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As the carriage rolled on, Thessa bit into her apple and stewed. Her long-awaited plans for normalcy were diverted thanks to her forsaken magic, a lovestruck female, and the brute sitting across from her. If she wasn’t caught forimpersonation and releasing prisoners, it’d only be a matter of time before her magic was discovered. She wasn’t sure what that meant for tomorrow. Leora’s plans aside, living as a solitary witch was starting to feel like a real possibility.
After dropping the core of her apple into the small bin, she leaned her head against the window. She grazed her fingertips over the burns along her neck before gathering the delicate chain beneath her uniform.
Thessa pulled her necklace free, unscrewed the top, and breathed.
The sun was lowering,shining big and bright as dusk neared. The golden hues glimmered through the tall grasses and mature trees flanking the cobblestone road.
The townhouses were a mile south from the carriage drop-off point, and the center of town was a half-mile from there.
Leora was borrowing the driver’s quill to fill out his payment slip. Thessa didn’t want to ask how much she’d offered to keep him quiet.
Soren had taken off already, and Quinnley was strapping her belongings across her back.
When Leora parted ways with the driver, she took Emiel’s hand and looked back to Thessa. “Are you coming?”
“Right behind you.” Thessa waved her off while mouthing the word “go.”
Leora smirked before turning her attention back to Emiel.
“Let’s go.” Thessa hurried Quinnley, unsure why she was even waiting for the witch.
The first few minutes of their walk had been quiet, but Quinnley’s fidgeting was hard to ignore.
“Such a useless thing to gather.”
Quinnley twirled the plant with fern-like branches between her fingers and said,“Oh but they’re beautiful, one would not disagree, would you?”
Thessa glared at the clusters of tiny white flowers before saying, “What does it matter how pretty they are, they’re deadly.”
“Not all deadly things deserve dislike. And tell the witchlings who cough until their lungs bark how useless it is. In the smallest of doses, of course.”
“Is that why you’ve picked it then, for settling coughs?” Thessa’s tone was skeptical.
Quinnley’s emerald-green eyes met her stare for a heartbeat before darting back to the path ahead. “I gather many plants. The purpose of some yet to be studied, and others to collect for times of uncertainty. Do you collect things?”
Now was not the time to discuss the collection of hand-made daggers she’d left behind in Gravenport. “Uncertain enough not to ask questions about our arrivalandpick a plant that you and I both know is as useful as a weapon?”
Quinnley’s berry-colored lips parted briefly before speaking. “I don’t ask questions I don’t seek the answers to. I travel alone, most days. And I don’t have companions,unlike yourself. Plants serve many purposes, yes, but it’s them whom I trust. Some may be more poisonous than others, is all. I’ll be journeying farther south anyway. No need to worry about my uncertainties, or my plants any longer.”
Quinnley picked up her pace before Thessa could reply. She wasn’t sure what to make of the witch who skipped past everyone and out of sight. All she wanted was to remove each layer of this repugnant uniform, take a long bath, and eat a hot meal.
With hardly any guards existing in Mabelton, the walkback to the townhouse had been uneventful. A goodnight warbling of starlings sounded when Thessa stepped up to the front doors. She’d interrupted Emiel and Leora’s smooch session and pushed herself inside. The smell of baked bread and clean linens filled her nose as the matron’s feline hissed by way of greeting.
“Tess! Wait.” Leora said her farewells to Emiel and shut the door behind her.
“You’re not inviting him up? I can find somewhere to be …”
Leora was blushing bright. “He’s meeting Soren at the wagon.”
“Fine. I’m bathing first. You can sit in your filth.” Thessa winked and ran up the staircase.
“Absolutely not.”
Leora was faster despite Thessa’s best effort, and swung their door open first.
As she tumbled inside behind her, they were greeted by two identical witches with skin and hair as white as jasmine flowers; it was a crisp contrast to their rose-red eyes.
“Leora! Thessa!” Ivy called out from behind before bursting through the threshold. “I thought I heard you two.” Ivy apologized to Mina and Mora, or Mira and Mona, for the disruption, before yanking her and Leora out of the room.