Grace kicked off her boots and wrung out her hair. Alice was in awe that such a woman could exist, let alone feel any kind of affection for her. Grace’s billowing white shirt had come untucked as she’d thrown off her soaking overcoat, and her rolled up sleeves revealed strong, muscular arms. Alice had spent her life in high-necked, long-sleeved dresses, and she’d forgotten just how beautiful skin could be. The firelight made Grace radiant.

How could she want a scrawny, pale girl like Alice?

She looked up into Grace’s eyes and saw a hunger she’d never seen before. It scared her and exhilarated her. She decided then and there that she wouldn’t question Grace’s feelings ever again. Alice exhaled deeply; her heart was hammering in her chest. She didn’t know what to do next.

Almost as if Grace sensed her unease, she stepped across the room and took Alice into her arms. With a smile, Alice leaned into her once more, kissing her again, neither worried now about rejection or humiliation. Grace overpowered Alice’s lead and pushed her backwards onto the bed, climbing on top of her, running her hands through her ebony hair. They were intertwined, moving and breathing and loving as one entity. Everything made sense now.

Alice had never been kissed, had never wanted to be kissed. Not unless it was with someone who made her feel safe, who made her heart sing, who felt like home.

Grace Rafferty felt like home.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Lily and Jem walked with a fierce sense of purpose for the rest of the day, as the landscape changed around them. They left behind the salt-soaked coastline, moved through moors carpeted in a dingy brown long-dead heather and found themselves deep in a forest that stretched out endlessly on all sides. Lily at once felt at home and stopped to untie her boots. Jem watched her with a confused expression as she stepped with her bare feet onto the forest floor. Lily took the laces and tied them together around her waist so that she didn’t have to carry her boots in her hand.

‘Aren’t you worried you’ll cut yourself?’ Jem asked as they started walking again. The light was fading and the forest was filled with the burning glow of the sunset.

‘I trust the forest. I’ve wandered through ones like this my whole life. For years, the forest and our little village were all I knew. My world didn’t stretch much further. I learned how to adapt to my environment, as you adapted to yours. I’m made to exist amongst the trees. They have been my companions for as long as I can remember. They’d never hurt me.’

‘You speak as if they’re sentient, as if they could choose not to harm you,’ Jem said, smiling not unkindly.

‘Well, they are. I’ve always felt like they speak to each other, and to us, if you listen. Respect nature and it will respect you.’

Jem shook his head slightly as they continued, but Lily could spy the smirk tugging at the edge of his lips. The long day of walking was showing in his face; his cheeks were flushed and his brow glistened. He had long since removed the hood from his cloak, but in doing so, his hair had been pulled slightly out of the leather tie he used to keep it all off his face. Strands like raven feathers fell across his face and he absentmindedly ran his hands through his hair every now and again, which only pulled more hair out of the tie. He glanced up and caught her eye and Lily looked away, her stomach clenching and colour rising to her cheeks.