Ena of Ilbrea: The Four Book Saga

Chapter 3

3

I let Cal follow me up and down the mountain for hours. Cal filled the silence with news of everyone in the village. His family owned the tavern, so all news, both the happy and the terrible, passed through the walls of his home. He didn’t know what the people were saying about Aaron yet. He’d followed me before anyone had grown drunk enough to loose their tongue.

“Les had better be careful, or he’s going to be on the hunt for a new wife,” Cal laughed.

I forced a chuckle. I hadn’t been paying close enough attention to hear what Les had done this time.

I cut through a dense patch of bushes, trying to find where treasures would grow when summer neared. I didn't mind the twigs clawing at me or the mud clinging to my clothes.

Cal didn't mention his displeasure at being dirty. He was too content being with me.

I let him hold my hand, savoring the feel of his skin against mine. His warmth burned away the rest of the fear the soldiers had left lodged near my lungs.

Cal pulled me close to his side, winding his arm around my waist.

“I can’t go home without proper goodies for Lily.” I wriggled free from Cal’s grasp.

I followed a game trail farther up the mountain, searching for evergreens whose new buds could help cure the stomach ills that always floated around the village in the spring. By the time the peak of the afternoon passed, I had enough in my bag to please Lily and had spent enough time climbing to give myself a hope of sleeping that night. I turned west, beginning the long trek home.

“We don’t have to go back.” Cal laced his fingers through mine.

“You think you’d survive in the woods?”

“With you by my side?” His hands moved to my waist. He held me close, swaying in time to music neither of us could hear. He pressed his lips to my forehead. “I think we could stay out here forever.” He kissed my nose and cheeks before his lips finally found mine.

My heart raced as he pulled me closer, pressing my body against his.

“Cal”―I pulled an inch away, letting the cool air blow between us―“we have to get back. Lily won’t be happy if I’m out too long.”

“What’ll she do? Scowl at you?”

“Kick me out, more like.” I started back down the mountainside. “I don’t fancy sleeping in the mud.”

I’d lived with Lily for more than half my life, but that didn’t make the old healer obligated to keep me a day longer than she wanted to.

Cal caught me in his arms, twisted me toward him, and held me tighter. He brushed his lips against mine. His tongue teased my mouth, luring me deeper into the kiss.

I sank into his arms, reveling in the feel of his hard muscles against me.

He ran his fingers along my sides, sending shivers up my spine.

I sighed as his lips found my neck and trailed out to my shoulder.

“We have to go,” I murmured.

Cal wound his fingers through mine. “Let’s hide in the wood forever.”

“Cal―”

“I love you, Ena.” A glimmer of pure bliss lit his eyes.

“I’m going,” I said. “Come with me or find your own way back.”

Cal pressed his lips to my forehead. “Lead the way.”

If I hadn’t known him so well, I might not have heard the hint of hurt in his voice.

I didn’t want to hurt Cal, but I didn't have anything of myself to offer him. It was easy for Cal to declare his love. He had a solid roof, a business to inherit, a family who cared for him. I was nothing but an orphan inker kept from sleeping in the mud by the goodwill of an ornery old woman.

Cal followed me silently down the slope of the mountain.

I stopped by a fallen tree. The stench of its rot cut through the scent of spring.

“You’re the best part of the village.” The words tumbled out of my mouth before I’d thought through them.

“I guess that's something. Better than anyone else has gotten out of you.”

“Better than they ever will.”

His boots thumped on the ground as he ran a few steps to catch up to me. I didn’t fight him as he laced his fingers through mine and pressed his lips to my temple. I didn’t slow my pace as I started walking again either.

I hadn’t been lying―we needed to be heading back to the village. As much as I loved the woods, I didn't fancy being in the trees at night.

The villagers and soldiers might have avoided the forest and mountains because of ghost stories, but their foolishness didn’t make the woods entirely safe. I could hear the howls of the wolves at night from Lily’s loft where I slept. And farm animals had been lost to creatures far larger than wolves. I didn't fancy having to hide up a tree, shivering as I waited for the dawn. I didn’t know if Cal would be able to make it high enough in a tree to be safe.

I let my mind wander as we reached the gentler slopes toward the base of the mountain, wondering over all the terrifying animals that could be hiding just out of sight. Dug into a den that reached below our feet. Hiding in the brush where I couldn't spot them.

A shiver of something ran up my spine.

“You should have brought something warmer.” Cal let go of my hand to take off his coat.

“I’m fine.” I searched the shadows, trying to find whatever trick of the forest had set my nerves on edge.

Trees rustled to the south, the sound too large to be a bird and too gentle to be death speeding toward us.

I stopped, tugging on Cal’s hand to keep him beside me, and reached for the thin knife I kept tucked in my bag.

Cal stepped in front of me as the rustling came closer.

My breath hitched in my chest. I wanted to climb the nearest tree but couldn’t leave Cal alone on the ground. My hand trembled as I gripped the hilt of my blade tighter.

“Are you going to try and stab me?” a voice called out. “I don’t think it would do you much good.”

I would have known that voice after a hundred years.

I gripped my knife tighter, fighting the urge to throw it at my brother’s face as he stepped out from between the trees.

“Emmet.” Cal stretched a hand toward my brother as a man with black hair and dark eyes stepped out of the shadows beside Emmet.

I took Cal’s arm, keeping him close to me.

“Ena”―my brother gave a nod―“Cal.”

“What are you doing here?” I asked before Cal could say something more polite.

My brother shrugged. His shoulders were wide from his work as a blacksmith. The familiarity of his face―his bright blue eyes, deep brown hair, and pale skin―tugged at my heart. He looked so much like my mother had. She’d given the same coloring to both of us.

But the hard line of his jaw, which became more defined as he turned to the other man, that Emmet had inherited from our father.

The black-haired man gave my brother a nod.

“I found out you’d gone to the woods, and I decided to check on you,” Emmet said.

“How did you find me?” I asked at the same moment Cal said, “We were just heading back.”

“You should go then,” Emmet said. “I can make sure Ena gets home safe.”

“I’d rather―” Cal began.

“I think you’ve spent enough time in the woods with my little sister.” Emmet pointed down the slope. “Keep heading that way, you’ll find the village soon enough.”

The man next to my brother bit back a smile.

Pink crept up Cal’s neck.

“It’s fine.” I laid a hand on his arm. “Go.”

Cal turned to me, locking eyes with me for a moment before kissing the back of my hand. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He didn’t look back at my brother before striding away.

I glared at Emmet as Cal’s footsteps faded.

A new scar marred Emmet’s left cheek. His hands had taken more damage since the last time I’d seen him as well.

“You shouldn’t be alone with him in the woods,” Emmet said when the sounds of Cal’s footsteps had vanished.

“And you shouldn’t be following me.”

“I wanted to be sure you were safe,” Emmet said. “A man was killed in the village today, did you not hear?”

“I saw it.” I tucked my knife into my bag. “I watched the soldiers whip Aaron to death. But I don’t see any soldiers around here, so I think I’ll be just fine.”

The man gave a low laugh.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“A friend,” he said. He looked to be the same as age as my brother, only a couple of years older than Cal and me. If I hadn’t been so angry, I might have thought him handsome, but there was something in the way he stood so still while I glared daggers at him that made me wish I hadn’t put my knife back into my bag.

“You should get back to the village,” Emmet said. “The mountains aren’t a safe place to wander.”

I turned and climbed farther up the mountain, not caring that he was right.

“Ena.” Emmet’s footfalls thundered up behind me. “You should get back to Lily.” He grabbed my arm, whipping me around.

“Don’t tell me where I should be.” I wrenched my arm free.

“Then don’t be a fool. Get yourself home. You don’t belong out here.”

“I had Cal with me.”

“Being alone with him in the woods is a fool of a choice, too. You’ve got to think, Ena.”

“Don’t pretend you care!”

A bird screeched his anger at my shout.

“Ena―”

“You don’t get to show up here, follow me into the woods, and try to tell me what to do.” My voice shook as I fought to keep from scratching my brother’s damned eyes out. “Once a year―once a godsforsaken year―you show up in Harane. You don’t get to pretend to care where I go or who I’m with.”

Emmet’s brow creased. “I do care. I make it back as often as I’m allowed.”

“Liar.” The word rumbled in my throat. “The only reason you haven’t come back is because you don’t want to.”

A stick cracked as the black-haired man stepped closer.

“Where have you been, brother?” I’d been saving the question for nearly a year. Holding it in, saying it over and over again in my head as I imagined myself screaming it at Emmet. In all the times I’d thought through it, I’d never pictured him drawing his shoulders defiantly back.

“I’ve got to work for the blacksmith,” Emmet said. “I’ve finished my apprenticeship, but I’ve got to pay―”

“You’re a damned chivving liar.”

“What would I be lying about?” Emmet asked.

“I went to Nantic,” I said, “caught a ride in a cart to get to you.”

“What?” Emmet said.

“Found the smith where you were supposed to be.” I stepped forward, shoving Emmet in the chest. “Two years? Two years since you ran from the blacksmith’s, and you’ve been lying to me.”

Emmet’s face paled.

“I went to find you, and you weren’t there! I was lucky Lily even took me back after I left like that.”

Emmet caught my hands. “Why did you go looking for me?”

“You don’t get to care. You don’t get to lie to me and pretend to care.”

Emmet’s stone face faltered for the first time. “I do care, Ena. I’ve come to visit because I care.”

“Stopping in once a year doesn’t make you a decent brother.” I tore my hands free, feeling the bruises growing where he’d gripped my fingers. “You left me here. I didn’t even know how to find you. I didn’t know if you’d ever come back.”

“I had to. I’m sorry, but what I’m doing is more important than being a blacksmith.”

“How?”

Emmet looked up to the sky. “It is. You just have to believe that it is.”

“And it’s more important than I am?” I stared at my brother, waiting for him to c***k and tell me there was nothing in all of Ilbrea more important than his only living blood relation.

“It’s more important than all of us,” Emmet said. “I’m sorry if I can’t be the brother you need me to be, but my work has to be done.”

“Why?”

“Because there has to be more to this chivving mess of a world than waiting for the Guilds to kill us.” Wrinkles creased Emmet’s brow. “I can’t spend my life waiting to die.”

The black-haired man placed a hand on my brother’s shoulder. “She should get back to the village.”

“Right.” Emmet nodded.

I stared at the dark-haired man, wishing he would fade back into the shadows and disappear.

“Then let me help you,” I said.

“What?”

“If you have work that’s so important, let me help you. I’m not the little girl you left behind in Harane. Wherever it is you’ve been hiding, take me with you. We’re blood, Emmet. I should be with you.”

“No.” Emmet shook his head. His hair flung around his face. “You belong here.”

“I belong with the only family I have.” I stepped forward, tipping my chin up to meet his gaze. “I’m not a child. I can help. Let me come with you.”

“You can’t.” Emmet stepped away from me. “You’ve got to stay with Lily. You’re safer here, Ena.”

“You’re a chivving fool if you believe that.”

“It’s true. You have to stay in Harane. I have to keep you safe.”

“See you next year, brother.” I stormed past him and back down the mountain.

He didn’t follow.