Page 28 of Enchanted Shadows
I got off the shoddy deck of the barracks and into the grass when Molly’s voice stopped me. “Owen.”
I spun to look at her.
“Go easy on her, okay? I get the impression her family life was hard. Sometimes she just likes to be alone. And we both know there is absolutely noalonein these barracks.”
Zara also didn’t like to follow rules, apparently. Another of her quirks. “Fine. I won’t throw her in the lake then.” Like I would have anyway.
“Thank you,” Molly said before heading back in.
It was almost dark by the time I made it to The Dead Lake. And there was Zara, taking in the sunset, looking the happiest I had seen her.
It almost made me feel bad for ruining her one moment of peace.Almost.“What the hell are you doing?”
She didn’t even jump with surprise. “Watching the sunset,” was the smartass’s answer.
“Did I not make myself clear about traveling here in groups of threes?”
“I just wanted some space.” She fiddled with that necklace she never took off, her nervous tic.
“I understand that. You can’t have space closer to the barracks, Zara? Dammit, they saw the dead king’s magic not far from here.” I moved closer and sat down next to her, thinking that me yelling and standing above her wasn’t a good look. Wasn’t one I wanted to make a habit of.
She snapped, “Why do you even care? You want us all to quit anyway.”
“You know that isn’t true.”
“Why do you even care?” she repeated again. “Why do you care where I go after hours?”
“I just do.”
She reached over and grabbed the flask I had forgotten was still in my hand, spun the lid off, and took a generous swig from it. Gone was the happy woman I had seen moments before.
She gasped with the sting of the whiskey but took it like a champion. Honestly, a woman who could drink whiskey like that? It was too bad Zara was Wren’s age. Six years too young for me. And also my student.
“Zara,” I began. “I’m trying to keep everyone safe. There are pricks out there like Dixon Hill, Theon loyalists who wouldn’t hesitate to mess with you a bit, just for sport. I hate that men like that are even still allowed to breathe after everything we went through under Theon, but I don’t want you to have to deal with it.” I held up a hand at the death glare she aimed at me. “Not that I don’t think you can handle yourself, I just don’t think it is a concern you should have to deal with.”
She took another swig rather than respond.
Why did this woman insist on infuriating me? “And even though I was there, I did watch Theon die with my own two eyes, the fact is that magic like his or his magic was seen a few weeks ago right in this area.”
“If you watched him die, then it can’t be his,” Zara argued. “Enchantments cannot live past the death of the bearer.”
My eyes went to that damned purple tree which housed the sword.Couldn’t they though?
“What aren’t you telling us?” Zara demanded immediately. Always so untrusting.
“I have just seen too many odd happenings in this forest. Things that defy logic. And I—” I swallowed and took a deep breath, remembering as I often did the moment Maurice had hit that wall, the crunch of a larger-than-life man gone in a flash. All wrapped up in that same damned black magic which moved terrifyingly fast. “I sometimes don’t believe that Theon’s evil is really gone for good. I remember it all too acutely. So yeah, even I was a bit rattled. But the wolves aren’t bothered.Yet.So I’m trying my best to be aware but not let it eat at me.”
“The wolves?”
I quickly explained how they were clawing at the doors that morning everything went down in the throne room.
“So these wolves . . . know things?”
I gave her a nod. “Just like this forest does.”
“It doesn’t feel threatening in the least bit,” she told me.
I looked around at the lake, understanding exactly what she meant. Even when it had been pitch-black and thick like tar, this lake had never felt ominous to me. Just sad. “I don’t think it does unless you mean it harm.”
