Page 6

Taking a deep drink of ale and a few pieces of pork to nibble on, she surveyed the gathering again.

Dusk was beginning to settle in, but the celebration would last well into the night.

She tried not to look for him, but despite herself, she noticed that the boy from before was nowhere to be found.

Not ready to dive back into the dance floor, and feeling a tad dizzy from the heat and ale, she wandered away from the gathering to get some quiet, cooler air by the river.

The path from the Grove to the river was well-worn, and she heard shadowed figures giggling in the woods as she walked along it.

Breaking through the trees, she meandered down the bank of the wide, crystal-clear river until she reached her favored spot: a small beach of pebbles and sand that jutted out into a large bend in the river.

Hidden by poplar and ash trees, the beach was quiet, so she took off her shoes and stepped into the cool water.

The river moved slower here around the bend, and she watched as it swirled around her feet.

She got so lost in the feeling of her toes squishing in the sand, and the overwhelming sense of life and possibility that always hung in the air this time of year, that again she missed the signs of someone approaching until she heard the splash of a rock skipping into the water.

“Gaia!” Ena gasped, whirling to find the boy from before standing a few feet behind her. “You scared me.”

“My apologies,” he replied, grinning in a way that said he wasn’t really sorry, but amused.

That irked Ena. As a witch, she wasn’t used to being snuck up on. Her Knowing usually prevented it.

“How do you move so quietly? It’s annoying.”

He laughed. An infectious sort of sound that tugged at the corners of her mouth.

“Just a natural talent, I guess.”

“What are you doing here? Did you follow me?” she asked incredulously.

“Oh, come on, I’m not that pathetic. I was walking along the river myself and saw this spot. It’s beautiful,” he said, staring out at the water.

“Yeah, it is, but I was here first, so it’s mine,” she replied, smiling tightly at him.

Gaia, why was she acting so childish? She felt so flustered by his presence again. She really needed to stop acting like such a fool. Gathering herself, she forced her brain to think of something somewhat nice to say.

“But… I guess I can’t fault you for having a similar sense of beauty,” she said begrudgingly.

“How gracious of you,” he drawled, picking up another flat rock and skipping it in the water. It jumped almost six times before falling in. He did it so nonchalantly, Ena thought it had to be an act.

“Is that supposed to impress me?” Ena asked, raising a brow at him.

“I don’t know, does it?” He smiled again.

“Not particularly, though you clearly have many talents.”

“I do?” he asked, brows rising, clearly amused. “What are they?”

“Well, sneaking up on people for one. And convincing girls to dance with you,” Ena listed as she walked through the water a little closer to him.

“Oh, I don’t know about that. It clearly didn’t work on you,” he said, taking a step towards her himself.

“True, but it worked on several others,” Ena teased, referring to the string of girls she’d seen him dancing with after Lylith.

“Jealous?” He grinned, giving her a knowing look.

Ena scoffed. “Hardly. Just good to know where I stand. One of many, it seems.”

“Hey, you turned me down. What was I supposed to do? Just stand around by myself?”

“No, no, of course not. I’m glad you found some other company,” she replied, trying to sound sincere but coming off bitter, even to her own ears.

Silence fell between them again as the boy continued to watch her like a hawk.

“What’s your name?” he finally asked.

“Ena.”

“Eh-na,” he said slowly, as if feeling out the name on his tongue. His voice was deep and a little raspy. She wasn’t sure why, but hearing him speak her name made her heart beat faster, like she’d allowed this predator into some quiet, safe part of herself.

“I’m Ty,” he said. “And if you don’t want me to, I won’t dance with anyone else. You’re the only one I really wanted to dance with, anyway.”

Ena blinked, taken back at the offer. She’d never admit it, but her heart warmed at his words.

Ena met his intense gaze yet again, suddenly skeptical of his intentions, especially since she’d reacted so strongly.

He was so good-looking and charming, she was acutely aware that he could be playing with her.

“Where are you from, Ty?” she asked, trying to change the subject.

“Yalta. It’s a small village on the other side of the Chasm Mountains.”

“So you’re a mortal, then?”

“Yes,” he replied, bending down to pick up and discard several more rocks.

That was fascinating to Ena. If she were being honest, she’d never felt herself this…

intrigued by a mortal before. Although she’d interacted with plenty of them before, even befriended some, intimate relationships between mortals and witches were rare.

Not out of any sort of prejudice, just because their ways of life were so different that handfasting usually occurred within one’s own group.

But then again, she’d also never met anyone from the other side of the Chasm Mountains before.

Not much was known about what lay on the other side since no one that she knew had ever made the treacherous crossing over the snowy peaks.

She knew from reading some old Auster matriarch journals that groups of non-magical people lived on the other side and sometimes traveled over to trade, but it was not common.

He’d clearly traveled a long way to be here.

“What brought you all the way over here?” she asked, her curiosity piquing.

“My uncles and I are just passing through, cultivating new trade relationships for our metal goods. My village is near to a large iron ore deposit and specializes in blacksmithing.”

“Oh,” Ena replied lamely. She honestly had a million questions about what it was like on the other side of the Chasm Mountains and the journey over it, but she also felt increasingly nervous around him and it was making her mouth feel as though it had been stuffed full of cotton.

Tucking her hair behind her ear to cover her awkwardness, she walked deeper into the water.

“What’s it like Yal—” Her words cut off as she heard a rustle of clothing and turned around to find Ty taking off his shirt.

“What in the Underworld are you doing?” she asked incredulously.

“Going for a swim. It’s hot,” he replied casually as he tossed his linen shirt on the beach behind him.

Ena swallowed. As if his face wasn’t beautiful enough, his body was more so. His long limbs still held the thinness of youth, but were not gangly by any means. Hard, wiry muscles shaped his arms and shoulders, and the ridges of his abdomen were clear even in the dimming light.

Kicking off his boots, Ty walked into the river until the water reached his thighs and then dove in, swimming to the eddy on the other side of the river bend. Popping up and smoothing his hair back from his face, he turned back to Ena. “You should come in,” he called. “The water feels amazing.”

“No thanks,” Ena said awkwardly. She paused for a second, then felt the need to explain. “I can’t swim actually.”

“Really?” he asked, sounding surprised. “Not even a little bit?”

“No. I never learned. I tried, but the water…” Her words drifted off as she stared at the river, trying to think of how to explain this to a mortal.

“What about the water?” he asked, as if truly fascinated by what she had to say.

“Well, I don’t know how much you know about our kind, but I can feel it, with my Knowing. Water is always wanting to get to the ocean. It’s always rushing, rushing, rushing, and it’s… overwhelming. I always worried I would be swept away.”

Ty paused for a second as if to ponder that. “Here. Come in, and I’ll hold on to you,” he said as he gracefully swam back towards her.

“No way,” Ena said quickly, shaking her head.

“Come on. You don’t strike me as the type of person who is okay with not being able to do everything she puts her mind to.

Am I wrong?” He grinned at her wolfishly.

How he knew that about her after only having known her for five minutes, she had no idea.

Did something about her just scream “perfectionist”?

“Come on,” he repeated as she eyed him skeptically. “I won’t let you get swept away.”

Ena was afraid, but for some Gaia-forsaken reason, she wanted to impress this boy.

And she saw this for what it was—a challenge.

He was testing her. Was she brave enough to do this?

Maybe it was misguided, but she refused to appear meek in front of this predator.

Besides, he did look sturdy enough to withstand the current.

“Fine,” she conceded, rolling her eyes as if her heart wasn’t beating out of her chest at the idea.

Cautiously, she untied the strings on her brown bodice.

Sliding it over her head, she tossed it on the beach behind her.

Next, she slipped off her lightweight leather shoes.

Since it was summer and hot, she now stood in just her thin white linen dress.

Her nipples peaked underneath, and she felt his gaze on them before he looked up to meet her eyes once more.

Gaia, she’d never been this exposed with a boy before. Fooled around with a couple, yes, but she knew once she got in the water, most of her body would be visible through the thin dress, and she’d just met him not even an hour ago.