Page 59 of Crossroads Magic
Benedict looked thoughtful. He studied me closely for long seconds. I tugged at the opening of the poncho, resettling it on my shoulders, my discomfort building.
Benedict took a step back, then held out his hand. “Perhaps you should come with me.”
“Why?”
“I will introduce you to everyone in Haigton Crossing.”
“I’ve already met everyone, haven’t I?”
“Not really. Not…properly.”
Under normal circumstances, I couldn’t have taken his hand. I had come to understand, the last few days, that what one could see on the surface was not the real Benedict Marcus. And he had argued with my mother the night she died from wounds inflicted by a knife he owned.
But I felt as though I had been tipped into a strange world that looked too much like the one I had known, but with differences that had already taken my breath away once.
I felt dizzy. Not physically, but in my mind. I wanted to question everything about the world. I couldn’t take anything for granted. Did gravity even work the way I had always understood it to work?
It was overwhelming and alarming, so I took Benedict’s hand to help guide me through it. And damn it, his hand was warm and strong, and just what I needed.
Chapter Eighteen
Benedict drew me across the intersection to where Olivia and Wim still stood on the sidewalk. They were facing each other, now, and talking softly together. Wim held Olivia’s pale white hand.
As we got closer, they drew apart and faced us. Olivia lifted her brow.
“The Crown Prince acknowledged Anna,” Benedict said.
Olivia and Wim both studied me.
I licked my lips. “Is that…bad?”
“It is very unusual,” Olivia said. She gave a small sigh. “Such a day. They even spoke to Wim.”
Benedict patted Wim’s shoulder and Wim gave a tremulous smile.
I looked from one to the other. “Is that significant?”
“Very,” Benedict said. “Anna, this is Wim. Wim was once a dryad, as you may have guessed, now.”
Once? I examined his skin, which was the same as the dryads who had walked down the greenway. “What are you now?” I asked, my throat tight.
“Neither completely dryad, nor completely human,” Olivia said sadly.
“It is the price for loving a human,” Wim said softly. “I do not regret it. But I had got used to being…ignored.” He glanced toward the crossroad, and his chest lifted. “Such a day….!”
“Olivia, you already know, of course,” Benedict said.
Wim had said he loved a human. Olivia was perfectly human then.
Olivia drew herself up, as if she was shaking off a mood. “Well, I must go back to work.” Her tone was crisp. “You’re taking Anna around now, Benedict?”
“Apparently, it is time.”
Olivia nodded. “Come, Wim. Time for tea, I think.”
Benedict took my hand once more. “Next house,” he said softly and tugged me into a slow pace along the sidewalk.
“Your house is the next house,” I pointed out.
