had. It must have cost months of wages to purchase such a beautiful piece.

A promise ring. He’d gotten her a promise ring.

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