Page 17 of To Desire

“If your family had no need of us, we would live much more modestly than we do now. We have had many amenities, like a tutor, that other healers do not dream of enjoying. And though living with my mother is not always ideal, our cottage is three times larger than most in the village. So aye, I do wish for you to have need of me.”

Sitting on the bench she’d cleared off, Darien patted the seat beside him.

She sat, though not too close, and basked in the warmth of the fire she’d started. They were warm, and mostly dry, and for that Liana was thankful. She and her mother had seen too many succumb to the elements, beyond the scope of their healing abilities, for her to ever take as much for granted.

“You are no ordinary healer, Liana. Surely you realize as much?”

“My skills serve little purpose to most. I would be hung for a witch as soon as I was asked for a reading. Surely you realize as much?” She said it teasingly, even though her words were true.

“Perhaps we should change that.”

“How?”

“By teaching those in Ely you are not to be feared but revered.”

“Revered.” She laughed. “That is not a day I shall see in my lifetime.”

The way he looked at her told Liana at least one person disagreed. It was as if . . . she shrugged off the thought. When his eyes dipped between her breasts, not for the first time, Liana knew the reason.

“What do you know of it?” she asked.

He looked up. “Apologies. I did not mean to⁠—”

“None are necessary. I usually cover it with a scarf of some sort but see little reason to hide the mark from you.”

“I know nothing of it,” he said. “My father tells me little of you or your mother beyond the readings. He has always said, when ’tis my time to learn, I will do so of my own accord.”

The fire crackled, taking their attention. The herbs she used gave off a pleasant scent, masking the musky one of the cottage.

“It has always been so, the secretive nature of my family’s bond to yours. The mark represents a series of interwoven runes. Its crescent moon and small star represent hidden knowledge or destiny. It is a marking of the Seer’s Lineage, passed down through generations of my family, each given a unique variation of its homage to Lunaria, the moon goddess and patron of seers.”

“Did it hurt? Receiving it?”

“A bit, aye.”

Liana looked down to the symbol between her breasts. As she’d done many times, she touched it with her fingertip. “It is both a protection . . .” She looked up. “And a curse.”

Darien, confused, cocked his head to the side. “How so?”

For a moment, she forgot to answer. His features in the waning light were so much softer than during the day. His jaw no longer tightened. His gaze no longer scoured the landscape for threats. Even when they spoke while riding, Darien was always on alert, ever the warrior.

Here, though, he was . . . just a man.

“It is a protection,” she said. “Symbolizing my connection to the moon, which amplifies my ability to see beyond the physical realm during certain phases.”

“And a curse?”

Her hand dropped. Liana looked into the fire, remembering. “It also binds me to my family’s destiny. Every woman bearing it is fated to confront a moment of sacrifice.”

Staring at the flames, she heard the mother’s wail in her ears. So many years ago, but she could still see the fisherman’s wife’s apron, covered in blood from the fish she’d gutted.

“Liana?”

His voice startled her, so lost Liana was in her memory. When she looked at him, Liana did not attempt to hide the tears swimming in her eyes. He, more than any, should know the reason Liana had so readily followed him on this journey.

“I’d not been reading runes for more than two summers when the vision came to me. I was so untrained, I could not discern exactly where, and certainly not when, but I knew it was the fisherman’s daughter. She was standing on the dock, waiting for him, her red hair as vivid in my mind as it had been in real life.”

“No.”