Page 49 of The Witch's Shifter
I step into the kitchen doorway and find Selene shedding her black cloak. Harrison is at her feet, gazing up at her with a soft green stare. When Selene sees me, though, the smile falls from her lips. She can read me better than anyone, so my face must betray how upset I am about Mama’s remark.
Selene crosses the kitchen and reaches for my hand. Hers is slightly cool from the outside air. “Is everything all right?”
My mouth quirks up on one side. “Just Mama. You know how she is.”
Selene’s dark blue eyes shift to gaze over my shoulder, and her lips set in a firm line. “Do you want me to speak with her?”
With a quick shake of my head, I say, “No, not now. Let’s just have a nice dinner together. Alden made potato soup.”
Standing behind Selene, Rowan watches me with a wary expression. I’m glad he didn’t hear what my mother said; I believe it would have hurt him as well.
A brief moment passes in which I think Selene might brush past me and go have a word with our mother, but then she sighs, and her shoulders settle. “Very well.” Then her lips turn once more into a smile as she twirls about to face Alden. “Let’s try this soup!”
Chapter 26
Rowan
SELENE SILVERMOON IS A JOY. She laughs freely and often, and Harrison spends the entirety of dinner perched upon her lap. His presence doesn’t seem to bother her in the least, and she strokes his silky hair with one hand while lifting spoonfuls of Alden’s potato soup to her mouth with the other.
This afternoon when we got back to the cottage and he told me he was going to try his hand at making dinner, I wasn’t so sure it was a good idea. Thankfully, Aurora’s cookbook was right there on one of the shelves in the kitchen, and somehow, Alden really pulled it off. The soup is creamy, with big chunks of carrot and potato, and the hint of nutmeg leaves a sweet aftertaste curling across my tongue.
I could easily polish off another couple of bowls if I wasn’t trying to save some for Aurora’s family.
Selene is easy to talk to, and I can see clearly why she and Aurora are so close. They chat and laugh and seem to have a language all their own. It’s warming to see. I’m so glad they cameto visit. I think Aurora has needed this; it’s been a bit of a crazy year.
Evelyn Silvermoon, though, is a different story. She doesn’t speak much, and when she does, it’s often to deliver short remarks or irritable sighs. And I know now what Aurora meant when she told me and Alden in the pumpkin patch this past summer that her mother is disappointed in her. I can’t even begin to understand what’s going through Evelyn’s head, but I see the storm clouds of emotion in her eyes, the twitches of her sharp eyebrows like lightning bolts striking the earth.
And I know Aurora is trying hard not to let it bother her.
Alden and I exchange a look across the table, and I’m pretty sure he’s thinking the same thing I am.What’s Evelyn’s problem?Perhaps I can spend some time with her this week and try to get to the root of her obvious discomfort around Aurora—and this cottage. She looks around as if the walls are going to open up and swallow her at any minute, or like they’ve done something to offend her and now need a sharp rebuke.
It’s strange, to say the least. Something is certainly going on here, and I plan to figure it out. Given Evelyn’s reaction to me when we met at the wagon stop, I think I might just be able to charm her into opening up to me.
Faolan doesn’t show up during dinner, nor in the moments afterward, while we’re cleaning and chatting, firelight flickering through the cottage. Alden spoke to him this afternoon when we returned from meeting Aurora’s family, and the next thing I knew, he’d vanished, leaving behind a trail of clothes and his new pair of boots.
Is he out in the tree line right now, watching us through the windows? What is he so afraid of? I know his absence is on Aurora’s mind; she keeps glancing at the windows and doorways as if hoping he’s going to suddenly appear, but the wolf doesn’t show.
Not that I’m complaining. I don’t mind it one bit.
It’s Aurora I’m concerned about. It’salwaysAurora.
She’s wiping the kitchen table down while Selene and Evelyn get their cloaks on, and I watch Aurora’s movements, noting her wince as she leans a bit too far, then put a hand on her low back.
“I’ll get that,” I tell her, stepping to her side.
“Oh, you don’t have to,” she says, but she offers no resistance as I gently take the cloth from her hand.
“You’re pushing yourself too hard.” I press a kiss to the top of her head. “Let us take some of the burden for now.”
When she looks up at me, her eyes are a bit glassy, but with a nod, she banishes the tears quickly. “Thank you, Sir Rowan.”
I smile. “Anything for you, my queen.”
Aurora departs the kitchen, and I finish cleaning up as the women’s voices drift in from the foyer. They’re getting ready to leave.
“Rowan,” Alden says, and I turn to find him standing in the doorway. He’s got his cloak and boots on. “I’m going to walk them back into the village, and I’ll stay at my cabin for the night, just in case...”
Just in case Faolan shows up and needs a place to sleep.
