They made brief eye contact, and he lifted the bag to show her the purchase was made.

‘How’s Dad?’ she asked.

Kellan raised a brow; he expected them to be talking about Dana, considering it’d been another year since her death.

‘His rambling is almost as bad as mine, but he’s doing okay. He is aching to go on a hike.’

Her mother trailed off about how she thought the neighbours were having a mouse problem.

Bethan’s eyes darted toward Kellan, and he offered her a sympathetic smile.

She shook her head.

‘Mum, it’s Dana’s day—’

The line was a silent, unspoken words between mother and daughter.

‘I speak with her every day. She is doing okay too,’ her mother said.

Kellan’s heart broke for Bethan.

‘That would’ve been a dream too, Mum,’ she told her.

Her mother hummed in response.

Kellan was about to tune out when—

‘Dana told me to search through her room the other day. Are you still searching for that book?’

Kellan nearly dropped the bag. Not trying to hide he was listening to her, he walked over to Bethan, frozen in place.

‘Yes,’ she squeaked.

‘Well, I found all these papers underneath her floorboards. Do you want them? Otherwise, I think I will throw them out.’

‘Keep them,’ Bethan yelled through the phone. ‘Please.’

‘It felt like years since I had been in her room. The last time I was in there, she and I had a fight. I can’t remember what it was about but—’

‘Mum, I’m going to come home,’ Bethan said. ‘My friend Kellan will come too. Please keep those papers in her room.’

‘Of course.’ It seemed like she was about to hang up. ‘Is Kellan a boy’s name? I’m so excited to meet him. Have you heard from Gabriel? I have been trying to call him, but he doesn’t pick up anymore. Wait! Is he handsome? He better treat you better than that Elmwood boy, or your father might lose his head. That man gave me the shivers, which is so upsetting, considering how lovely Agatha is.’

Kellan tried so hard to not laugh, but Bethan’s facial expression at her mother’s words sent him over the edge.

He burst out into a fit of laughter.

Her face burnt a bright red as she aggressively hung up the phone. She nudged him back, and he toppled over. She stormed out of the shop.

The smile on Bethan’s face was worth the embarrassment.

chapter twenty-two

chapter twenty-two

bethan kore

bethan and kellan stood outside the train station in aalexyia, waiting for her father to pick them up. Aalexyia was a small town the Etruscan Mountains enveloped. Despite being spring, snow still laid on the highest peaks of the mountains.

Bethan spent the hour train ride milling over her conversation with Elnora earlier that morning before she had departed.