Page 81 of Winds of Ruin
It felt wrong.
We walked down a long hallway with dark floral wallpaper, and Elsedora’s hand found the crook of my arm to guide me into the kitchen.
“Yes,” she said, though her expression seemed guarded. “I would have stayed until you woke. But it didn’t seem that you would.”
She swallowed hard.
Smirking, I squeezed her forearm to remind her ithadworked. I truly was beside her—a bur difficult to be rid of.
I stifled a gasp. I’d never seen a shelf so stocked with spices, never seen a butcher block so large. Letting out a low whistle, I became thoroughly distracted with all the perfect tools to accomplish mouthwatering culinary decadence in her kitchen.
“I could have a lot of fun in here,” I mused.Dammit.My tone sounded far too sultry again.
She raised her auburn brows.
I needed to get a grip. My mouth kept digging holes for myself.
“I could have funcookingin here,” I corrected.
She chuckled. “The kitchen is charmed to cook since I don’t. You can ask the estate to make you whatever you’d like.”
“You don’t cook? With a kitchen like this?”
“I’m atrocious at it.” She let her hand fall away from my arm, and I missed her touch. “But, as a child, this was the way it always looked—my mother enjoyed cooking.”
Even the innocent warmth of her fingers twined through mine as we’d walked through the orchard had felt indulgent. I was starved for food, starved for touch, starved for joy.
El shifted her weight onto one hip. “Angeline planned to teach me after you’d awoken and I’d found the last of the relics. I’ve learned little things when they’ve came for dinner, but it hasn’t stuck.”
“You haven’t found the third?” I asked.
She shook her head,no.
I unfortunately had a hunch as to why.
How could I explain that I’d seen the ghost of her late lover? He’d claimed my son was the third key to stopping Caym.
It couldn’t have been real.
It was a hopeful hallucination.
If I had a son with Firose, would El hate me for it? The late High Enchantress of the North Corridor had wronged Elsedora’sbrother, my friend, so inexcusably. I wasn’t ready to face the possibility myself, never mind admit it to El when having me back brought her joy.
I swallowed hard. The inevitable question burned on my tongue before I asked it. “And Caym—he’s truly trapped?”
Her head tilted. “Yes… and no. The prophecy says he will rise again on the next black moon with Isolde’s power anew—nothing has changed. He just doesn’t holdyouany longer. And that, I will celebrate. For now, he’s locked in the mirror, but it’s only a matter of time before he finds a way out.”
Words of a silver-haired ghost revisited me.
“They’re searching for a relic—an item. My last duty is to make sure that you know they’ve got all they need already. Funny, really.”
Dread coursed through me once again.
“So long as the boy lives, the realm will not see a new black moon.”
My shoulders slackened. “Well, why don’t we get a head start on those cooking lessons, then? I can show you.”
I shooed her out of the way, eager to explore and avoid the weight of that dream.
