Page 42 of Sweetling
Allarion carefully reached out to take one of her hands in his. He stood and gently pulled her up after him. Bringing her hand to his lips, he kissed each knuckle.
“The fault is mine. I never meant for you to feel afraid or ill-prepared. Your needs are different from my own, and I must anticipate them better. There is a market town not far from here, two hours’ ride. I will take you—today if you like.”
You’re on your own,huffed Bellarand.
Well, then, a few hours’ walk. He’d go much further for his Molly.
As he watched, Molly composed herself. Allarion was struck with a sort of pride seeing her gather her wits and courage. He squeezed her hand, hoping she could feel his admiration for her.
“Can we go tomorrow?”
“Of course. Name the time.”
10
When Molly saw how Allarion intended to walk with her to the market town, she couldn’t help it. A peal of laughter burst out of her at the sight of him, in all his black finery, but with a huge wicker basket strapped to his back. It was big enough for her to fit in and was triple his own width.
Allarion blinked at her, obviously bemused, which only made her giggle more.
It was a fine change from her mood yesterday.
Fates, her outburst had just…burst out of her. Seeing the flowers there that morning, as if nothing had happened or changed, snapped something inside. All her anxiety from the day before and the broken fears she still harbored from her girlhood surged to the fore, uncontrollable and devastating.
Seeing him standing there in the kitchen, casual as could be—casual as he ever was, that is—only infuriated her more.
Part of her still couldn’t believe she wasn’t locked away somewhere dark in punishment. Or at least confined to her chamber. She’d yelled right in his face and thrown his gifted sunflowers at theunicorn. Only someone stupid or with no regard for their own life made so many lethal mistakes, one after the other.
And yet, here she was, trundling down a quaint country lane, a sprawling meadow to one side of her, the forest on the other, and her fae companion with his big basket keeping pace.
Molly snorted every time she saw the ridiculous thing, as if he meant to buy every loaf of bread and celery stalk and bolt of fabric. That bemused look never quite left his face, but he smiled amiably whenever she giggled. Those fangs of his made an appearance, but they weren’t so daunting when the rest of his expression was so…soft.
After her flare of temper, she’d spent most of the day embarrassed. She shouldn’t be, she told herself—she had plenty of reasons to be angry, especially athim,and he was lucky he’d gotten off so easily up till now. While she rationally knew all that, it was hard not to burn with shame at letting herself boil over.
Her temper was her worst feature, everyone told her so, even her beloved parents. She’d worked hard to get it under control, to learn to breathe through her initial spark of anger. Sure, it sometimes helped to rebuke a handsy tavern patron, but let loose too much and she not only lost their business but all tips for the night.
Customers wanted someone jolly, lively. Even a little sassy. But combative? No.
So Molly learned her dance, of not only how to tease men to earn a little more coin but finding her own limits, too. How far could she be pushed until her temper took hold—it was a delicate dance, but one she’d been mastering the past years.
Having such an explosion of emotion rattled her—and she’d certainly shocked Allarion.
Honestly, it wasn’t a bad thing if he was a little scared of her now.
The exhaustion after such an outburst, though, always left her feeling tired and vulnerable. Not something she wanted to be in front of a fae she still hadn’t figured out.
She peeked at him from the corner of her eye, forcing herself not to look at the basket on his back and start giggling again.
He’d been gentle with her, defended her against the unicorn. At every turn, Allarion had done the opposite of what she expected.
Yet, there was plenty more he could do to put her at ease. He insisted that’s what he wanted, for her to feel comfortable and to be happy, so Molly determined to test his resolve. Away from the living house and grumpy unicorn, she felt a little more confident about daring to test him.
She started simply, about the estate and village they walked to.
“I thought Scarborough didn’t have any associated villages.”
Allarion’s head bobbed in assent. “That’s correct. Mullon, where we head now, was once attached to Scarborough, as well as several other townships. However, when the previous line was extinguished and the estate abandoned, they shifted allegiance to the Burgoyne family in Kindley, I believe.”
Mullon,Molly mouthed.What a terrible name for a town.
