Chapter 5
Chapter
Five
My skirts pick up in the breeze, swirling around my ankles as I make my way between branches, ducking before my eyes catch on the water glistening in the clearing in front of me.
Sylvan is all tall trees and dark nights, but this spot right here feels like I’m somewhere else. Somewhere light and easy, somewhere where the breeze is warm instead of cold enough to send gooseflesh crawling up your legs.
My foot lands on a brown leaf, the crunch echoing through the clearing. The sound fills me with satisfaction, along with the melodic chirp of the birds perched on a tree branch reaching across the lake. As if it’s stretching to touch the lake’s surface, desperate to consume the fresh water.
I let out a content sigh and wander to the lake's edge, dipping my toes under the water.
A school of fish barely larger than my little finger swarms to the water’s edge, keeping close to me as I take another step, gathering up my skirts and letting the water flood around my ankles.
I think back on my conversation with Silas about the way that other people see my connection with animals as something so interesting. For me, it is something so wonderfully natural. I’ve never known a life any different.
I remember thinking when I was young how beautiful it was that humans and animals could interact like this. It wasn’t until I watched my brother and Silas running around in the forest that I noticed animals didn’t go to them like they came to me; the forest’s creatures fled instead.
I’ve never understood it, but it’s as if we share something between us that other people don’t have, like they can hear the quiet greetings I whisper to them.
I hear a rustling behind me, and my body swivels to look. I almost hope to see Hazel standing behind me again, or a rabbit munching on a flower stem, but I see no one.
I close my eyes, willing my nervousness to disappear, but it won’t. After encountering the mayor and his councilmen yesterday, I’ve felt on edge. There was something about the look in his eyes that made my stomach turn.
I open my eyes once more, and my gaze snags on the purple petals of belladonna peeking up at the light shining through the gap in the canopy.
My mind takes me straight to Dahlia.
I haven’t found anything about belladonna in the library journals, at least not yet. Too much could only make things worse for Dahlia, and with the new reality of the mayor watching our every move, I can’t afford a misstep.
I remind myself to pick a few flowers before I leave. I'm lucky to have found them this time of year. They’re rare enough in this area as it is.
I reach behind me, untying the laces on my bodice and letting it fall to the ground beneath me before stepping out of my skirts, leaving me in nothing but my shift.
I attempt to dismiss the chill that skates across my chest, the feeling like a presence other than mine is in this forest, as I walk further into the lake. The small fish follow my path until my shoulders are submerged in the cool water.
A small sigh slips from my lips as I dip my hair back in the water, letting it ease my mind as the coolness hits my scalp.
I close my eyes, and slowly I drift deeper into the middle of the lake where my feet only just reach the ground, letting my thoughts melt away with every drop of water on my skin.
I let it envelop me. Let it take everything from me and cleanse me of the last few days.
I was once such a carefree child. I let nothing bother me. But as I’ve grown and changed, so has the world around me. I can’t let things slide off my back like I used to. Everything sticks now, embedding itself in every part of me.
Every feeling, every thought is somehow so heavy I can’t shake it. They’re tangled in my curls, whispering into my ear if I ever dare to forget.
Being in the water helps. It feels as if I can let them go.
Not all of them, but a few. Some I can give over to the water and let them drown here.
Let them sink to the bottom of the lake with all the rest, hidden in between the rocks.
The rest float for a while, but when I lift my head from the water, they come right with me, stuck to my skin like a rash I cannot rid myself of.
Thoughts like those of the king, sitting on his throne and watching Nameria crumble under the fear he’s creating, the fear he is feeding like a ravenous beast.
That is a thought I try to force away. But the lake rejects it, as if it’s a thought that is too big to absorb.
“You shouldn’t be all alone out here, sweetheart.”
My eyes snap open as gooseflesh finds my body under the water. When they do, I see the school of fish scatter deeper into the lake, as if they got a bad feeling up their spines just as I did.
The man who spoke stands at the water's edge on the other side of the lake from where I came. He is well-dressed, clothed in fabrics of the kind that aren’t made around here.
Deep-brown pants are paired with a matching vest over a white long-sleeve shirt.
But awful suspenders, the shade of dark berry stains, hold his pants up.
My eyes peruse his stature, his large belly and big hands that are gripping his suspenders as his eyes do their own perusing. He looks down his nose at me, and that’s when I recognise him.
My skin turns numb as the councilman I met at the library stares at my figure just under the water, my shift doing little to keep me modest, but I didn’t expect to see anyone else here.
I never have before.
I try to slip further under the surface, but when the water hits my chin, I decide that’s quite far enough.
“Greene, isn’t it?” he says, my body seizing up under the water. “The healer.”
My hands shake as I close them around my shift that is floating around my waist. “I’m not a healer,” I say, my voice fragile, and I hate it.
“Not a healer? But you were borrowing healers’ journals from the library, no? So, what are you doing with them?”
I stay silent, and so does the surrounding woods. Even the birds have gone quiet, as if waiting to see what happens next.
The man must sense my fear. “Don’t be scared, hmm. I just wouldn’t expect a pretty little thing like you to be out here on your own, that’s all,” he says, but his tone suggests I should be scared. I should trust that feeling in my belly because that’s not all he was wondering.
“She’s not alone.” A voice I don’t recognise comes from behind me.
I spin around in the water to see a young man sitting by my discarded skirts with his legs kicked out in front of him, leaning back on his arms as if he’s been comfortable there for a while.
I can’t help but take notice of his sandy hair as the sun shines down on it, a perfect match for his warm-toned skin peeking out from his rolled-up long sleeves.
I’ve never seen him before, and I know everyone in Sylvan—not counting the new councilmen.
Is this man on my side of the lake a part of the council too? Fear shoots through me at the thought but is quickly replaced by surprise as the young man winks at me from his spot on the shoreline.
“Apparently not,” the councilman says, prompting me to spin back to face him. “You should keep tighter reins on your lady, sir. We can’t have them wandering about in nothing but their shifts, can we?”
“She may do as she pleases,” the sandy-haired man says, dragging my attention back to him. “I don’t mind it so much.”
My body flushes with heat at the fact that two men are standing on either side of the lake debating the suitability of my undergarments. The only difference being that one wears a frown while the other wears a hint of a grin.
“Hmm,” the councilman mutters. “Personal preference, I suppose. I know I wouldn’t want anyone to see my wife so…exposed.”
That heat rises again.
“Personal preference indeed,” is all the man on my side of the lake says in response. Not correcting the councilman’s assumption. “Have a lovely afternoon.”
The councilman huffs a frustrated sigh, giving me one more glance before he disappears from the clearing, vanishing into the woods to do what the gods only know.
“You’re welcome.”
I turn back once again. It’s fortunate the fish aren’t close any longer, or they’d be caught up in the skirt of my shift with all this spinning.
“T-thank you,” I stutter. I start moving closer before remembering my appearance and pausing. “Thank you for doing that,” I say, more confident this time. He just nods in response. “I’m sorry, I don’t think we have ever met.”
“We haven’t,” he says simply. “Until now, that is.”
I’m almost taken aback with his directness. My brows furrow as I scramble for what to say to follow that up.
“Why…why did you defend me?” It’s all I can wonder.
He shrugs. “I believe a woman should be able to swim in her shift without facing trouble, do you not?”
“I do,” I say hesitantly, not being able to get a read on him quite yet. “But, uh, it appears that trouble seems to find us all the same.”
He just looks at me, as if trying to read me the same way I am of him.
“Well, I appreciate you doing that,” I say, filling the silence. “It was unnecessary, but thank you.”
“I beg to differ.” He leans forward, dragging his knees up and leaning his arms on them. “I could see your gooseflesh from here. But it was no bother. Men don’t have access to everything as they so very much believe they do. Sometimes they just need someone to remind them of that.”
Once again, I’m bemused. More often than not, men in these parts are taught they can have everything they ever desire, even if that thing doesn’t want them back.
“Yes, I suppose they do.” I see a few fish dart around in the water, surrounding me once again, and a small smile tugs at my lip at their reappearance.
“They seem to like you,” he says, a hint of wonder in his voice.
I look up to see him standing, looking at the fish in the water around me. “I, uh…yes, they seem to.” I seem to have lost all of my ability to communicate when it comes to speaking to this man.
He nods, and at his full height, I can see his broad shoulders. With the sharp lines of his jaw and the way he is dressed, I decide he must be close to Silas’s age.
“Are you new here?” I ask. A silly question really since I already know the answer.
He just nods, his gaze coming back to mine, not once dipping below the water to try to see what’s underneath. “I am. Did I stumble upon your secret spot? I can forget it’s here if you like.”
A smile tries to force its way to my lips at the lilt of his voice, different to the direct tone from earlier. “That’s okay, I have others.”
He doesn’t have any hesitation as a wide grin lights up his face. “I still have much to explore then. I better be on my way.” He turns around, already starting to walk away.
“Thank you…again,” I yell out.
“For your sake, I hope I never have to save you again,” he yells without turning around before he disappears back into the trees.