Page 69 of Mikoto and the Reaver Village
“Come, angel. You may trust my mate. He knows this territorybetter than any.” Lifting a cloth-wrapped bundle, she added, “I even prepared apicnic.”
“Radiance?” Glint spared Lilya a glance, then demanded, “Whatnew scheme is this?”
TWENTY-SEVEN
Woodland Wander
At first, Lilya thought Radiance’s plans were spoiled,but Lady Starmark must have liked to play these pranks a lot. She seemed thesort. A little like Uncle Argent’s mother—mischief and teasing and tricks andfun. Glint knew she was up to something, but his stance indicated hiswillingness to go along with it.
Radiance wasn’t at all flustered by her bondmate’s remark. “I’vetaken a liking to this girl, and you will, too,” she announced. “Be a dear andtake Angel for a walk. Show her around. Give her reasons to feel at home withus. Myth’s cubs are due for a romp. Bring them along.”
Glint dipped his head and looked to Lilya. “Would you likethat?”
“Is it really all right?”
He didn’t quite smile, but his gaze was kind. “If you canmatch my pace, we can share a path.”
That was worrisome. Lilya knew just how fast Amaranthinecould move. “Will I need to run?”
“You will need to walk,” he rejoined, taking the bundledlunch from Radiance.
Lyre, Lute, and Lore frisked around Glint as he aimed forthe front door. With a quick wave to Radiance, who blew her a kiss, Lilyahurried after him.
They only followed the road for a little while before Glintveered off onto a much narrower trail that wended its way into the woods. Therewas just enough room for her to walk beside him, but Lilya let her steps lag. Hewas paying more attention to the pups than her, and she didn’t want tointerrupt. Plus, well … she couldn’t think of anything to say.
Glint paused. “Am I walking too quickly?”
“No, sir.”
He held out his hand. “Notsir. Just Glint. Come,little angel. We can make this journey together.”
Lilya slipped her hand into his and felt safe. Dogs werenice that way.
“Are you new to Denholm?” asked Glint.
“Today was my first day.”
Only after she answered did it occur to her that he mightthink she meant she’d moved into the city. Wouldn’t it be more natural toassume she was a camper? Oh. Not necessarily. Papka and Uncle Argent had done somethingnew that was supposed to hide the truth of her ranking from all Amaranthine.Ever hadn’t liked it.
Now, his grandsire didn’t know anything and couldn’t sense Lilya’ssoul. Did he think she was an ordinary human girl? That idea was … nice.
She relaxed enough to look around.
Right away, she began to notice things that would interestthe others. Flowers for Kyrie. Animal tracks for Ginkgo. Wardstones for Papka. Trailblazes for Timur. Berries for Mum. Lilya stopped to study the shrub, wanting tomemorize the shape of its leaves. It was different than anything in Ginkgo’sgarden
What have you found?
“I don’t know.” Lilya touched the leaf’s serrated edge. “Mumis a healer. She taught me about plants, but I don’t know this one.”
He snapped a twig and offered it to her. “Bring it to her.These woods will not miss a few sprigs or berries, and she will be glad to knowyou were thinking of her.”
Which was true. And Ginkgo would certainly let her takepictures to send to Mum. “Thank you.”
Glint hummed and ambled along. Slow enough to give her timeto explore some more.
It was strange. Lilya knew exactly what interested everyother member of her family, yet she had no idea about herself. Except that shewasn’treally interested in flowers, tracking, wards, trailblazes, or healing herbs. Sheworried about it a lot. Was it all right to be eleven-and-a-half and not wantanything?
Aunt Tsumiko said that not wanting for anything meant shealready had everything she needed. A great blessing.
