Page 39 of This Midsummer Heart
Titaine crouches at my side, still aglow with her recent casting so that she is brighter than the moon. She slips a hand under my head, lifting it. “Are you alright?” she asks again, her magic highlighting that concerned furrow in her forehead, and the downturned corners of her lovely mouth. Her other hand rests on my chest, her palm against my bare skin.
She’s concerned for me.
Shecares.
When I am finally able to speak again, my voice creaks like the retreating cursed briar. “It is a very strange thing,” I answer her, my voice a whisper, “to realize that you don’t hate me.”
Titaine’s hands slip away. She stands abruptly, dusting herself off as if I’ve sullied her. In so many ways, I have. “Don’t flatter yourself.”
Despite my weakened state, despite my bleeding cuts, despite the rotten state of this world that refuses to remain one of magic like it should, despiteevery bad thingthat has happened over the last few weeks, I find myself smiling. “No, I saw you. You were worried for me.”
“I’d be worried for anyone who strolled into a cursed briar.”
“I was lured,” I say, a little proud of the way my voice stays light instead of taking on an argumentative tone. For what more do I have to prove?
I’ve been an arrogant buffoon, and still,stillTitaine cares for me. I’d get up and dance if I hadn’t just been snacked on by a malevolent rose bush.
“You rescued me,” I happily accuse her.
“It’s hardly the first time.”
“Oh, yes, even better, then. You’ve now come to my rescue twice. You mustreallycare.”
Titaine huffs, her narrowed eyes burning as they peer down at me. Then she strides away, off to chase after the retreating briar.
“Glad you finally forgive me, Titaine,” I call after her.
“I never said that!”
“Oh, but you did.”
I can practically feel her rage as she fires another spell into the remaining briar, uprooting the last of the curse. Slowly, I sit up, rubbing at the back of my head where her hand cradled it. I may be slightly giddy from blood loss, but given that everything hurts, I think I’m still grounded enough to know what’s true.
Titaine forgives me. Titainedoesn’t hate me.
I can work with all of those things. I can win her back. I’mgoingto win her back.
For once, our long journey doesn’t feel as arduous. The road back to the inn, however? I’m not quite sure I can manage it.
I lay back in the dirt, waiting for Titaine, knowing that if I still can’t rise by the time she is done sending the malicious briar into oblivion, she’ll come to my aid. Because she cares that much.
Chapter nineteen
Farewells
Titaine
Morninggreetsmewitha view of the surrounding mountains, the silver-blue blur of lakes winking in the distance as the sun tiptoes into the valley.
It also holds a surprise.
When the curse broke, I expected the briars would die back completely. At worst, there would be thornless brush for the villagers to hack up and haul away, maybe even to add to their fires. Instead, tidy rows of countless but modest rose bushes stretch across the valley. Despite living under the warping power of a curse, the original plants survived.
Like the lakes, they disappear into a mist-wreathed, blurry distance.
I rub at my eyes, dropping my hands when pleased locals practically skip into the taverna beside the inn, offering cheerful good mornings to my host, the town’s mayor, and exclaiming about the changed landscape. Though half of the town is still asleep—as I expected to be after my midnight workings—there is a surprising life to Adellor at this hour.
Mortals they may be, but they must have sensed the breaking of the curse and rose early. Their very moods are lighter, now that they are no longer surrounded by that dark magic. Every face seemed to shine with a new energy, even in my direction. No one offers me so much as a frown.
