Page 50 of The Little Shop of Grand Curiosities

Agathe fluttered her wings at his side, smiling in melancholy for our imminent separation. “Are you leaving already?”

“We have a long day ahead,” I said, avoiding Walder’s attentive gaze. I wasn’t mad at him—not that I could feel truly, deeply mad—but I still had this sense of disappointment gnawing at me for the way he acted last night, pushing Nepheli and me together. I knew his intentions were honorable. I knew that in his eternal, mystifying to us mortals state, he couldn’t fully fathom the damage I could do to a woman like her. But he should have listened to me. He should not care about me as much as he did.

Nepheli smiled politely. “Thank you, Walder, for everything. And Agathe, gods, I’m so grateful for the dresses and the conversation. It meant a lot to me.”

Agathe flew to hug Nepheli around the neck. “I’m going to visit you in Elora, yes?”

Nepheli sniffed, tears sparkling in her eyes. “I would love that. I would love that very much.”

Walder conjured between his fingers a little vermillion box of matches and a miniature terracotta jug—or so the objects appeared to be—and offered them to me. “Take these. Fire and dinner for tonight. Oh—” A paper bag full of muffins popped up in his other hand. “And something for the road. Did you take enough water?”

“Yes. Thank you,” I said with a curt nod as I crammed everything into Nepheli’s bag, pleased to find a blanket rolled at the top—and silver gauze glittering beneath.

Walder pulled me in for an embrace. “Don’t be a stranger, you filthy bastard,” he laughed his deep, clear-water laugh, then added quietly, only for my ears, “Don’t mess this up. She could be the one to cure you.”

I said nothing, and there we went, past the trellis, the rosebushes, and the little metal chairs. Then, Agathe called out, “Hey, Nepheli! Don’t forget!” She made a little arch with her tiny hands, and pink dust peppered the early morning fog. “Shine.”

I had no idea what Agathe meant, but in the meager,mist-dazed light, Nepheli was indeed shining.

???

It was growing close to sundown when the dandelion-paved crest of the hill emerged in the distance, the sky above heavy and melodramatic, all grand sweeps of yellow and grey. The little cave below the hill was where I counted on us resting tonight since Isa’s manor was still too far away to reach before dusk.

Nepheli and I hadn’t exchanged a single word all day—in fact, she was doing an excellent job acting as though I didn’t exist at all—and the usual noises of the forest seemed exaggerated amid our thorny silence. The pixies giggling, the sprites murmuring, the birds chirping and—

I lunged forward, grabbed Nepheli around the waist, and clamped a hand down on her mouth. “Don’t make a sound,” I whispered in her ear as I dragged her behind the thick trunk of a tree. I twisted her around, pressed her back up against it, and covered her with my entire body.

She stared up at me with huge eyes, growling threats and curses against my palm.

“Shh, Nepheli, please.”

The noises neared. Clawed paws rustling on the underbrush and furs swishing amid the bushes. Sounds that had been carved indelibly inside my brain ever since one of them attacked me the last time I went through the forest, about a year ago. They jumped out of the shadows one by one and made the ground beneath us quake. Massive black-grey silhouettes with furs drenched in blood from a recent killing and lethal jaws snapping in the air. The wolves. The demons of the Dragonfly.

Thankfully, Nepheli couldn’t see them from her vantage point, but she must have felt their sinister energy because she finally stopped trying to wriggle out of my arms. Her face went as white as a knuckle. Her chest caved into mine on a ragged breath. I pressed her further against the tree, wishing I could wrap her in my body and have my skin be her armor.

I inched my head to the side, just enough to see what was happening. The seven giant wolves communicated something to each other with low, almost sighing sounds. They paused to determine their direction, twisting their monstrous heads left and right, and once they decided to continue southwest, they howled skyward and lunged over a tall cluster of brambles, disappearing in the shadowy landscape of the forest as fast as they’d emerged from it.

I kept Nepheli in my arms for a bit longer.To make sure, I told myself. Not to savor the warmth of her body, the scent of her skin, or the silky sensation of her hair. And definitely not to wallow in the sugary pressure of her perfect, full breasts on my lower sternum or her hips grinding against my—

“Apollo?” she hissed under my palm.

I shook myself into clarity and removed my hand from her mouth.

Nepheli heaved on a breath. “Are they gone?”

I only managed a nod, knowing that my voice would betray me as much as my body.

“Then can you maybe let go of me?” she snarled. “You’re crushing me.”

“Sorry,” I rasped, lurching backward. “I was just trying to cover your scent.”

She brought a hand to the lace-trimmed neckline of her dress to quell her pounding heart. “Gods, what kind of creatures were they? They sounded like wolves.”

“Shifter demons, actually.”

“Demons?”

“Might want to keep it down, Little Butterfly. They’re not far gone.”

---