it.
“Aye, I did hear about some mischief between them and a Halket lass,” she says, her face softening. “But that is all it is as yet, a bit of gossip that folks are wont to exaggerate.”
I want to cling to the innocent version of me that believes in love ever after, but I can feel it slipping away.
Suka was telling the truth. About all of it.
I have no interest in Fen, never have had, but I am jealous she has gotten to be with Brandon. Maybe she was the lass he was pleasuring in the barn?
“Your father has not yet spoken to Brandon. No formal agreement has been made, and the lad is free to… get up to mischief.”
“I know that,” I say. But in my heart, I thought that Brandon’s words and the firm discipline meant that he cared about me. How can he care about me and be with another lass?
A flush heats my cheeks. Am I not also thinking of another man and Alpha even as I berate Brandon for being with someone else? Maybe Brandon is the kind of man who needs two lasses? I try to imagine how it might be to share him with another lass, and it makes me feel sick.
“I need to go,” I say.
“Where?” my mother asks, worry lining her face.
“A walk. I won’t go any farther than the old lane,” I promise. “I just need time to think.”
“Okay, Jessa,” she says. “It has taken me a week to talk your father around to the idea of Brandon. But I will tell him to do naught yet.”
“Thank you,” I say, and leaning up on my toes, I press a kiss to my mother’s cheek.
As I pass the infamous barn, my resentment grows. How dare Brandon spank me and then go to another lass!
My temper further charges with every step that I take. My route leads out of the village before curving north. I don’t realize where I am going until I arrive.
Before me is the sacred pool, surrounded by smooth, mossy rocks. A waterfall, weak at this time of year, sends a fine mist into the air as it crashes into the water. On the right of the waterfall is a great shimmering oval that spins and warbles, sparkling blue and golden light.
The portal. A place where the Goddess can hear our prayers. I come once a month with an offering, but people often visit whenever they need Her guidance.
There are other portals within the lands of the world, not here in the eastern clans, but far away in the western kingdoms of Hydornia. Those portals lead to other worlds and to other portals within this world.
I have seen the portal often, living as we are so close to this wondrous site. I’ve also heard tales about it from elders who visit our village from time to time. They talk of the travelers who pass through portals and what they find on the other side.
Many leave for adventure.
Sometimes, they return.
More often, they are never seen again.
On the other side, you might find desolation, utopia, and everything in between.
Monsters more fearsome than Orcs.
Wise and ancient Fae.
You never really know, for it does not lead to the same location twice.
Not this portal, for this one is lost. It is said that if you try and step through, you come back out here again. I know children have games doing it, although it is forbidden.
I sigh.
Maybe I do need some of Her guidance today.
A faint splash draws my attention. Goddess! Is there someone in the pool?
When I was a young lass of Greta’s age, I threw a rock into the pool. I got a stern talking to and went to bed without supper that night.
Confusion incapacities me, and rather than approaching, I move off the path and a little way into the trees. I have never seen anyone in the sacred pool and have no idea what to do.
The pool is forbidden.
It must be a child. I wonder if I can coax them from their mischief before they get into trouble.
“Oh,” I murmur, seeing the back of a blonde head just visible around a rock. With long hair the color of sunshine and a petite frame, the lass is sitting on the mossy bank splashing her feet in the pool!
“Mnnnnn!”
An arm snakes around my waist, and a huge hand smothers my scream. Lifted, I am carried a short distance away from the pool. Panic rushes and then collapses as I recognize the scent.
How do