To Hunt a Ruby Remedy: A Grumpy/Sunshine Little Red Riding Hood Novella

Twenty - Scarlette

“I’m too oldto keep traveling back and forth all the time,” Grandmother Molle announced over breakfast.

Rosalia had left the day before, promising to stop by Graenod with a note for my mother arranging the details of her move to Wulfkin.

Ranulf and I had spread the word that the huntsman wouldn’t be bothering the residents of Drakona any longer, but only his twin and grandmother knew the truth of what had happened. We had spent a couple of days searching for the tiny dragon, but saw no sign of it. Ranulf insisted it meant that Gideon had grown comfortable enough in his new form to fend for himself. Rosalia considered the punishment poetic. Grandmother Molle shrugged and agreed that what was done, was done.

One night, Ranulf told me that even if he could, he wouldn’t change his reaction when he saw Gideon reach for me. The fear of a knife against my throat wasn’t something he ever wanted to live through. It made me realize that if I’d had the same power, I wouldn’t have hesitated either. I knew the fear of Gideon hunting the man I loved, and I’d do anything to keep Ranulf safe. I had to accept he felt the same way about me.

And so, a week after that confrontation, everything was back to normal. As if it had never happened, except for the chain mail hauberk stashed in a corner of the attic. The villagers asked no questions.

“What do you mean?” I asked Grandmother Molle.

“Ranulf has to rely on charms out in Ortfel, which means I am far more helpful there.”

Ranulf rolled his eyes. “Thanks, Nana.”

“Hush. You know how isolated they are up by the mountains and how many accidents the miners have. They could use a full-time healer.”

“You are talking about moving to the village,” I realized.

Grandmother Molle smiled. “Exactly. They’d have a healer on hand as needed, and I wouldn’t have to run miles through the woods or rely on Ranulf to fly me.”

I exchanged a glance with Ranulf and knew he had reached the same conclusion as me. Grandmother Molle had found an excuse to grant us the privacy of a cottage all to ourselves.

I tried to judge how sincere her desire to live in the village was. “Are you certain, Grandmother? It would be harder for you to travel to Wulfkin.”

“I don’t need to travel to Wulfkin unless there is a true emergency. Ranulf and his charms are sufficient. The villagers aren’t as foolish there, in my experience. I don’t need to visit Wulfkin to socialize. I have friends in Ortfel. A cottage waiting for me.”

Ranulf blinked. Twice. “You have a cottage waiting for you?”

“It was my grandfather’s. My parents were like your mother and sister, needing to roam, but when I returned to the forest with my husband and a baby intending to stay, Grandpapa got us settled and then retired to a cottage in Ortfel. Now it is my turn to offer you two the same courtesy.”

“You aren’t a bother,” I felt compelled to tell her, though I had enjoyed the days when Ranulf and I shared the cottage with no one.

Grandmother Molle laughed. “Thank you, dear. If nothing else, at least if I leave, Ranulf won’t have to keep choking down my baking. The poor boy hasn’t dared to ask me to let you take over, but he’d clearly prefer to go back to your bread.”

I slapped a hand over my mouth to stifle a giggle. We’d had a conversation just that morning in bed about the fact that if he wanted me to make a loaf of bread, he was going to have to stop keeping me in bed past the time his grandmother got up to start the dough.

Ranulf went red, probably thinking about how he had convinced me to stay in bed. Not that I had truly protested. I wanted to bake for the tavern in Wulfkin, but that didn’t need to start immediately. I’d wait until my mother arrived and arrange a schedule with her and Mistress Weslet.

For now, I was more than content to putter around the cottage and garden, distracting Ranulf from his own work with a kiss whenever I wanted. Not that I was the one doing most of the distracting.

He cleared his throat. “You are certain, Nana?”

“Positive. It is time for the next generation of healers to take over.”

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