Adam stepped backward, his arms empty. He turned around. “I’m so sorry, Tressa.”
She nodded. Her muscles relaxed. She turned her head and saw it was Bastian holding her so tenderly. Tressa gasped and ran off toward the village, taking Bastian’s heart with her.
Chapter Six
Tressa stumbled into the town square. She’d run from the edge of the village to get away from the memory of Granna disappearing into the fog and from Bastian’s embrace.
She nearly steadied herself on the slab where Granna had lain, but stopped just short of touching the cold stone. It was too soon. Time would never heal her wound of losing Granna. She was alone in a village with no family and no way to escape.
“Ah, you’re back.” Udor strolled out of the gathering hall, his hands looped into the belt cutting into the flab around his waist. His gray goatee trailed down his chin into a point just above the potato bobbing in his throat. “Everyone else has just left. I was closing up the hall and blowing out the candles. Would you like to join me?”
Tressa hesitated, but only for a moment. With or without Granna, life would go on. Better to face it now than put off the inevitable. She nodded, dipping her chin only once, and followed Udor back into the hall.
Wax dripped from candles, forming valleys and rivulets along the wooden shelves. The scent of beeswax hung in the air. Before the fog fell, Hutton’s Bridge had been known for their honey. Granna told stories of exotic travelers coming in and out of the town just to buy it. Their clothes made of silk in colors as bright as the flowers dotting the meadow. Languages Granna didn’t understand mingled with the accents of high society from the castle. Tressa loved it when Granna imitated the lilting, high-pitched accents.
“We’ve come to a unanimous decision.” Udor wound his way around the table in the center of the room, blowing out candles as he passed them. Three stood next to Tressa, flickering light in the drafty room.
She didn’t ask what that decision was and she doubted it was unanimous without some struggle or bribery. At least two of the elders had been fiercely loyal to Granna, even in the face of dissent. They’d never wavered in their conviction. Until today.
“You don’t have to leave now, Tressa. You can stay here in the village.”
Her heart lurched. She didn’t want to stay. Staying meant seeing Bastian with Vinya. Staying meant living alone in the cottage she’d shared with Granna her whole life. Staying meant never seeing if Granna’s visions were real.
But she didn’t want to leave unless she knew there was something other than death waiting for her in the fog. She belonged nowhere.
“I meant what I said this morning.” He cupped her cheek. She’d been so busy thinking she hadn’t even noticed he’d sidled up next to her. His thumb rubbed her chin, and then he grabbed it, hard, forcing her to look at him. “I will take you in. No one else will and you know that as well as I do. The entire goal of our village is to keep life going for our people. A woman who cannot bear children has no use. She consumes resources others need to survive. Don’t think anyone will take pity on you because you were related to Sophia.”
He pinched her chin. If she’d had any tears left to cry, they might have inched out of her eyelids. But she was a dry husk now, unable to respond.
“It may not happen tomorrow or next month, but eventually everyone will start to look at you out of the corner of their eyes. They will wonder why they are crowding seven to eight people in a home when you sit in luxury, enjoying all that space for yourself. Eventually, they will find a way to get rid of you, whether by poison or setting up an unfortunate accident.”
It had happened in the past, and only to the single people. No one publicly questioned those unnatural deaths. They simply accepted them for what they were – survival strategies for the majority. No one ever took responsibility for the deaths. No one ever asked.
Adam was an exception. He had never been bothered because of his healing skills. He saved the lives of others, but it also helped to ensure his own.
Udor’s hand dropped to his side. Tressa’s chin throbbed as the blood rushed back. She didn’t dare reach up and massage it.
“If you’re under my protection, you will have nothing to fear.” He wouldn’t stop. She wondered if he was trying to convince her, or himself.
“Adam might take me in. He’s been more of a father to me than anyone in this village.” Tressa chose her words carefully. The last thing she needed was for Udor to think she had romantic feelings for Adam.
Udor’s smile fell, erased from his face. “You don’t need a father. You need a husband.”