4. Ash

Chapter Four

Ash

I walked through the trees, grumpy that Lorraine was still upset with me. It’s not that I had tried to buy her affection, but I’d hoped changing the cabin for her would change how she felt about what had happened. I’d been wrong, and that pissed me off. I hated when things didn’t go my way. A deer appeared between the trees, and I stifled a groan. A moment later, Artemis appeared. When I saw the deer, Artemis was always close behind. “Ash,” she said with a warm smile. She wore a short hunting dress, and her hair was tied back in a braid that hung over her shoulder. She wore sandals, laced up with leather thongs around her legs to her knees. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”

I shrugged. “I’ve been busy.”

“I saw, protecting the human girl, fighting for her life. It was very honorable.”

“Thanks,” I scoffed. It hadn’t been about honor; it had been about protecting her when someone out there was set on getting their hands on her, no matter what it took. “I still don’t know what’s going on with that.”

“What do you mean?” Artemis asked with a frown. “You say you saw what happened, then you’ll know the men who came for her fought me with magic. They shouldn’t have had magic—they came to the vale from the human world. This was a human problem, but someone with magic interfered.”

“That sounds incredibly familiar,” Artemis said. I rolled my eyes and sat down on the mulch, my back against a tree. Artemis perched on a nearby rock, folding her legs underneath her. “I’m not referring to what happened between me and her. I know I interfered when I shouldn’t have, but?—”

“I think whether or not you should have interfered is relative.”

I sighed. “I don’t believe in fate.”

“No, you wouldn’t, but they’ll be offended.”

“Another smile played around her lips. She was referring to the Fates, the three women who were responsible for birth, lifespan, and death—the past, the present, and the future—of everyone in the world. It wasn’t what I’d meant either, but she knew all of that. She was in a lighthearted joking mood, which was in stark contrast with how glum I felt. “You don’t think it’s worth worrying over the fact that someone gave the men magic and told them exactly where to find Lorraine?” I asked. Artemis thought about it. “I don’t think it has anything to do with us and the vale, unless we make it our problem.” She gave me a knowing look. “I wasn’t going to just leave her out there for them to do awful things to her.”

Artemis nodded. She didn’t have to repeat herself for me to know that was what she’d meant—by saving Lorraine, I’d made her life my problem, and whether the guys that were after her had magic or not, none of it would have affected me if I hadn’t saved her in the first place. I guess it still would have been true—if I didn’t give a shit about her, it wouldn’t matter if there was magic after her or not. The thing was I did give a shit about her, and here we were. “I don’t know who’s getting involved, other than me, but it has to be someone or something in the vale.”

“Maybe you should look a bit closer to home,” Artemis suggested. I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I think in due time, you’ll find the answers you’re looking for.”

I groaned, irritated. Artemis was a friend to the druses and sprites; she cared about all of us, and she wanted to be involved in our lives, but sometimes she could be a real pain. She liked being philosophical, talking in riddles, and it wasn’t my style. “So, you’re serious about her,” Artemis said. I sighed, knowing I had to tread carefully here. Artemis wouldn’t be happy if she thought I was falling for a mortal woman a second time. “I just want her to be safe, that’s all.”

“Good,” Artemis said. “Don’t forget the second chance I gave you. I wouldn’t want you to spoil things by not having learned your lesson.”

“I learned my lesson, okay? And once again, I’m grateful for what you did for me. Does that make you happy?”

Artemis laughed, and the sound skipped around me on the wind. She was genuinely amused. “More than you know,” she said. “It doesn’t matter anyway,” I said, annoyed. “She’s leaving soon.”

“A lot can happen between now and then,” Artemis warned, her smile gone. “Be very careful.”

I shook my head. “Nothing is going to happen between now and then that will make any difference. She doesn’t belong here, and I sure as shit won’t reconsider the human world, so don’t worry about that.”

Suddenly, the thought that I might be lying to Artemis about my feelings for Lorraine shocked me as if I’d pushed my fingers into the electricity Lorraine was so excited about in the cabin. Why did I care how much time I had left with her? Why did it matter? When my time with her was up, that was it. It didn’t matter if it was sooner rather than later. That wasn’t true, though. It had started to matter to me, and if all things were equal, I would have preferred her leaving later rather than sooner. “Be very careful, Ash,” Artemis warned again, her voice pushing into my thoughts. “You know better than most how dangerous it can be to get involved with a mortal.”

“It’s not going to make a difference if I do,” I snapped.

“The last time this happened, it was all kinds of wrong; I was just too blind to see it.”

“You’re not blind anymore,” Artemis said. “You have your eyes wide open. Just be sure they stay open.”

“Oh, they’re open,” I said, not meeting Artemis’s eyes. “She might be different from Ava, but the outcome won’t be different. She is still human, and she will still leave, in the end. That’s exactly the same as it was before. Where would that leave me? So no, I have no intention of getting involved like I did with Ava.”

“Maybe you have other plans,” Artemis said. I snapped my eyes up to her, and she stared at me. I struggled to read her expression. Did she know I’d been spending time with Dolus? Did she know that I wanted to leave this life behind and find something else? “Maybe,” I said. Artemis and I were caught in a stare-down before she finally looked away, and I felt like I could breathe again. “You might not believe in fate, Ash, but it’s still all around us, and everything will turn out the way it should.” Artemis stood, and the deer walked close by, nibbling on the grass pushing through the mulch here and there. Artemis stroked its neck. “I know sometimes things happen we don’t like, but they always happen for a reason.”

“It’s easy for you to say when you’re a goddess, in charge of changing everything.”

“We’re not in charge of everything, you know that. A lot happens to us, too. We’re not all that different, you and I. The only difference right now is that I can look at what you’re going through objectively, and you can’t do that when you’re in the middle of it all.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” I asked. Artemis shrugged and smiled.

“No, it’s just my bit of wisdom for the day. I came to make sure you’re doing okay.”

“You think I’m doing okay?” I asked, surprised. “You seem okay from where I’m standing, even if it doesn’t feel like it. Take care, Ash.”

Before I could say anything else, Artemis disappeared, and I sat alone between the trees, feeling more torn apart and confused than before. I snorted, irritated with Artemis, frustrated with Lorraine, and got up in search of company who actually wanted me around.