CHAPTER THREE
Nyssa had been half expecting Edith or another member of the coven to have tracked her down, or a disgruntled member of Nighthaven to have come to lecture her about taking over the great Lisabeth Hawthorne’s home.
She had not been expecting a petite, wide-eyed woman with a smile so bright it instantly soothed some of Nyssa’s unease.
‘Thank goodness someone is here! When I saw the smoke from the chimney I thought the pixies were causing trouble again!’ The young woman peered up at her through thick, blonde lashes.
Her eyes were the blue of the sky at the height of summer, and her skin had a golden tinge to it that only emphasized the constellation of freckles across her nose and cheeks.
Long, blonde hair cascaded around her face, so pale it looked almost white in the September sunlight filtering through the trees.
With a narrow, pointed chin and a small, pink mouth, she was undoubtedly one of the prettiest creatures Nyssa had ever seen.
It appeared Nyx agreed, for her familiar’s fur had now smoothed over, and she wove between the woman’s legs with her tail raised and a purr rumbling in her throat.
‘Oh, sweet kitty!’ With no apparent regard for social etiquette, the woman crouched down to let Nyx rub against her outstretched palm.
‘You must by Nyx! Which would make you’ – at this, the woman’s eyes travelled back up to meet Nyssa’s – ‘Lisabeth’s granddaughter, Nyssa!
I’m Liora – it’s a pleasure to finally meet you! ’
Liora was back to full height now, her smile somehow even wider than it had been when Nyssa had opened the door.
‘You knew my grandmother?’
Nyssa searched Liora’s expression for any hint that her grandmother had revealed anything about their last night together before she’d left Nighthaven.
Any sign of hostility or judgement. But Liora’s smile stayed in place, her eyes sparkling as she clasped her hands together.
‘Very well! Lisabeth was such a lovely woman. She let me stay with her for a while when I first moved to town. And helped me to find my own cottage – it’s just on the south shore of the lake over there. ’
That sounded like her grandmother. There had been some summers when Nyssa’s mother had forbade Nyssa from staying with her grandma because, quote, she had ‘taken in another stray’.
Liora’s bright eyes suddenly turned sad. ‘I’m so sorry she’s gone, but she’d be so happy you’re finally here. She always spoke so fondly of you.’
‘She did?’
Strangely, she found that this piece of information hurt more than if Liora had said her grandmother had told the entire town Nyssa was a sell-out who she never wanted to see again. At least that response was one Nyssa could understand.
Or perhaps, her inner voice whispered, it’s the one you deserve.
‘Of course she did! She always hoped you’d come back …’ Liora pursed her lips, head tilting to the side in a way that reminded Nyssa of a bird. ‘So … why did you finally come back?’
For the first time since meeting her, Nyssa sensed the smallest bit of judgement in Liora’s tone. The real meaning behind her question was obvious: she didn’t want to know why Nyssa had returned, but why she had returned now, instead of right after her grandmother’s death.
Fighting the urge to defend herself, Nyssa settled on some semblance of the truth. ‘I needed a break from my coven duties. Somewhere I could rest and … rethink some things.’
‘I can understand that.’ Liora fiddled with the long sleeves of her woven jumper, her thumb sticking through one of the well-worn holes.
‘I moved here for the same reason just a few years ago, after I finished my last tour, and now … well, I’ve pretty much become the town bard, and honestly, I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else!
Who knows, maybe you’ll end up feeling the same way, too! Nighthaven has that effect on people.’
‘Maybe.’ Nyssa’s smile felt a little too forced. ‘I’m not planning on staying long, though. Just until I … get back on my feet.’
Nyssa didn’t know why she felt the need to explain herself, nor was she entirely sure she’d done so for Liora’s benefit and not her own.
As lovely as Nighthaven was, this would be a temporary visit.
Nyssa would find a way to regain control of her magic and return to her coven with her head held high.
‘Oh, that’s a shame!’ The look Liora gave Nyssa was one that made her think that the musician didn’t entirely believe her, but Liora ploughed on. ‘Even so, you should get reacquainted with the town! How about tomorrow we meet in the town square, and I can give you the grand tour!’
A small (all right, bigger than small) part of Nyssa – the guilt-ridden, self-pitying part – wanted to decline and stay holed up inside the cottage with Nyx and her own terrible company. Even when she’d been with the coven, socializing for pleasure hadn’t exactly been her favourite thing to do.
But … well, she wasn’t going to reclaim her position in the coven that way. And she needed something to distract her while she waited for further information on how she could redeem herself, lest she lose her mind entirely.
‘A tour would be lovely.’
Lovely was exactly the right word.
There was no other way to describe the charming whimsy of Nighthaven, which, as a child, Nyssa had thought was one of the most beautiful places in the world.
The longer she’d spent away from the place, the more she’d convinced herself that her memories of the town were glossed over with childlike wonder.
That no place could actually be that beautiful.
She’d been wrong.
The day before, Nyssa’s own troubled mood hadn’t allowed her to fully appreciate Nighthaven’s beauty.
But today, in the bright, late-morning sunlight, the town looked like something straight out of a fairy tale.
Off-white cobbled streets were lined with tall, narrow houses, each one painted a different shade of soft pastel ranging from pink to yellow to blue.
The trees that were scattered along the streets were just beginning to show the first hints of autumn, the tips of their leaves a bright orange in the September sunshine.
The houses themselves were adorned with large, latticed windows, with the third storey of each house having a small balcony that overlooked the town square.
Most of the balconies were woven with small fairy lights or ribbons of ivy, and Nyssa couldn’t help but feel as if she’d stepped into some sort of enchanted realm as she peered up at them.
No wonder Liora had mentioned pixies – between the lights and the sheer amount of flora, wild grass and large, twisted oak trees Nyssa had seen on her broom ride to the town square, Nighthaven had always been one of the mischievous fairies’ favourite places to call home.
‘Nyssa!’
With her small frame and wide eyes, Liora could have been mistaken for part pixie herself. She somehow managed to look even perkier this morning than she had the day prior, and the smile on her face was charmingly contagious.
She hurried toward Nyssa, darting around the fountain and weaving between a few townsfolk with the kind of nimble grace that reminded Nyssa of Nyx.
‘So sorry I’m late! Time ran away from me, but I brought you …
’ she paused as she rummaged in her satchel, only to pull out a small, paper-wrapped object. ‘This! They’re the best in town.’
Nyssa could smell the buttery pastry before Liora had even unwrapped it.
The nostalgic scent of cinnamon and sweet icing wafted through the air, and Nyssa’s mouth filled with saliva.
She’d eaten a quick nut bar for breakfast (a bad habit she’d picked up during busy mornings in the coven), and her stomach grumbled furiously at the sight of her favourite childhood treat.
‘That’s so thoughtful of you … I can’t believe Madame Jeanne’s is still open!’ Nyssa took the offered pastry from Liora and brought it to her nose. ‘It smells exactly like I remember.’
As Nyssa unwrapped the cinnamon bun and took her first bite, her mind was flooded with childhood memories: walking hand in hand with her grandmother along the cobblestone streets, baskets filled with herbs and other ingredients from the various shops in town.
For a moment, she could almost hear her grandmother’s low humming.
Could almost smell the honey-apple kiss of her magic.
‘Thank you for this,’ she said, hoping Liora couldn’t hear the sudden tightness of her voice.
Liora was practically beaming. ‘Lisabeth once mentioned they used to be your favourite! When I told Madame Jeanne it was for you, she insisted I bring you in for a visit, so that’s going to be one of our first stops, and then we can head to Old Felix’s magical items shop, and oh, we have to visit Gwen’s tea shop! How does all that sound?’
Nyssa smiled, slightly stunned at the speed with which Liora had rattled off this list, and murmured, ‘I’d like that.’
Liora bounced on her tiptoes before turning back to face the direction she’d come from.
Nyssa fell into step beside her, savouring each bite of her cinnamon bun and listening to the buzz of the townsfolk with a strange sort of warmth in her chest. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this …
light, as if all of her burdens had been melted away beneath Nighthaven’s warm sunshine.
‘You look different this morning. I take it you slept well?’ Liora’s lips were curled up at the corners, as if she already knew the answer.