Chapter Fifteen
I ended up making a few more purchases before I left the village. I followed Lonan’s advice, refusing to back down when the Folk tried to trick me with half-truths and roundabout answers when I asked how much stuff cost.
They’d scowled when I hadn’t caved, muttering the true costs of my purchases and snatching the coins from me when I handed them over. After leaving Caom’s shop, I’d sat down on a small stone bench under a drooping tree and carefully studied the coins so I’d know their values before I attempted to make any more purchases.
I’d bought a different kind of loose-leaf tea than the one Caom had given me, which was running low. It smelled of aniseed and bark, and I was excited to try it. I’d also got a small notebook with a soft mushroom leather cover, some lavender soap, dried meat, an armful of fresh vegetables and a big cloth bag to carry them all back home in.
My cheeks were flushed and I felt lighter, even though the bag was heavy as I lugged it back to the cottage. It had felt good to get out and do something new. And I’d conquered my fear of going into the village and being around all the Folk, which had swelled the longer I’d put it off.
It would have been one of my favourite days here if it wasn’t for the fact that I had to go and have dinner with the Carlin and her sons in the evening. Especially because as I stepped inside the cottage, the cat glanced up at me sleepily from the sofa with a soft meow.
I abandoned my satchel and shopping bags by the bedroom door and went over, smiling when the cat climbed into my lap as soon as I sat down.
“I wish I could spend all afternoon napping with you,” I told him, kissing his head when he butted it against my chin. “But I got my seeds, and I want to plant them before this fucking dinner. And then I’ll have to have a bath, because I’ll be dirty from digging.”
The cat shivered, kneading my chest and rubbing his face all over my jaw as I ran my hand down his back.
“Sorry, baby, you’ll have to nap without me today,” I said with a chuckle when he tried to curl up in my lap. He didn’t like being picked up at all, so I waited until he got the message and slunk off my legs with a pitiful mewl.
When I went to retrieve my shopping from beside the bedroom door, I glanced up to see him already curled up in a ball directly beneath my pillow. Taking everything into the kitchen, I unpacked the food and tea into the pantry and put my new notebook on the kitchen table, next to the loose parchment I’d started copying the potion recipe onto.
After changing back into my old dark green leather trousers and carefully laying out the new black ones on the sofa, I stuffed the entire satchel into the trunk, the coins and dagger still inside it, and put my new soap on the mantelpiece near the copper bathtub. Then I sat down on the living room floor and excitedly went through my new seeds.
By the time I’d finished planting them in the garden I was sweating, my fingernails were caked with dirt and the sun was dipping in the sky. My stomach spasmed with nerves when I realised how soon Lonan would be arriving to collect me, but at least gardening had distracted me for the afternoon.
I washed my hands in the bucket of water I’d brought outside with me, then carefully poured it over the mounds of freshly dug earth in the herb garden. As I carried the bucket and empty seed sack round the cottage to the door, I spotted Caom approaching with a loosely wrapped parcel of brown paper in his hands.
“Got it done in time,” he said with a cheerful grin as he reached me. “You’re going to look spectacular.”
I huffed a short laugh. “The clothes will, I’m sure.”
“I won’t stay.” He handed me the parcel, eyeing my filthy nails with mild horror. “You clearly need a bath before Prince Lonan arrives to collect you.”
I cleared my throat. “Yeah, I was just heading inside to take one.”
“Well.” He hesitated, fidgeting as he chewed his lip. “Enjoy the dinner, if you can. Just… be polite. Don’t look at her until she addresses you. Try not to engage her sons. Just get through it.”
That did not help to lessen the dread already swirling in my belly. “I will.”
“I’ll be by in the morning to make sure you’re…” He cleared his throat. “To see how it went.”
I swallowed. “Okay.”
With a little wave, he turned and left. I carried the parcel inside, setting it on the sofa beside the trousers before starting the laborious process of filling the cauldron with water to heat for a bath. I stripped off my filthy clothes and went into the bedroom to put them in the wicker basket I’d turned into my laundry hamper. The cat blearily peeked with one eye when I stepped into the room, before both opened fully and his head popped up.
I chuckled, teasing, “Creep,” as I went back into the living room. As I waited for the water to heat up, I filled the bucket again and used my new soap and a little scrubbing brush to get the dirt out from under my nails.
There was no mirror in the cottage, but I could feel my hair was growing out. At least I’d never been able to grow a beard, so I didn’t have to worry about shaving my face. Besides, I shouldn’t have even cared about how I looked. I wasn’t interested in impressing the Carlin or her sons.
Except… I kind of was. One of them, at least. And I had no idea what to make of that.
Once the water was hot and in the tub, I washed my hair and scrubbed myself clean with my new lavender soap, then dried in front of the kitchen fire. After putting on my new clothes, I peered down at myself critically, chewing on my lower lip.
Did Iseriouslyhave to wear the shirt tucked in? The bulge of my dick wassoobvious.
As I stared down at it in dismay, it gave a hearty twitch.
Would Lonan notice?