The Man in the Box (The Box book 1) Page 18

  Chapter Eighteen

  He’s careful not to touch me any more than absolutely necessary as we leave the house. Still, I can feel him near me. The strange energy radiates off him as a constant beacon. I want to reach out and touch him, but I clasp my arms around my chest instead.

  Each step I take is hesitant and wobbly, and I know I’m slowing him down. He must be ready to give up and leave me to fend for myself, but the feeling of him near me never shifts. He always stays just out of arm’s reach, never any further or closer.

  I try to speak a few times, but words won’t form.

  After several more minutes of complete silence, I can’t take it anymore. Before I can stop myself, I say, “You can go if you want.”

  He doesn’t say anything for a moment, but I feel him as though he’s frozen in place. He wants to go. Of course he does. He’s only been helping because he feels sorry for me and has been waiting for permission to be done with me.

  “Do you want me to leave?”

  “No,” I say too quickly.

  I cringe at my eagerness. What’s wrong with me? He’s going to think I’m desperate for his attention. So, maybe I am a little, but he doesn’t need to know as much.

  His hand causes heat to rush to the part of my face he touches as he pushes some of my hair back behind my ear, allowing his fingers to rest on my neck for only a moment. It’s all it takes for my breathing to become ragged.

  Too soon he backs away and I have to once again fight the urge to reach out to him.

  “I’m here to help,” he says. “But only if you want me to.”

  Not quite able to trust my voice, I bite my bottom lip and nod.

  He doesn’t touch me again. Instead, he clears his throat and says, “Your sister is in the village now. We should probably catch up to her to keep her out of trouble.”

  “You mean she hasn’t burned the entire place down yet?” I put my hand to my mouth in exaggerated surprise. “I’m shocked.”

  His laugh causes my heart to race as much as his touch had. I need to hear it again.

  “What is she doing, other than scaring the locals?”

  “She’s talking to a couple of the merchants who have a few items set up outside.”

  “What kind of stuff?” I ask.

  “The usual. Some fruit and vegetables, wool, meat, nothing too spectacular.”

  “So it’s like an outdoor market? Gran used to take Cindy and me to one near her house.” I remember picking our way through crowds of people with my hand in Gran’s while Cindy raced off to look at each stall on her own. I never left Gran’s side, though there had been a ton of stuff I wanted a better look at. “They’d have some nice jewelry and handmade stuff. Are there those kinds of objects here?”

  “If you face this way...” He closes the gap between us and places his hands on my shoulders to guide me until I’m positioned slightly further to the left. “There’s the blacksmith table. He mostly focuses on bigger pieces like tools for working the fields, but he has a few bracelets and maybe a couple of daggers.”

  “Can you show me?”

  “Uh...”

  I realize what I’ve said and cringe. “I don’t mean actually show me, but can you take me over there so I can touch some stuff?”

  “Wouldn’t you rather touch the clothes? I bet they’d feel nicer. And Rose is working today, so you could meet her.”

  The mention of another female catches my attention. “Rose?”

  It’s stupid for my stomach to clench in jealousy. Even if I had any right to be protective about Al, I have no idea if there’s anything to be envious of. Still, even the name bothers me. Rose. Who names their child that?

  “She’s a friend,” he says. “She’s actually the one who woke you.”

  The way he says ‘friend’ bothers me almost as much as her name.

  “Perhaps later.” But probably not. “I’d like to examine those daggers.”

  Since he pointed me in the general direction of where I want to go, I start forward on my own, hoping he’ll follow and stop me before I smash into anything. I want to meet Rose; I’m simply not interested in doing it at this moment. Plus, after everything I’ve been through in the last couple of days, checking out weapons doesn’t seem like a bad idea.

  I was right to assume he’d follow. His hand on my shoulder tells me when I’ve reached the table.

  “Welcome stranger, how may I—oh.” The man’s voice fades and he growls. “Aldric. What do you want?”

  “My friend wants to see your merchandise.” Al’s reply matches the frostiness of the seller. “Don’t worry. I’ll refrain from tainting anything.”

  “Another friend from the University I suppose.” He hacks up a wad of spit after the word ‘friend.’

  “She’s interested in your goods and you don’t need to know anything more.”

  It starts to click why Al had been reluctant to come to this particular booth. Obviously there’s some bad blood, and I’m not helping.

  “Come on,” I say. “You can show me something else.”

  “I don’t sell to your kind,” the man warns, obviously having not heard me.

  Al steps between the man and me. “Funny, you were more than interested in having your son marry one of her kind.”

  The man laughs in disbelief. “She’s a sorceress?” I can practically feel his eyes take in every inch of me so I stand a little taller and look a little bit more impressive. “Well then, my lady, if I might give you a piece of advice. Aldric is not to be trusted. Helped a wizard steal his own sister’s magic. Whatever business you have with him, I’d be done with it and on your way.”

  “Al wouldn’t help a wizard.” I dismiss the man’s words with a surprised laugh.

  “Course he would. They always help their own kind. It’s bred into them same as the need to steal and swindle us common folk.”

  “Own kind?” I repeat. “But he’s not a wizard. He helped me escape from wizards.”

  The man gives a pitying laugh causing my heart to ache. “Looks like I destroyed your little scheme, Aldric. How will you get her to trust you now?”

  “Al?” It can’t be true. I don’t believe it. He must be saying it because of some bad business between them. There was a history because of Al’s sister. But it wasn’t Al’s fault.

  And he certainly isn’t a wizard.

  So then why do I suddenly feel like I’m going to be sick?

  “What’s he talking about?” I manage to ask while as I want to do is curl into my bed and cover my ears so I can’t hear any more.

  “But you know,” Al says as though willing his words to be true. “You know. After Stewart and the house and...” He stops and I can sense him pulling further away than the arm’s reach he’d been keeping himself. “You have no idea. Of course not. Why would you be so at ease with me if you knew the truth?”

  “You’re a wizard?” The word leaves my mouth dry.

  No no no. There has to be a mistake. Al can’t possibly be a wizard. He’s good and nice and fought to protect me at Gran’s, and helped bring me back from half-death. He can’t be what I’m supposed to run from.

  “Answer the question,” I shout.

  Our little scene is starting to gather a crowd, I can hear them murmuring and the heat of their anticipation and curiosity leaves a bad taste in my mouth. They want a fight.

  Fight Al. Impossible.

  “Yes.”

  One word. One word and everything I thought I knew comes crashing down on top of me. I trusted him. I helped him. And all along he’s been no different than Stewart, lying to me to get what he wants.

  “Where’s Cindy?” I want to stay calm, but there’s an edge to my voice.

  “Lou, I’d never—“

  I don’t let him finish. There’s nothing he can say I’ll believe. “Where’s my sister?” I ask louder this time.

  Cindy responds. “What’s going on?”

  I hoped having her near would put me at ease a bit, but if a
nything it makes things worse.

  “You knew, didn’t you?” It’s not really a question since as soon as I say the words I realize they must be true. “You knew and didn’t say anything.”

  “You should have told her about me,” Al agrees which doesn’t help.

  “It wasn’t my secret to tell.” Her tone causes a perfect picture of her relaxed shrug to appear in my mind.

  “Instead you left her alone with me and no warning,” Al continues.

  “This is not my fault, wizard boy.”

  “Shut up!” the words are out of my mouth before I think them. “Both of you shut up. Take me home.”

  There’s silence for a minute and then Cindy says as though shocked by the idea, “Well I’m not doing it. Have you seen the plants around here? They’re practically exploding with magic. You have no idea what I could do with these things.”

  “Cindy.” I don’t want to beg, but what choice is she leaving me? The only other way I’m going to get anywhere is if... no. I won’t think his name. “Please.”

  “Sorry.” She doesn’t sound as though she is. “Why don’t you hang out around here for a while? I’ll be back soon enough.”

  “Hey,” a soft voice says from a few feet away. “I can take you back. If you’d like.”

  I have no idea who’s talking to me, but when my other option is to stand around being stared at by what must be an entire village, I choose the unknown. It can’t be worse than trusting Al.

  I nod and the girl places her hand on my arm to guide me.

  After a few minutes of awkward silence I force myself to ask the question bugging me since we started walking. “Is he here?”

  “Aldric?” The way she says his name bothers me. Like it’s something precious and she’s only too happy to speak it out loud. “No, he went after Sin.”

  “Her name’s Cindy. She likes being called Sin because she thinks it sounds dangerous. It’s idiotic.”

  The words come pouring out, and once they’re spoken, I actually feel a little better. I’ve been keeping those thoughts in for three years now, ever since she started calling herself that ridiculous nickname in the first place.

  I may feel a little less annoyed at Cindy, but I’m anything but okay. I’m on the verge of another breakdown. I can feel my chest tighten and the air tastes bitter and heavy.

  “I’m Rose,” my guide says.

  “Of course you are,” I grumble.

  She doesn’t know what to say, and I don’t blame her. Though I’d feel a lot worse about my bitterness if I hadn’t woken up after having my magic stolen to find I’m not only blind, but I’ve also been tricked into trusting the enemy.

  The word shocks me out of the bitterness. Enemy. I’m a sorceress, he’s a wizard. Are we automatically enemies? Despite everything we’d been through together and the fact he knows me better than my own sister after only days, am I supposed to hate him?

  “He’s not like the others,” Rose says without any preamble. “He’d never hurt anyone. Not if he can help it.”

  “He’s a wizard,” I say, practically choking on the word. “Isn’t hurting people kind of what they do?”

  “Not Aldric.” She sounds as though it’s ridiculous for me to even think as much. “It’s why he came home.”

  “You think I should trust him?” I make a sound meant to be a laugh but it comes out much crazier. “I mean it’s only my life on the line.”

  “He’d never hurt you.” She grabs my shoulder to emphasize her point, but slowly releases as her tone becomes a touch darker. “Not on purpose.”

  “So, what, he’d accidently suck my magic out? Not on purpose though.”

  I expect her to attempt to correct me; tell me what she really meant. But the longer she stays quiet, the longer I think she meant exactly what I thought.

  “How could he ‘accidently’ take my magic?”

  “It wouldn’t be hard. Especially with the way he looks at you. One kiss and...” She stops herself as though she feels like she’s said too much. And yet I can tell there’s so much more she wants to say.

  I can sense her tension in the silence and it makes me realize my fears were right.

  “You love him.”

  She doesn’t say anything for a long time. I get the feeling she’s never admitted as much out loud before.

  After long deliberation, she simply says, “Yes.” Followed by, “He really is different. But there’s darkness in him that didn’t exist before his training. I don’t want you to hurt him.”

  Although her affection is touching, it does nothing to help my bad mood. “I think I’m going to worry more about my own safety than his, thanks.”

  “I don’t mean physically. I know what happens to a wizard after they taste magic. I’ve seen it. Please don’t do it to Aldric.”

  I’m going to say something about blaming the victim, but she stops walking.

  “We’re here.” She pulls away and several muted thuds of a fist against wood follow. “I know I have no right, but I’m going to ask for a favor. Will you please leave? Go back to wherever you came from. Let things go back to normal here. It’s best for everyone.”

  The door squeaks open and Al’s mother says some sort of greeting I don’t quite hear.

  “Remember what I said,” she whispers to me. “See you later,” she adds louder for the benefit of our onlooker.

  And once again I’m alone.