Page 140 of Black Willow Witch
Well, she certainlylookedas though she’d regressed. She’d had her face painted like a tiger, was cuddling a stuffed frog she’d likely won, and had the string of a pink balloon tied to her wrist.
Each time the annual county fair rolled around, Paisley turned into a seven-year-old child trapped in a woman’s body. Emberlyn shrugged. ‘So long as you’re enjoying yourself . . .’
‘Oh, I am,’ Paisley assured her.
Everybody appeared to be. The grassy stretch of land had been completely transformed. Carnival games were set up. Food carts were parked in various spots. Market stalls were clustered together selling everything from fruit and honey to purses and art.
Folk music played, not quite overriding the laughter and shouting and ringing carnival-game bells.
There were craft workshops, baking contests, blacksmithing demonstrations and live painting. Canvas tents had been put up to shelter healers, who invited people inside for treatment or consultation.
The kids were in their element. Inflatables were available, including a giant slide, a bouncy castle and an assault course. Many children went back and forth from the petting zoo.
Paisley plucked a particular candle from the table and sniffed it. ‘Ooh, I like. How much?’
‘You can have it for free if you buy me some funnel cake.’ Emberlyn wasfamished, her stomach haunted by the mouthwatering scents of caramel popcorn, corn dogs, fried chicken and cotton candy. But it was the smell of the cake that really tugged at her appetite.
‘Deal.’ Paisley allowed Emberlyn to wrap the candle and then plopped it in her purse. Her attention zipped to a passing she-wolf who sent Kage an unfriendly look. ‘What was that about?’ she asked her twin.
He scratched at his temple. ‘We fucked during the last full moon. I only meant for it to be a one-time thing. It turns out that she thought there’d be a repeat. When I gently disabused her of that theory, she lost it with me and called me a total asshole.’
Paisley gasped in a mix of horror and anger. ‘The bitchdaredsay that to you?’
He blinked. ‘You say it to me all the time.’
‘I’m your sister. It’s my right and privilege to fuck with your self-esteem.Shedoesn’t get to do that.’
‘I’m sensing you think I should feel warmed by that comment.’
‘You can’t feel the love and protectiveness rolling off me?’
‘No.’
Letting out apfftsound, Paisley turned back to Emberlyn. ‘Where’s Ripper?’
‘You just missed him,’ Emberlyn replied. ‘He went to answer a call of nature.’
Paisley looked at Logan. ‘You sticking with her?’
‘I am,’ he confirmed.
‘Good. I’ll return with cake soon.’ With that, Paisley skipped away.
Kage gave Emberlyn and Logan a quick raise of his eyebrows and then followed his sister.
Reaching into a box beneath the table, Emberlyn grabbed a candle identical to the one she’d just given to Paisley and set it in the now-empty spot. ‘You don’t have to stay with me,’ she told Logan.
‘I know. But you see those two wolves over there?’ He subtly indicated where the Reeds were eyeing jam jars at another stall. ‘They’ve been very slowly making their way around the market, sliding you brief glances. They’re waiting for the right moment to come over here. It’s best to make sure that they have a reason not to do it.’
Emberlyn had noticed that they kept sparing her too-quick looks. She momentarily cut her gaze to someone on their far right. ‘The Reeds aren’t the only ones lingering.’ CeCe had been hovering by nearby tents ever since Logan had made his way over.
His lips thinned. ‘Everywhere I turn today she seems to be right there.’
‘It could be that she has something she wants to say to you.’
‘There’s nothing I want to hear,’ he said, his voice grim. ‘Not right now. Maybe some time in the future.’
Emberlyn gently bumped his shoulder with her own. ‘I’m sorry that she hurt you.’
