Page 91 of Twisted Ties

“Oh god,” I say, covering my face with my hands.

“Anyway, enough about your sex life. It’s all you talk about these days.” I snort. “What I was thinking is, as there’s no hurry to return, how about a little detour?”

“A detour to where?”

“Grandma’s.”

“Didn’t Little Red end up devoured by the wolf after a little detour to Grandma’s?”

“No, Little Red’s detour ended up saving Grandma from the wolf. It’s a good omen, Rhi. Besides,” she says, reaching down to tickle Pip’s head, “I wouldn’t mind my grandma replacing that protection spell seeing as hanging out with you is such a dangerous profession–”

“Winnie, I’m so incredibly sorry–”

Winnie waves her hand through the air. “Rhi, you saved me. There is no reason to apologize.”

I stare down at my hands. A sob brews in my chest. “I thought I was going to lose you, Winnie. For a moment, I thought I had.”

Winnie breathes in and out, then reaches over to squeeze my hand. “You didn’t though. I’m okay. Thanks to you.”

I squeeze her hand.

“You saved me too,” I point out.

“I did?”

“From Barone, remember?”

“Then we’re even.”

“I’m not sure your grandma is going to see it that way when we both turn up covered inyourblood.”

“She’ll be fine,” she says, releasing my hands and pressing away at various buttons.

“Who do you think those men were, Winnie?”

“I don’t know.”

“You said they were soldiers.”

“They were dressed in army combat gear.”

“Doesn’t mean they were soldiers. Could have been the Wolves of Night after all, or one of the other gangs.”

“The man spoke with an accent.”

Winnie snaps her head that way. “What kind of accent?”

I try my best to explain, to imitate him.

“Western,” Winnie says quietly. “But what would soldiers from the West be doing so far from the border?”

I don’t have an answer for that.

“What about that man?” Winnie asks. “The one at the graveyard? Was he part of a trap?”

“I don’t think so.”

“What did he say?”