Page 73 of The Demon's Delight
We walked all the way across the relatively large town to a quiet neighborhood with tidy cottages and flocks of fluffy chickens roaming free from yard to yard. Hailon stopped in front of the one home on the street with herbs in the front planter beds instead of flowers. The roof had seen far better days, and everything looked like it could use a coat of fresh paint, but itlooked very quaint. Cozy, even. It seemed quite well maintained for a home with an unwell inhabitant. I hoped that was a good sign.
Hailon seemed a perfect balance of relieved and nervous as she stood in front of the faded blue door. Her hand lifted and dropped again, and she finally looked at me, really looked, for the first time since our stop at midday. “Thank you,” she said. “For bringing me all this way. For getting me home.”
“You’re welcome.” I offered a smile. “Thank you for letting me come along instead of immediately banishing me back to Hell.”
“I did send you back right away. Accidentally,” she kidded, the corners of her mouth lifting.
“You did.” Neither of us had the heart to say out loud that soon enough she would have to banish me for real, whether either of us wanted her to or not.
Hailon looked at the door. She stood on her toes and tried to peek in the window. Still, she made no move to knock or reach for the knob.
“And now you’re the one who’s stalling, Moonflower. Go on. Don’t get nervous. We finally got you here.” I gestured with one hand what I hoped was encouragement.
“Right.” She lifted her hand and knocked, the pattern a particular cadence. A secret knock, perhaps, that only the two of them used. For some reason, that silly little detail made me smile.
The door opened, revealing a petite woman with graying dark hair. “Hailon?” She glanced between us, shock widening her eyes.
“Aunt Sal?” Hailon’s words were steeped in disbelief. “You’re okay! Better than okay. I’m so happy to see you! But how?” She reached forward, pulling the older woman into her arms for anenthusiastic hug. I could see tears of relief shimmering in her eyes.
“You’re here. How are you here?” Sal asked, weakly patting Hailon’s back, before pulling away from the embrace. “Come inside,” Sal said, poking her head out the door after ushering us in, as though gauging to see how many of the neighbors had seen us.
A warning tingled under my skin. That was an odd reaction for an aunt who should have been sick to the point of being on death’s door to ask of a niece who’d been missing for so long. She also didn’t seem particularly excited. I could make allowances for shock, but this woman’s response to Hailon’s homecoming felt all wrong.
“I’ll make us some tea,” Sal said, perpetually moving her body away from Hailon when she got too close.
I stood near the door with our packs, allowing Hailon to absorb being back in her home without my interference. She gazed around, wonder in her eyes.
“Everything is just as I remember.” She smiled at me, and I did my best to nod reassuringly. I had my eye on her aunt, however, and that seemed mutual.
“Are you going to introduce me?” Sal asked, measuring out loose tea.
“Oh! Sorry, I got distracted and forgot my manners. Aunt Sal, this is Seir. Seir, this is my aunt Sal.”
“Pleased to meet you.” I threw an arm across my chest and gave a deep bow. “Hailon has had much to say about you.”
“Has she now?” Sal all but scowled when she looked at her smiling niece.
“Indeed. She’s been very worried about you.”
“Mmm.” The noncommittal noise rubbed me wrong.
“How are you so well, Sal? I’ve spent all these weeks worrying that the worst might have happened! We’ve missednine treatments by my count. Don’t misunderstand, please, I’ve never been so happy to be wrong. I’m elated to see you up, and so vibrant! I can’t remember when I last saw you so hale and hearty. I just don’t understandhow. We’ve relied on me healing you for so long, just to keep you relatively functional. Did you find a new tincture or medicine?”
Sal’s tone was cold, and my hand strayed for a blade without any conscious thought when she looked my mate in the eyes and said, “You really shouldn’t have come back here.”
Chapter 33
Hailon
My heart sank, the cold edge of fear skittering down my spine. The way Sal said those words…
I huffed a rough laugh, emotions a muddled mess. “Where else would I go, Sal?” I stared at my aunt, but the woman in front of me was suddenly unfamiliar. “I got back as soon as I could. Did… Didn’t you miss me? Didn’t you wonder why I never came back from the mountains?”
Sal sat in her favorite chair after handing out the tea. There was a small basket next to it with the same collection of yarn and mending inside there had always been. The plants lining both the front windows were perhaps a bit more overgrown but seemed mostly unchanged. The tapestries on the walls, the stacks of books on the floor in front of the full shelves… everything was the same. But it wasn’t.
I could feel it now that the rush of excitement had waned, the feeling that the house had moved on in my absence. I no longer fit in this place, not even in the partial kind of way I had before.
Sal sipped at her tea, then set it aside with a sigh. “There’s nothing for you here, Hailon.” Her eyes met mine, and again I got the impression I didn’t know the woman I’d lived with all my life.
