Dragonlands(256)

She strode into the building where Granna resided, making her way to the chambers where her great-grandmother slept. Tressa burst in the doors, without so much as a knock.

"Tressa?" Granna sat up in her bed, her gray hair rumpled around her face. She rubbed her eyes. “You’re safe! Oh my dear sweet child, you’re safe!”

"Yes, Granna, it's me."

"Come." Granna scooted over and patted the bed.

Tressa sat, reluctantly, and let Granna clasp her hands.

“Fi told us everything. How you were pulled away from the battle to the Isle of Repose. We are all grateful she followed you or we would have lost you.”

Tressa nodded, relieved no one was angry at her.

"You've come to ask me something," Granna said.

Tressa swallowed the lump in her throat. "Bastian's daughter, Farah, swears she saw you when she was being held captive by the Red."

Granna gasped, her veiny hand covering her mouth. She took a few deep breaths, then let her hand drop. "It wasn't me. Tressa, you must know that. I have nothing to do with the Red."

"Farah is young," Tressa said, "but she's a smart little girl. Perhaps I would have assumed it was nothing more than a child's fancy, but there's more. Other sightings of a woman like you."

"I don't know how to explain it," Granna said. "I wish I did.”

Tressa only knew Granna's heart, and she had to believe in the woman who'd given her everything. Tressa placed a hand on her lower stomach. Well, almost everything. "She's been sighted elsewhere over the years," Tressa continued. "A woman in the Meadowlands told the story of a young girl wandering in the fog. Her description matched you so closely and they gave your name. I don't know what to make of it."

"It's not me, Tressa." Granna sat up straight in her bed, arranging her nightgown to sit perfectly on her shoulders. "Did I venture into the fog? Yes. Did I meet someone? Yes. But it was Mestifito. Not anyone else. And I am not secretly fighting with the Red. What I do know is that something beyond our understanding is happening. War is upon us and we must fight back. Perhaps we will run into this woman again. If so, I would like to be the one to confront her."

"I would like to be there with you," Tressa said. She sprang up from the bed, pacing her great-grandmother's bedchamber.

"What else is there?" Granna asked. "I can see there is more than this troubling you."

"I did something last night..." Tressa had no worries about confiding about something so personal. Granna had been her closest confidant growing up. They’d shared everything when it came to Tressa's relationships. "I betrayed Jarrett."

Granna clicked her tongue. "I don't have to ask with whom. Bastian."

Tressa looked at the wooden floor. "It just happened. I didn't plan for it. I'm sure Bastian didn't either."

"And how do you feel now? Do you wish you were still with Bastian?" Granna asked.

"No." Tressa's arms dangled to her sides. "That's the worst part. I don't feel much of anything for Bastian anymore. Maybe I'd feel better about myself if I still loved him." Tressa flopped down in a chair. "I never thought I was that kind of person. The kind who sleeps around without considering the feelings of others." She thought of all the rumors of Bastian with women in Hutton's Bridge. She remembered how they'd punctured holes in her heart.

"We all do things we regret." Granna's feet dangled off the edge of the bed, her tiny feet swinging above the floor like a child. She stood, smoothing out her chemise. It hung loosely on her body, her skinny arms and legs sticking out of the gown. "I think the real question is one you haven't asked yet." Granna poured a cup of water for herself and one for Tressa from her bedside table. "Are you going to tell Jarrett?"

Granna handed the wooden cup to Tressa. Lips shaking, she took a small drink, not realizing until that moment how dry her throat was. "How is he?"

A small smile played on Granna's face. "He is better. Whatever has a hold on him cannot reach him here. Unfortunately, the mages have not been able to sever the ties. Jarrett screams in his sleep, his memories haunting him."

Tressa set the cup down with a trembling hand. "And there I was, off with Bastian, living in the past. Jarrett needs me and what did I do?" The contempt she felt for her choices wrapped around her like an arm around the throat.

"Go to him. Let your heart guide you on the other matter."

"I'm going to tell him," Tressa mumbled.

"I wouldn't expect anything less," Granna said. She walked to Tressa, laying her hand on her great-granddaughter's shoulder. "You are a woman of honor. You will do what's right."