Suddenly compelled, he turned and kissed her, and there was a buzzing, vibrating feeling inside his head. It hurt slightly and left him dizzy. The buzzing went away after a moment, and he could have pulled back. Instead, he kissed her again.
“Point taken,” he said when he sat back.
“My father found out, of course, and he was furious. They came down on me like a hammer. I was restricted to the tree, to my own chambers. They were going to get me a handmaid who was immune to my magic, and on and on. All the while, yelling at me and then going off to their own affairs…literally.
“I was so angry. Thoughts ran through my head about what I could do to them, how I could get out, what I would do to that snitch of a boy. In reality, I did nothing. They were still my family after all.”
“And then?”
“Then, he showed up. Some man, I’m still not sure who it was, stepped out of the shadows in the hall one day. He told me that I was worth more than being a farm girl, if only I had the right training. I told him that there was no way my parents would allow that, and then he changed everything.
“He asked me what would happen if they were too busy with their own problems to pay attention to where I was. I asked him what he meant, but he only laughed, stepped back into the shadows and was gone. I had never seen anything like it.”
“He was from here, of course,” Thaddeus said.
Melanie nodded. “Didn’t know that then, obviously. Like everyone else, I didn’t even know Subtle Hemlock existed.”
“And this was your test. Provide a diversion so you could get away on your own.”
“Yep. And I did. I influenced my father’s lover to publicly come out, in the most embarrassing fashion I could. Leaving his chambers, unclothed and going to my mothers. My father tried to stop her of course but couldn’t. Not until she burst in on my mother, my father right behind. Mom was busy herself.”
She gave a soft, bitter laugh. “The place went up. Yelling, screaming, accusations. It was ugly. But it worked. They forgot all about me. I left the tree, the compound and the area. Wandered around the Greenweald for a week, getting what I needed by asking for it, and if that didn’t work, taking it. It got easier as I went. And if someone did refuse me, whatever I wanted, I found some way to pay them back. A favorite tree got sick, maybe, or a pet suddenly died. That got easier, too.”
Thaddeus felt queasy at Melanie causing a tree to sicken. Like most Folk, he felt a connection with the Greenweald and its trees that went deep.
“I know,” Melanie said. “I was horrible. Soon enough, I guess I was horrible enough for this place. They found me, brought me here, and this is where I’ve been ever since.”
“And how long has that been?”
She shrugged. “Hard to tell, really. Time passes strangely here, but I think it’s been a couple of years.”
“They haven’t sent you out on a task yet?”
“Nope. Actually, you’re my first one. Until now, I’ve been the one in training. I think Malachi wants to see how I do with you, and then maybe he’ll send me out.”
She yawned and stretched, sliding down to lie flat again. “Now you know my story,” she said. “Does it change anything?”
Thaddeus slid down next to her and pulled her close. “No. Not really. But tell me something. Am I just here because of your appetites?”
She smiled at him. “Does that bother you?”
“Not really,” Thaddeus said again.
Chapter 10
Finding a place to hide wasn’t always easy. Those that came out after full dark, after the brightly colored hunters were gone, often came from those same places that she would use if she could: niches in alleys, corners tucked away out of sight. But the woman managed to find another unoccupied alley and slipped inside, squeezing against the wall again. This time, no little girl was out on the street and she sank down and put her head on her knees.
It was fully night now, which meant the hunters would be gone, back to wherever they went until dawn arrived. In the meantime, she needed to avoid the others, the normal people who lived in this horrible town.
The people here were short and stout, much more so than she was. That was enough to make her stick out like a sore thumb, but she also looked different from them. Their features were slightly brutal, more like the Hairy Men who lived to the north of the Greenweald, with heavy brows, bulbous noses and square jaws. Both women and men had wiry hair, dark for the most part, turning to gray as they aged.
And they weren’t friendly. When she first arrived here, she asked questions about where the gate was, and was rebuffed at every turn. Those that didn’t outright ignore her tried to lure her into their houses, with leers that lingered on her body. She wasn’t naïve enough to fall for that. A couple of times she was physically attacked and needed to defend herself with skills that Solomon had taught her. After that, most left her alone. At least, they did during the day.
At night, a rougher element came out of hiding. They roved the streets in bands, searching for victims, but mostly finding each other. The woman had witnessed several melees between different groups in the time she had been here. The losers were inevitably robbed of what little they owned, if not outright killed. The next morning there would be no bodies. She suspected the hunters took the dead as well as the living, even though she never actually witnessed that.
