The Taint of Wolves

Void

Chapter 32: Void

          Hope sat on my chest, easy to ignore as Marianne Linden led us through the farmhouse. It was a beautiful home, with the ceilings lined with wooden beams and the painted walls decorated with framed photos. A plush carpet guided us first into the sitting room where pictures of Kale and Nyssa decorated one wall.

I was drawn to the pictures of their younger faces, my smile blooming unbidden and warm. They were opposite sides of the same coin. While Nyssa was poised in all her photos, Kale beamed out into the world like the sun had left a drop of herself inside him and he could not contain it. Both so beautiful.

There were music notes left on the side of the couch, marked with an elegant scrawl. Kale kicked a pair of boots under the couch as we flooded into the room. He caught my eye, his cheeks reddening. I quirked an eyebrow.

"Sorry." He mouthed.

Double doors opened from the sitting room into a quaint kitchen heavy with the scent of braised beef and cookies that sat cooling on a wire-tray. A bloom of flowers sat in a white vase marked with whorls of blue and green. A coat hung over the back of one of the island counter's stools. The windows over the deep sink where open and beyond it, there was a pair of donkeys nibbling at grass. Another sat contentedly under the shade of an apple tree whose branches stretched out wide.

"Sorry, everything is very all over the place." Marianne's cheeks reddened. "I meant to have everything spick and span for your visit, but the day just slipped away from me, and the dog got inside and into the washed linen and... it was a mess."

"It's lovely." I smiled.

I traced the marble of the island counter. Easton had given them a good house to live in, but it was obvious that the place was well loved and well lived in. Marks of their years were everywhere if I looked. Another picture of Kale on the fridge, smiling widely as he held a cert for passing his swimming test. One of Nyssa, holding her first violin. A picture drawn by Nyssa when she was just in infants' class. A family of four with large misshapen heads and bodies shaped like love hearts.

A slap jolted me, and I turned swiftly, calming only when I saw Kale rubbing his hand. He gave Mam a reproachful look, but she only brandished the wooden spoon higher. "Don't even think about it."

"Why make all this food if we can't eat it!"

"You can't start eating before the guests have had some food!" Mam admonished. "You know that. Don't act dull."

"Believe me, he isn't acting." Nyssa slipped onto a stool.

"Oh wow, Nyssa. So quick-witted." Kale rolled his eyes. "Nova, take a cookie, would you? I'm starving."

"I made you lunch an hour ago." Mam set down the spoon. "You surely cannot be hungry."

"My stomach doesn't lie."

"Here," Sounding amused, Easton reached forward. "Marianne, can I try a cookie?"

"Of course, you can. Our home is your home." Nyssa said sweetly.

Easton plucked a cookie up and bit into it. My lips pressed tight, hiding a smile as he chewed, with steam still ebbing from the chewy centre. He kept going, never the one to appear rude. I knew it was burning him and I waited for a crack in his resolve, knowing it would only break me into pieces of laughter.

Easton smiled and there was a drop of chocolate on the corner of his mouth. "Now a guest has had some."

"Unreal." Kale reached forward, ignoring Mam's warning to only take one. Easton looked down at me warmly, a brow quirking as I reached for his face.