Chapter 10
Ten
In the morning, Red ambushes you at the bottom of the stairs.
“Teach me how to hunt,” she says. “If I’d had a knife like yours, and if I knew how to use it, I could have cut myself out of the wolf.”
“Probably true,” you say.
“So is that a yes, then?” Red grins widely for a girl who, just yesterday, was eaten by a wolf. Maybe you’d feel cocky, too, if anyone had ever saved you in the nick of time.
“I’m acknowledging you’re correct,” you say. “I’m not offering anything.”
“Come on,” she protests. “I go through these woods all the time. I can’t be afraid of them. Do you want me to get eaten by a wolf again?”
Granny appears in the doorway, wiping her hands on her apron. “Let it lie, Red.”
“What if you get eaten by a wolf again? Someone’s going to need to save you.”
“Yes, and I’d prefer a strapping young lad.” Granny waggles her brows. “Join us for breakfast, huntsman?”
You don’t have your vial with you—you never imagined being out overnight—so the answer is going to have to be no.
“Sorry,” you say. “I’ve got to be on my way to find the prince.”
With the wolf pelt over your shoulder, you head out of the house. Out of the house, and into the woods.