Two girls. Two secrets.
Only one can survive.
Years before Nelle Wychthorn plans her escape, Tabitha Catt may unearth something in a Horned God's lair that is the key to freedom.
Desperate to save her beloved aunt from a dark curse, Tabitha is out t...
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Aunt Ellena cleared her throat, dropping her gaze downward as she ran the toe of her boot through curled dead leaves. Her chilled cheeks pinked even further and she crinkled her nose before confessing quietly, "Sometimes I snuck away from the Deniauds' before my shift finished. That's why I used the old forest path, so no one would discover I'd abandoned my post."
"Aunt Ellena," I gasped. Tonight had been quite an eye-opener to my rule-abiding aunt.
"I know, I know," she said in a rush, her eyelashes flicking wide. "It was so wrong of me to do it."
"You were quite the rebel when you were younger."
She bit her bottom lip as remorse deepened her blush. "It was easier to meet you in the forest to collect mushrooms too. At least, that's what I told myself to justify what I did."
I tut-tutted her.
Aunt Ellena warmed her hands by blowing on them. White teeth flashed above the tips of her fingers with a smile. "But the truth of it all was, you couldn't keep me away. I'd often help Asta in the evenings."
She reached across and playfully poked me several times in the soft spot beside my shoulder, much as she used to do when I was younger. I shirked away, laughing. "I'd hound you to brush your teeth and wash your face, dress you in one of your pretty nightgowns, and comb your hair until it shone gold." Her hand fell away to wrap around the shoulder strap of her backpack. She leaned her upper body forward, green eyes narrowed, but they sparkled with amusement. "You were such trouble, always wanting one more book before bed. And quite the voracious reader, so advanced for someone so young. Yet you'd ask her to read to you even though you were more than capable of doing it yourself. When it was too much for my sister, I'd take over."
My grin matched hers, but not for the reason she thought. Scratching a tickle beneath my pink fluffy hat, I pushed the edge of it up nearer my hairline and turned back around to begin traversing the narrow trail downward once more. Leaves rustled in pulses as I used the trees growing around the path to help keep me steady as the incline steepened, and my aunt began to talk about Asta and her enthusiasm for hiking the forest.
As always it was hard to hear stories about Asta and my early life with her. There was nothing but blankness, memories enshrouded with mist so dense I couldn't push past it. The childhood I did remember and cherish, which had brought out the grin, was here at the Deniauds with Aunt Ellena. While my aunt reminisced, her gentle voice drifting behind me as she spoke about her sister, I indulged myself in fond memories of evenings as a child when I'd curl up on my aunt's lap and sink into the warmth of her chest, a book spread open between us. Aunt Ellena stroking a hand absentmindedly through my hair while I read the words on the page faster than she spoke the story aloud.
We reached the base of the knoll where the incline gently flattened and I stepped down into a blanket of fog hovering above the ground as if a dragon slumbered nearby, its languid breath washing outward in a thick white haze.
