Elon shut the door behind them. Rain shushed the storm outside, while their clothes steadily dripped with water. He turned to face her. “Hmm. It seems you still got wet, despite the cloak.” She ducked her head to conceal her a pleased smile. She’d had to nudge the cloak back to allow rainwater to soak…

Carissa blinked, something stirring her from her sleep. The sky was a charcoal gray, darkened by clouds and the coming night. The ground was cold and hard beneath her, and the chill air numbed her skin. The field was littered with rounded stones, some unmarked, some etched with a name and date. The graveyard. She…

“Cursed?” Carissa’s voice squeaked, as if the hinges of her tongue were rusty. “Yes, my dear.” Her eyes fixed on Carissa. “As are you.” Carissa leaned back to better see the woman before her, who knew more than she’d first appeared to. “This, I know. But how do you know?” The woman’s lips met in…

“Ah, Marissa!” Old Dorien’s toothy grin greeted them. Deeper in the house, Rosalind’s sobs had softened and Nad snapped, “She’s not to enter, Dorien.” Carissa suppressed a sigh. Really? Nad was upset at her? She would have thought he’d thank her for ensuring his wife remained loyal—at least for a little while. The door opened…

Carissa glanced at him over her shoulder, and her body shuddered with relief. “Yes?” She twisted away from his grasp to face him. “What part of a ‘private conversation’ did you not understand?” He stepped away from the shade of the tree, revealing an amused twist to his lips. “The ‘private’ part, which I never…

Elon’s chair screeched as he scooted it back and dashed to her side. “Carissa—” Once they were out of the house, Carissa slammed the door shut behind them. Elon was, under no circumstances, going back into that seductress’ house. The cool air met Carissa’s hot skin, and she huffed. Perhaps that’d been a bit dramatic,…

“We ought to be heading back towards the palace to complete my training. Haven’t you seen the horizon?” Elon ignored her protests and helped her dismount. “Last night, you’d told the woman who stopped by our house you’d pay a visit in the morning.” She wanted to leave—shake the dust of this town off her…

Carissa shoved open the door to her room, her formerly withheld tears wetting her cheeks. Though words couldn’t break bones, they were certainly capable of bleeding hearts. Arms folded around her. Elon’s. He’d been waiting for her. She sank into his embrace, until she remembered: he had foresight. He’d sent her to her mother, knowing…

Her father had retired, and had it not been for her mother bustling about, the kitchen would have been empty. Carissa plucked a threadbare rag out of a bucket of sudsy water and scrubbed the table. Her mother disappeared out the door, a bowl of potato shavings in hand. When she returned, she swept the…