Page 106 of Brambles and Bellflowers
“What do you know about it?” Miles asked, wiggling closer to the fire and rebuilding the stick teepee.
I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could, a husky female voice cut into our conversation. “What are you doing here?”
I screamed and jumped against Miles’s back. The witch had a similarly alarmed reaction—but at least this time he was more manly. He rested his hand on my hip as he held me behind him.
Moonlight streamed through the branches, casting a soft blue glow on the elderly woman pressing her way past the foliage, and her path was further illuminated by a small lantern in her grip. The woman was short and slightly round around the middle. Her silver hair fell in waves across her heart-shaped face and over her shoulders, and she wore a threadbare dress that reached her mid-calf, thick boots, and an open coat that touched her ankles. She walked with a limp, leaning heavily on a knobby wooden staff until she’d crossed the clearing.
She paused, looking at us with an indiscernible expression, before she asked, “Are you lost?”
I clutched at Miles’s shirt. I wanted to respond, but my heart was still racing, and my throat closed.
Miles sucked in a sharp breath. “Kathleen?”
The woman gasped suddenly. “Miles?”
He lowered his arm, relaxing slightly, but his voice was thick with disbelief. “What are you doing here?”
I glanced between them.
“What areyoudoing here?” she asked instead, and her gaze traveled over me. She narrowed her eyes, gaze disapproving. “You’re not running from the Council, are you?”
“The Council?” Miles sputtered, and I let him go as he shakily moved to his feet. He brushed at the remains of his pants nervously. “No, I’m on a pilgrimage.”
“You’re half-dressed.” She frowned deeply. “And you brought a woman. What kind of pilgrimage is this?”
“I’m supposed to graduate.” Miles frowned at the ground, ignoring her query about my presence. “And Jonathon asked about my quest. I wasn’t sure what else to do.”
Her face softened and she sighed, glancing at the almost full moon. “He’s so dramatic,” she said. “Please don’t tell me you’re taking him literally. Besides, that doesn’t explain your companion.”
I’d stayed on the ground, my legs folded under me as they spoke. I hadn’t been sure how to react to the woman’s presence. Obviously, they knew each other. The idea of interjecting myself into the conversation made my stomach twist.
“Sorry!” He forgot about the woman at once, kneeling in front of me. His calloused hand brushed down my arm, and his lips twisted in a lopsided grin. “We’re okay. We can relax now. It’s just Kathleen,” he said, even though I had no idea what that might mean.
He pulled me to my feet, and I stepped to him until I was half-hidden behind his form.
Kathleen looked between us, seemingly curious as Miles’s touch lingered along my arm. He squeezed my hand gently as he said, “Kathleen, this is Bianca. Bianca, this is Kathleen. She’s Jonathon’s mother—and my Elder Er Bashou.”
“Oh,” I said, biting my lip. It’d been growing increasingly difficult to ignore the way that neither one of my adoptive parents had reached out to me since Bryce had broken me out of the hospital.
It was a good thing, though—right? That was what I wanted.
Even so, why did my chest hurt?
“Bianca—” Miles began.
I stepped around him, and the sky seemed to darken as I asked, “Did you know too?”
“Know about what?” She frowned as she shifted her weight to the right.
“I doubt she did,” Miles said, wrapping his arms around me. He rested his chin on my head, and his voice soothed away the edges of my anger. “Kathleen has been gone for a long time—long before I moved to France. I doubt she’s seen Jonathon, Abigail, or Hanah in years.”
Kathleen narrowed her eyes. “That is true,” she replied. “It’s been over a decade since I’ve seen my family and quintet. Why did you move to France? Is that why you’re behind on your training?” Her attention moved to me, and she leaned more heavily on her cane. “And tell me about this one—why is my son protecting her?”
“What?” Miles asked, his arms tightening around me.
“You can’t feel it?” She glanced back at him and wrinkled her nose. “She’s covered in magic.”
Miles released me and stepped back, looking down into my face. “I don’t sense it—” he said.
