Once outside the manor, Sam stopped walking to massage his temples, which caused him to fall behind.

“Aurelie, good lord, can you not wait one moment?” he called after me. “And where is your mad pyre, Vincent? How does he always vanish so fortuitously? How does he know to come when you need him each time?”

I sighed, pausing for Sam to collect himself. I would be leagues ahead if not for the pace of valiant men.

He drew closer to me and tried to take up my bruised arm, but I removed it from his reach. His green eyes clouded, matching the skies. Storms indeed were blowing in from the south.

“Will you grant me nothing? After all this time of knowing one another? I have only ever wanted to care for you, Aurelie. Yet you treat me like a monster.”

Of course, I did not respond.

“I know. I have let the business with the grippling get to my head. But Aurelie, that was a dangerous creature . And the pyres today…they are all the more deadly. And Hallen…I worry for you. I worry about  you.” He shook his head. “Listen to me. One day, when you finally decide who to give your life to, you do not have to choose me. But please…promise me you will not choose a monster.”

I patted his shoulder because I didn’t know how else to move him toward my estate so I could do something else with my time. My life would be given to no one. Not “one day.” Not ever.

He put his hand over mine, holding it to his arm. “Thank you,” he said, as if I’d sworn myself to him, or to some unrealistic ideal. “I cannot believe you made your acquisition without cost to you or your father. And without saying a word. Such things can hardly be explained, much less expected. I must admit, Femme Kedrick…I do not understand you.”

No. He most certainly did not.

Episode 22: Two Women And The Gardener On A Quest

I waited two full days for my pyre to arrive. He did not.

Collecting the daily papers delivered to our estate became my obsession. I flipped through the piles of them, looking for the market sections which listed items for sale in our region and beyond. It was strange to hope to find a large inventory of pyres for purchase—living, sentient, wise beings being bought and sold for the comfort and convenience of the wealthy.

I wanted to tear the papers to shreds simply because they existed, but rending words written on their pages would do no damage to the pockets of the monsters who funded the treachery. And it would not help me find what I was looking for.