Page 21 of Taken to the Deadlands (Stolen Demon Brides #1)

Chapter 21

Mia

T hree months later

“Pick anything you want,” Agnus said with a sweet smile as she pulled me through the stalls in the farmers’ market. “My treat!”

I gave her my best smile back. I hadn’t planned on leaving the shop. After all, Sundays were one of my busiest days. People would filter in from the market, curiosity getting the better of them.

But of course, Agnus being my first customer all but took the rest of my day from me.

She visited me often to talk about her dead husband. So much sometimes that I barely got a word in before our session was up.

But she always left me a huge tip and a grateful smile.

She was actually one of the only repeat customers I had left.

Since coming back, I felt my need to lie to these people about their loved ones slipping. Just the night before, I had been searching the job boards, hoping to find something that would allow me to keep the shop but take fewer customers.

“You already pay me enough,” I said.

She shook her head and pulled me up to a floral-smelling stall with all sorts of homemade lotions and soaps.

“Nonsense!” she said with a laugh. The old woman at the counter greeted her with a smile but eyed me warily. “It’s the least I can do for all the help you’ve given me. Morning, Mags! Whatcha got for us?”

Mags paused for a moment before motioning to the far-right side of her table.

“Rose and honey soaps,” she answered with far less enthusiasm than Agnus. The elderly woman might annoy me at times, but Mags’s coldness toward her caused me to bristle.

“Oh, delightful!”

I smiled at Agnus as she picked up one and motioned for me to smell it. My eyes widened when the sweet floral scent filled my senses.

“Wait… That actually smells really nice!”

Mags let out a huff.

“I’ve been doing this for twenty years already,” she answered. “ Of course they smell good.”

I bit my tongue and sent Agnus a smile.

“Well, if that’s the case, I bet we’re in good hands if we buy from her, huh?”

Agnus let out a laugh.

“We sure are! Three of these and my usual, please.”

I stood silent as the ladies chatted while Mags gathered her stuff. They seemed friendly enough now that I had a chance to watch them. Maybe I had misjudged Mags.

“That bastard is still keeping her from me,” Mags muttered under her breath. “I barely get calls anymore.”

“Oh dear,” Agnus said with a frown. “This all happened after your mom passed, didn’t it?”

Mags nodded and handed over her bag with a sigh.

“Never mind,” she said. “Twenty-eight, please.”

I waited beside the stall while Agnus paid. When that was done, she looked at me, then turned back to Mags.

“Come visit Mia if you get a chance,” she said. “I’m sure she can give you some answers about what’s happening.”

My jaw dropped.

“Agnus, you don’t have to?—”

“Shush now,” she said and pulled me down the street. “She needs it more than most. Her husband divorced her and had been whispering some hateful things to her kid. They don’t talk much anymore, and since her mom passed, she barely sees her.”

I sent her a look.

“Must be difficult.”

She nodded.

“Some people like her just need some… comfort,” she explained. “Her mother was always against the marriage but loved Sofie, her daughter. They would visit her old house every Sunday after the farmers’ market, but after she died they had to sell?—”

“I didn’t take you for much of a gossip, Agnus,” I teased and threaded my arm in hers.

She threw her head back and let out a loud laugh, drawing some of the patrons’ eyes.

“I’m doing this to help you , darling,” she said. “Mags is a skeptic if I’ve ever seen one, so you better get your story straight before she comes to see you. Give her a week or two and she’ll show, I promise.”

I slowed my pace.

“What story?” I said with a nervous laugh.

Agnus rolled her eyes right before tugging me forward with a grip far stronger than someone her age should have.

“When I came to you, I was at my wits’ end,” she admitted, her suddenness taking me by surprise. “I believed. Wanted to believe so badly. But the moment you mentioned Bob’s love for planes, I knew you were a fake.”

We had moved out of the farmers’ market and toward my shop, so thankfully no one could hear her declaration. So I stopped in my tracks, forcing her to face me. Her smile caused my heart to sink into my stomach.

“But for the first time in months, I was happy ,” she continued. “Truly, I was. So, I thought about it, then came back. But that time I came back for you .”

I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out.

“I know,” she said with a laugh. “I probably shouldn’t have blurted it out like that, but believe me when I say that I want to keep you in this town for as long as possible. So, my motives for recommending you and feeding you this information are entirely selfish.”

I cleared my throat.

“But he had model planes everywhere,” I muttered.

A twinkle lit her eyes.

“It was compulsion , not love,” she explained. “If anything, he was terrified of them after crashing once.”

I couldn’t look her in the eyes. Instead, my gaze trailed to the shop. The sign was pitiful and needed to be redone. The steps were crumbling. The windows needed cleaning. The entire place looked awful.

What have I been doing the last three months?

“But I think you needed me too,” she said, her hand coming to squeeze mine. This time I did look at her.

“I still do,” I confessed, my voice cracking.

She shook her head.

“In recent months, I have seen a shift in you. You don’t want to be here, in this town, anymore, and as much as I want to keep you… I should probably let you go.”

I swallowed thickly and pulled the older woman into a hug.

“I won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.”

She let out a laugh.

“We will see, dear.”

After three months of grieving my time in the Demon Realm, wishing for—no, not going there—for the first time I felt the need to change. To make something of my life here.

Because now I knew…

Aris wasn’t coming back.