Dalia shook her head hard enough to loosen a silky strand of gleaming ebony hair, and her voice shook as she said, “I… I should. Yes. Dear gods, miss, what you made me feel.” Her jaw was clamped and she breathed heavily, looking confused and even a little angry.
After twisting her hair into a knot and slipping on sandals, Shayera grabbed a shawl and wrapped it around her shoulders. It wasn’t cold outside, and yet she felt a chill all the way down to her bones. Something was wrong with her body. She knew it but didn’t know how to control her emotions to stop this.
“I’m going outside, Dalia, if your master asks.”
With that, she was out the door and running toward the entrance to the garden. Now a month in, she’d learned the familiar routes pretty well and could manage finding her way without too much trouble.
The second she was outside, she took a deep breath of the sweet, rose-scented air. She preferred her garden to be rife with roses of varying shades and sizes. Some were as large as her face, others tiny enough to look big in a mouse’s paw.
Taking another deep breath, her frazzled nerves began to settle down. Kicking off her sandals, she walked barefoot to the placid lake tucked away behind a large knoll. Waiting for her on the bank was a rowboat. Pushing it into the water, she jumped in and finally, finally could breathe.
Dragonflies zipped across the surface, bubbles came up from the depths, and she smiled, wishing Briley was here. He loved to fish; this would be his version of heaven. Dragging her fingers along the smooth, cool surface as the warmth of the sun heated her chilled body, she was able to let the shawl drop.
On the days that the boredom got to be too much, she’d come out here and it helped. She could spend hours on the lake and usually did, often with one of the tomes in her lap. But today she’d forgotten her book.
And at first it was okay, but soon her busy mind kept thinking of Rumpel. Who he was, why he wanted her here, what her parents were doing now… On and on and on, and with a huff she realized that without a book to occupy her mind and help her not to obsess over things she had no answer for, she was just as restless as when she started.
Sighing, she’d grabbed the oars and begun rowing back to the shore, wondering if she’d even managed ten minutes, when she spotted something that made her breath catch.
A dark-skinned little boy dressed in white shorts and a white shirt, his unruly shock of black hair curling along the edges of his collar, was kneeling beside the water with what appeared to be a handmade boat in his grip. Her gasp made him look up and she knew the moment the flash of fear entered his eyes that he’d leave her.
“No, wait!” She held out her hand and paddled toward him with all the energy her excitement gave her. “Wait.”
Just seeing the boy invigorated her, brought a smile to her face. She’d been so lonely. He stood still, waiting and watching, clearly unsure if he should just leave.
Waving cheerily, she jumped out of the boat as soon as she was able. Her dress came to her knees, and since she was barefoot, only her shins got wet, and they would dry soon enough.
As she splashed her way to him, her grin broadened. “And what is your name, boy? I am called Shayera.”
Up close, it was easy enough to see that he was no older than six, seven tops. His face was wide and honest-looking. He’d lost his baby fat but still had a cherubic expression about him that immediately endeared him to her. He reminded her of Briley in some ways.
“Kai,” he said in the high-pitched voice of youth before narrowing his eyes and hugging his ship to his chest. “I were told you’d be here.”
“Was told. And who told you? Dalia?” She automatically corrected him as she would Briley, then feeling bad instantly because she did not know him, but he didn’t seem upset by it.
“Was told,” he mumbled and then shrugged.
She figured that might be all she got out of him about that. “What’s that?” She pointed to the crudely hewn ship, its hull slathered with black tar.
“I built this. I call it Acorn.” He held it up to his eyes.
Her lips twitched as she tried not to laugh, but that was really too adorable. “Acorn. I like it. Is she seaworthy?”
His red eyes glowed and his smile covered half his face. “I don’t know yet. Me mam helped me finish it last night.”
“Ohh.” She winked. “A maiden voyage. How deliciously exciting.” She rubbed her hands together and knelt beside him. “Should we shove her in then?”
He giggled. “Yer very strange, aren’t cha?”
“Aren’t you, and yes, I’ve been told I’m the strangest of all.”
His laughter exposed the gap between his front two teeth. “Aren’t you, and okay then, I’ll let you play with me, but me da says it might work best if I took it to the stream.” He spun on his heel and trotted off a little ways, then turned and looked over his shoulder. “Well, aren’t ya comin’?”