Page 47 of The Witch's Rite
“For being a good man. I know how much Aurora loves you—it’s impossible not to see. She’d be devastated without you.”
He makes a small thoughtful sound and averts his gaze, choosing instead to stare at Lucy perched on her roost. “I could say the same,” he finally says. “I was unsure about this at first”—he gestures between us—“but I suppose it isn’t so bad.”
That statement—and the oddity that is this whole situation—makes me laugh. Alden glances over at me, his lips pulling up on one side. Then he’s laughing too, and it’s all so absurd, I just laugh harder.
“I can’t believe she convinced us of this,” I say between bouts of laughter.
“And that we actually went along with it,” Alden adds.
We laugh until I have a stitch in my side and have to lean back against the door to catch my breath. Alden wipes a few tears from his eyes, and we both take a deep breath.
Meanwhile, Lucy opens an eye to look at us, then turns around and faces away.
“I guess we should leave her be,” Alden says.
“Good night, Lucy.” I open the door and duck my head to step through the doorway, and Alden follows behind me. He closes it firmly while I stretch my arms overhead, glad to be free of that small space.
We head back to the cottage, Aurora visible through the kitchen window, and I stop suddenly.
“There’s something I was hoping you could do for me... for us,” I say.
Alden pauses at the bottom of the back stairs, not yet opening the kitchen door. “What’s that?”
Hopefully he doesn’t find this insulting . . .
“Would you build the baby’s cradle?”
Alden is an incredible carpenter, and I want him to know that Iwanthim here, with Aurora, even if she’s pregnant with my child.
My child.Still not used to eventhinkingthat.
His bushy brows rise slightly. A moment of silence stretches between us, punctuated by the soft sounds of the forest as night falls.
Finally, Alden offers me a small nod. “It’d be an honor.”
Chapter 28
Aurora
“OKAY,” I WHISPER, “LET’S HOPE this works.”
I set the hand-painted wooden box I’m carrying amongst the pumpkin vines, then open the top so the gilded thornbugs will be able to crawl in. I’ve already sprinkled some of the elixir inside the box, and it glitters softly.
“Go ahead.” I nod to Rowan and Alden, who’re each carrying a small vial of the vine whisper elixir. It sparkles under the silver moonbeams as they start sprinkling it through the pumpkin patch, creating shimmering paths that lead directly to the box. If all goes according to plan, the thornbugs should follow the vine whisper elixir into the container, and once they’re nestled inside, I’ll be able to relocate them well away from the pumpkin patch.
I’mreallyhoping I brewed the elixir properly. I followed Auntie’s recipe to a T, and I’ve never known her recipes tonotwork.
The men work slowly, and as I watch them make their way through the pumpkin patch, each focused on their task, a smile tugs at my mouth.
I wasn’t sure how all of this was going to work out—or if it evenwould. But after they went out to the coop together tonight, they returned with a feeling of peace, like the tension between them had been dismissed, released to float away into the balmy evening air.
I’ve still not quite wrapped my head around the fact that I’mpregnant. Even thinking the word feels foreign to me. My gaze shifts down to my stomach, hidden beneath my lightweight cotton dress, and I try to imagine what I’ll look like in the coming months.
What will I look like when Selene and Wyland arrive? And what if Mama joins them? Explaining all of this to her makes me feel slightly sick to my stomach—or is that just the pregnancy sickness again?
Before I can get too nauseated, I banish the thought of my mother and focus on Rowan and Alden as they finish sprinkling the last of the elixir through the patch.
“That’s all of it,” Alden says as he comes to stand beside me. He holds the empty vial aloft, and not a drop remains.
