Page 46 of Reflections of Silence

She shook her head, curls trembling frantically.

Dolion grinned over his shoulder at us. “The wolves welcome you. You’re not their usual taste, but…” He ran his eyes over both of us, laughter lighting his golden gaze.

I grimaced back, pushing Minette to follow him as he took to the path with his long stride. Trodden earth became a planked walkway over the water. Minette and I pattered over the boards, eager to reach land again.

Mossy branches hung around us, brushing our hair in a tunnel of green that concealed the treetop walkway from sight. Beneath the foliage, the bright light dimmed to an emerald hued twilight. Tiny, flickering lights glowed in the depths of the bayou ahead of Dolion.

He held aside dangling vines. A thin green snake hissed at me from one, its tail coiling around his arm. He caught its head between two fingers, eyeing the slithery beast, and nodded at us. “She is safe. I’ll wait for you here.”

I frowned at his words and opened my mouth to ask, but he jerked his head toward the lights.All right, Dolion. But you could have said we would do this part alone.No reply came, and I assumed he didn’t have the same method of communication that I shared with Sebastian.

Hadshared with him, because in the last days since Amy intruded on our life together, I had heard nothing from him. Taking a long breath of still, bayou air, I peered into the wavering light, where a house became visible the longer I looked.

Minette poked my ribs, shifting me forward while I stood lost in thought. I clattered my way up the boards until I came to a small set of stairs leading down into the house. Made of several, uneven levels, it was like something out of a fairy story—one from Charles Perrault, perhaps. Thick branches supported wood planked walls and layered roofing that spread out across the walkway as though the house had multiple entry ways.

At the base of the steps stood two huge men, both sporting long hair, and open, bedraggled shirts. Each man was musclebound, their strength evidence even beneath their meager clothing. One cupped his hands to his mouth and howled into the depths of the swamp. After a moment, a distant howl echoed back, and he turned to face me, satisfied.

It was all too easy to believe such a man could transform into the beast he mimicked. The entire scene has a whimsical feel to it, like I might step into a fairy realm and never emerge. He gestured me to the steps, his gaze tracking over my body, his lip curling at my mud-stained dress.

Ignoring his attention, I ascended with as much grace as I could, stopping at the second step to be of a height with them. Swallowing back fear, I tried to smile. “I’m here to see?—”

Hands removed me from the step, placing me on the soft ground. “In there.”

I nodded, squeezing my nails into my hands. The hands lingered at my waist for a moment, then dropped away. I held my breath, but the lone man's touch held none of the power of Sebastian’s connection to my body. My heart panged at the loss of him over the past few days. Determined to fix whatever I could before I lost him forever, I strode into the house, my steps too loud on the board, and paused over the threshold.

Shadows filled the cluttered house. Jars and statues covered shelves adjoined to the walls. Uneven wooden furniture and a collection of silks in an array of colors looked out of place in the rustic building. Rickety stairs led to both upper and lower levels, though the staircase centered around a giant trunk that created a center point thought the entire house with its multiple stories.

“It’s like something out of a dream. A fantasy,” Minette whispered, still gripping my hand.

I nodded, wandering further into the house. “Hello?” I called, hoping I wouldn’t bring the place down on us.

Minette began to climb the stairs, but I continued around the ancient tree to find its twin tucked away at the back of the room. Its trunk was scarred with carvings of people and places.Events. I smiled; Dolion would like the way Granny Smythe recorded history.

On the other side of the second tree stood a tatty armchair, covered in cushions and shawls. It took me a moment to discern the person seated amongst it all. Wispy and frail, she gave me a gummy smile, peering at me from rheumy eyes.

“Granny Smythe?” I squatted before her, mud crackling as I shifted, large, brown flakes drifting from my skirts to the floor. “My name is?—”

“It’s not her. And don’t ever give them your name.”

I jumped, pivoting on my heel to face the voice I knew well. He stepped forward out of the shadows, bracing both arms above his head against a heavy wooden strut. His dark eyeshooded as he stared at me, a flicker of—something—lighting a familiar flame there.

I cleared my throat. “This is where you’ve been hiding?”

“Yes.” My husband surveyed me with a curious eye. “What in all the hells happened to you?”

“She fell in the bog.” Dolion appeared around the tree trunk, towing Minette along with him. The small maid appeared pale and tiny beside his bulk. I noted his hands on her waist with a wry smile. She appeared to have forgotten about poor James as predicted, back at the estate. “I dragged her out again.”

“You should have left her there.” Sebastian glared at his friend. “We’ll have words later.”

Dolion rolled his eyes. “Pup.”

I stared between the two men and realized with a start that Dolion had a good century or more on my husband. He turned a sharp eye my way and winked. I grinned at the gargoyle, shaking my head at his audacity.

“You. We’re leaving.” Sebastian snared my arm, towing me toward a darkened hallway.

“Like hell,” I snapped, yanking my arm free. “I came here to get the answers you should have given me. I wouldn’t have to be here if you’d talk to me.” That last came out like a plea, begging. I hated the sound and wished I could take the words back, mangle them into something else and spit them back out again.

“That’s never going to happen, dearie.” A woman with silver-streaked dark hair stepped between us, proffering a tray of small glasses filled with a lime-colored liquid.

---