Page 7 of Velvet Folds (Velvet)
Chapter 7
In which our heroine returns home
I could have stayed with him.
A little sliver of remorse has lodged itself in my chest. Sneaking out of the castle like a thief had felt wrong, but if he has someone looking for me, they might have forced me to stay and I can’t.
Not today.
Tonight I can be his. Today, there is too much to do.
I check the ring of soap vines that surround my home. Adrik could cross it if he wished, but he cannot scent me once I’ve passed it. It keeps monsters at bay. Even if he isn’t as monstrous as the ones that stories say used to roam freely in this place.
The other creatures have been hunted to the point that they’ve left these lands… Both by human hunters, and Lord Adrik himself.
“By his vigilance and the blood of our people are these lands kept safe.” The litany is usually whispered as a prayer and reminder the day of the bleeding moon.
The village needs him.
There aren’t any human hunters left here…
There’s only one monster left to hunt and those who have tried have died.
I shiver at the thought of the only one in the village who might try if given the chance.
Waiting for me in the chair on the porch, my father weaves a cord from hemp we prepared last season and listens to the birdsong with his face turned up toward the porch rafters.
“The birds told me you were coming.”
“Did they?” I ask as I sit on the floorboards beside him, unraveling a knot that hasn’t fully tightened yet.
“They always chirp louder when you’re safe.”
I don’t believe him, but I don’t tell him that.
He used to tell me the birds told him when I was “up to something” or when I’d switched out my carrots for turnips. But the birds don’t tell him anything.
“I have to harvest lake turnips tonight, or it’ll start to choke the outlet. I won’t be home until late.” Very late.
“Always so busy, my girl,” he says with a soft smile. “Too busy for your old man.”
“Never.”
“The birds say you work too hard.”
“I’m sure they do.” Standing, I pat the dust away from my skirt and glance out toward the treeline. “I’ll get supper going. We can eat before I go.”
And he can put himself to bed before I’m back.
I just hope that he does.