Page 418 of Alchemised
Pol was shy, burrowing his face in against Lila’s neck and peering at Helena with dancing eyes as his mother introduced them.
He was a sturdy chap, with more of the Bayard build about him. He would grow up to be very tall, Helena could tell just from looking at him.
“Pol,” Lila said, nuzzling her face in his messy blond hair, “this is your godmother, Helena. Do you remember that I told you about her? She was one of your father’s best friends. She always looked out for him and me, and now—” Lila swallowed. “Now she’s going to help look out for you. Isn’t that nice? She came here with Ferron. You might not remember him, but you met him when you were smaller.”
Pol peered through Lila’s hair at Helena, with Luc’s dancing eyes, and it was like meeting Luc again—the young version of him that she’d watched vanish.
Her throat closed, and she struggled to speak. “Hello, Pol, I’m glad to finally meet you.”
Pol snorted and covered his face with his hand.
“He’ll warm up to you soon,” Lila said. “Never met a living creature he hasn’t wanted to be best friends with.”
“He looks so much like Luc,” was all Helena could think to say. Her heart was beginning to pound, and she couldn’t hear what Lila was saying, something about teething. Kaine’s voice abruptly broke in.
“I think Helena needs to rest.”
Lila’s expression froze, but then she looked more closely at Helena and nodded. “Right. Pol and I need to feed the chickens. Come on, chappy.”
Helena watched them head out the door, Lila moving easily again. She looked at Kaine and almost jumped.
His hair was brown, nearly as dark as it used to be. It made him look starker, given the contrast with his pale skin and eyes. He was dressed in common clothes, brown trousers and a rough-spun shirt. He looked entirely out of place. No one would ever look at him and believe he was a farmer.
“You don’t like it,” he said, touching his hair.
She couldn’t stop staring. “It’s not what I’m used to,” she said, almost wanting to laugh as she reached out, touching it, remembering when it had first started to lose its colour. “I’m going to miss the silver.”
“It’ll wash out. You’ll still see it sometimes.”
He said that, but she didn’t see Kaine much at all. Helena stayed inside the house; when she stepped out, the open and stillness unsettled her. After spending so much time in danger and on the move, the ordinariness of the cottage felt surreal.
Kaine and Lila seemed to alternate who was inside with her. When Lila was with Helena, he went out and would only reappear when Lila took Pol outside.
Helena assumed he was busy making final arrangements until Lila mentioned that he was in the stable. That he was always in the stable.
Hearing it, Helena immediately hurried outside, pausing only a moment before entering the shadowy interior.
Just as Lila had said, he was sitting on the floor in the stable, and Amaris was lying down, her enormous head resting on his lap.
He didn’t look up when she entered; he was rubbing his hand through Amaris’s fur behind her ears.
“I should put her down,” he said softly. “It would be kindest. She won’t understand if I leave her behind.”
Helena’s chest clenched as she came closer.
“You said she can hunt for herself,” she said.
He nodded. “But the transmutations on her will wear off over time. It’ll kill her eventually, like it did all the rest, assuming someone else doesn’t first. And if she’s seen in this area, it could point to us, where we went.”
“Has there been any word?”
“None that’s reached this far south.”
Helena looked down at Amaris. “She’s done growing, isn’t she? Maybe she won’t need help as much anymore. She might be fine on her own.”
He was silent for a long time. “It’s not worth the risk.”
Helena’s throat tightened. “I don’t think it’s fair not to give her a chance. We wouldn’t be here without her.”
