Chapter 3: That’s Why He Ran Away

Gemma placed the salve down on the vanity in front of me, wiping the greasy sheen off her fingers on the fabric of her skirt. This stuff is so messy”

“I don’t think I need it.”

Gemma grabbed my shoulders and turned me toward the mirror of my vanity, her face hovering above mine in the reflection. She was a normal color, her cheeks rosy from the heat still seeping from the open windows.

Me, well, I was more than a little pink. I reached up to touch the tip of my nose, the skin burnt to a vibrant red that

envied the color of the evening gown I had worn to my usual dinner with Ernest only an hour ago.

“Thank Goddess that man got you into the shade!” she said, shaking her head as she reached for the greasy can of salve again, struggling to pry it open. “What were you thinking wearing that jacket out on a day like this? It’s still almost ninety degrees outside, and the sun is setting!”

“It’s spring! How was supposed to know it was going to get this hot?”

“How many times do I have to remind you that we’re not in Winter Forest anymore? There are real seasons in Valoria, Maeve. Not just Winter and Break-up.”

grunted, pulling away from her as she reached for my face with a glob of yellowish salve on her fingers. Gemma was right, though. Our springs and summers back home were brief and often chilly, Break-up signified the breaking up of the ice over our rivers and lakes, basically another word for spring. But the snow still hung on the mountains even in late summer, most of it never melting at all.

“I just wanted to wear Rowan’s jacket, that’s all. It’s not even that thick, you know. It’s a flannel.”

“How many people do you see wearing any type of flannel here?” Gemma attempted to smother my face in the salve a second time, but I dodged her touch. She leaned back, giving me a steely look. “Stop moving!”

1 surrendered, grimacing at the smell. “What the hill is that?”

She shrugged. “One of the kitchen maids gave it to me. The servants have been talking about your sunburn all evening. You looked a right mess at dinner, from what I heard.”

“It smells awful!”

“Well, you wouldn’t have needed it if you used your brain and stayed out of the sun.”

“I was a little busy”

“Hanging out with your lunatic, I almost forgot!” she laughed, shaking her head as she screwed the lid back on the salve and tossed it unceremoniously into the top drawer of the vanity. “Put it on in the morning, too.”

Gemma turned around, disappearing through the bathroom door. I heard water running, then her voice as she murmured curses while she tried to scrub the thick salve off of her hands.

She was my closest and dearest friend.copy right hot novel pub