Page 49 of A Spell for Midwinter's Heart
“I…No.” Rowan shook her head. It had been easy to untangle herself from Dade—too easy. “I’ve never even been in a relationship that lasted long enough for me to need to ‘move on’ after.”
“Don’t need to be with somebody for them to break your heart,” offered Zaide.
Rowan shook her head. “There hasn’t been anyone.”
From the way Zaide mouthedOkay,it was clear the response came out harsher than Rowan meant it.
Birdie lifted the final card significantly. “The outcome.”
The ten of swords. Reversed. A body splayed out on the ground, ten swords sticking from its back. In the background, the sky was light, as if dawn was breaking.
Rowan didn’t need Birdie to interpret that one.
It told her to prepare for a painful, inevitable end.
20
As Rowan worked her shift at the festival information booth, her head kept drifting back to the cards, going over every interpretation. Despite the clear and pressing message of the second two cards, she kept coming back to the first instead. The lovers.
The entire trip had been a reminder of how far she had drifted from her family and friends. Separation was the natural consequence of leaving home—in fact, it had been one of her goals. Starting fresh in a new community had seemed like the only way to move forward.
But had she done that?
No. Not really.
She had spent the last eight years in a state of emotional transience, organizing first around her degree programs and then a series of jobs she couldn’t seem to stick with. She had developed no close friendships, and she’d constantly bounced from one neighborhood to the next in pursuit of affordable living situations.
She’d given up everything and built nothing in its place.
Her mother stomped into the festival booth, knocking snowfrom the tread of her boots as she went. Liliana Midwinter’s cheeks were pink, the gold flecks in her hazel eyes shining. She’d been running around all day—coordinating performers, resolving customer issues, restocking supplies—but the hard work didn’t run her down. It wound her up.
“How’s it going?” asked her mother.
“Well,” said Rowan, “I had one person try to ‘return’ one of the free candy canes for a refund. When I explained they were free, he insisted that I’d taken his money but that I could make it up to him with a drink at the public house. I was calculating how good a weapon this would make…” She held up a crochet needle from where she’d been putting the finishing touches on her amigurumi. “Until Stephan walked up.”
Her mother chuckled, knowing exactly what Stephan’s presence inspired. Though Rowan’s big brother was a gentle giant, there were times he could use his build to pretend not to be. When his broad, square face glowered at someone, radiating that protective magic of his, even the most “obnoxious with wassail” customers realized it was in their best interest to move right along.
“Other than that?” asked her mother.
Rowan shrugged. “Mostly answered questions about the entertainment schedule and where to find vendors. Normal stuff.”
Her mother set about putting away stacks of supplies—not content, it seemed, with the piles Rowan had been leaving things in. What was the point, Rowan wondered, of putting things away when she would just need to get them back out again? It was one of those fundamental differences in perspectives that divided the Midwinter women.
She had a feeling Gavin would be on Liliana’s side.
Gavin. Why does it matter whose side he would take?
They’d probably never speak again, much less debate the merits of keeping spaces tidy even if it was inefficient.
One of the informational flyers fluttered to the ground asLiliana cleaned, and Rowan picked it up, studying it for a moment. There was something missing that she expected to see when she looked at a flyer like this. Then it hit her.
“Hey, Mom, does the festival have any social media?”
“Social media?” Liliana’s face wrinkled in distaste. “We have a website.”
“Which is great for the people who already know to look for us, but social media will help us reach the ones who don’t. Naomie and Kel are both whizzes with that stuff.”
Liliana’s face firmed. “We don’t need it.”
