"He's lying."

Ash winced at the quick, certain reply she received upon telling Roan of what she'd learned from Callum. She hadn't been able to get a second alone with him until the next day. The two of them stood in an alley near Winnet's house. After she'd taken all day walking with Callum, she'd failed to get to the elderly lady's yard again. She was making up for that today.

"He seemed very genuine," she protested.

Roan set his lips in a hard, slashing line as he considered her. "You know where we are, Ash, and you know what he may have done. Do you really believe it impossible that he could be very good at lying?"

She had never seen his eyes so hard before. Her stomach coiled with the all-too familiar feeling of having failed. Ripping her gaze away, she stared out at the streets. A grey tabby strolled past. Nubs, a cat adopted by everyone in the village. He refused to stay in one place, so each person took care of him, leaving out food, providing him love when he came near, tending to him if things seemed wrong. Callum had assisted him out of a tree the other day, though if Nubs had been able to get up the tree, Ash didn't know why he couldn't get back down.

Never in her life had she considered herself an expert in detecting lies, but every fiber of her being told her that Callum spoke the truth.

Roan sighed. "You must understand, Ash. Whatever afflicts your sister is not natural. The only ones connected to magic in this town were she and I through the gods, and he through that horrendous Terror he worships."

Ash bit her lower lip. He made excellent points, and she found herself nodding along even as deep down, she couldn't truly agree. But he was a Scion. A descendant of the very gods. He would know better than her.

So, ignoring the hot tears of shame and frustration building behind her eyes, she said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to let you down."

The hard lines on Roan's face softened. He sighed and reached out to squeeze Ash's shoulders. "That's not it. I just want to keep you safe. Something horrible happened to Odella under my watch. I cannot allow the same to happen to you, not when I dragged you into this while trying to rescue her."

The seed of guilt bloomed thick roots, winding their way from Ash's gut to constrict her lungs. Words wouldn't convey how horrible she felt for doubting him. Instead, she shifted focus, hoping he would understand through her actions.

"Alright, so if he is the one who hurt Odella, should I stay away from him?"

Roan winced. "We sadly cannot have that."

Ash frowned. "I don't understand."

"We still need him to take you to the temple," Roan said. "My hope is that, believing his last plan didn't work and seeing you don't seem to remember it, he will do it sooner rather than later to use the Tempest Serpent to get rid of you. Though if he knows Odella was a Dreamwoven or if the beast just has a bad feeling about her, I do not know."

She considered this new thought process. "You believe our walk yesterday was him testing my memory then?"

The Scion nodded.

She did her best to conjure a crooked, conniving Callum that would plan ahead like this. The image was murky at best, but she held onto it. "All right. Then I will continue to draw close to him and act as bait."

Roan smiled. "That has been the plan. Now let's get back to helping the townspeople before they start questioning why we've been gone for so long. Though..." A slyness twisted his lips. "That may quell the rumors about you and the priest."

Ash shoved him with a laugh, but she couldn't deny the small skitter in her pulse. The suggestion from a Scion was utterly ridiculous. It was also a thing of fables. Not the joke, but actual relations between the godly descendants and humans. They didn't truly happen. One wouldn't happen between her and Roan, but her cheeks still warmed.

Before her hand fell away from her push, Roan caught it and squeezed. "But please, Ash, do come to me should you begin to doubt again."

She looked down at her hand in his before meeting his pleading gaze. She nodded. "Of course."

But that seed of guilt continued to squirm because, even as she said that, she knew her doubt still existed. Already, the evil visage of Callum she'd created in her mind was fading. She needed this mission to move along fast, and for more reasons than to just save her sister.

☆☆☆☆☆

The guilt never left her in the following days. She never had interactions with Callum quite as long as that first walk, but he wandered the town most days during his personal duties. When their paths crossed, he'd make sure to stop for as long as he could, assisting her in whatever she was doing and chatting with her and whoever she helped. In the rare occurrences he couldn't stop, they would at least make eye contact. The little smiles he gave her spoke louder than simple greetings.

He was so nice. How could any person put up such a convincing act while having a darkness lingering within them like Roan suggested?

"I've never seen him have so many errands in town before. I'm sure he's just searching for excuses to see you."

Ash rolled her eyes. She worked with Nydia once more. Each of them had embroidered colored paper piled near them, and they threaded a thick silver string along the top. Various houses and stores would hang them over their porches in the coming day.

"Just like all of us, he has much to do for the festival," Ash protested. She grabbed another piece of paper. As she placed it at the end of her needle, she couldn't help but glance up.

Callum and one of his guards laughed with a middle-aged man as they carried crates of decorations from years past into the street. The man, according to Nydia, was the town's woodsmith, and he'd crafted expert statues that could be assembled and dissembled each year. A large one depicted the Serpent itself. The boxes the two man and the woman transferred held those wooden pieces.

Before Ash could turn away, Callum's eye caught hers. The smile that had been on his face shifted. It was more focused, more intimate, meant only for her. Despite knowing that it was truly meant for Odella and that Callum was meant to be the enemy, her traitorous heart stuttered.

And the seed of guilt grew. She would never get rid of this thing, not at this rate.

Nydia scoffed. "I have heard some say that distance will make the heart grow even fonder, and you two were distant for quite some time." At Ash's dry look, Nydia held up a hand. "I am only saying how I see it, Odella. Now stop trying to sew without looking. You'll poke your fingers again, and I think our priest is too far to come tend to your wounds."

Ash threatened Nydia with the needle, but it only sent her into a cackling fit. Most of the teasing died down after that since Callum never reappeared. Ash mentally kicked herself and her searching eyes. Nydia sent her knowing glances up until suddenly she said, "Alright, I think that's enough today."

"What?" Ash paused in the middle of her sewing. "But the festival is tomorrow!"

Nydia stood and, groaning, stretched out her limbs. "Don't lose your youth, Odella. Your bones can't take the same hard work they used to."

Ash's lips twitched in the beginnings of a smile. "Sewing is hard work?"

"It is when you are sitting on hard wooden chairs and hunched over the entire time." Nydia winced, rubbing a knuckle against her back. "I will finish up tomorrow morning. Nobody will start hanging until noon ends."

"I'll stop by first thing in the morning to help, then," Ash said as she began putting away the supplies.

Nydia shook her head. "I don't know what this town did to deserve such a blessing as you and your friends, Odella, but I thank the Serpent for your lot. You do far more good than you know."

There it was again—the guilt that twined around her insides and squeezed them tight. Except this time, it was guilt over fooling the townspeople who had been nothing but kind to her.

Ash smiled and said her farewells to Nydia before wandering into town. With the feast tomorrow, the fields needed all the help they could get, and they had roped Roan into assisting with that. He, like the siblings, wouldn't get done for a couple more hours most likely, and Sanford even later than that.

If Ash was doing her part here well, she'd run back to her room to avoid as much interaction with the Caelerians as she could. Or maybe she would track down Callum and continue to wiggle herself into his good graces. Instead, she simply began to walk. She didn't know where to. She allowed her feet to guide her wherever they wished.

What had Odella felt while walking these streets? Had she faced these same struggles? She had been here for much longer than Ash. A little more than a lune, Rona had said. Had her twin managed to interact with the people of this town without allowing her heart to care? Or had she been convinced of the same thing Ash was, that these people were innocent and tricked by the Terror?

And what about Callum? If he had harmed her in some way, had he been able to because she let her guard down? Was his disarming openness just a ploy that had finally weathered Odella's defenses? Ash's grip on her shield had grown slippery from the very first day.

Ash had worn her twin's face for almost a quarter-lune now, but that didn't make her Odella, nor did it give her all her strengths. Her very twin was in danger. How could this wretched guilt keep confusing her? Even a Scion told her not to trust this place.

She didn't realize where she had gone until the packed ground under her feet shifted into loose sand, nearly tripping her. Ash gasped, inhaling the salty scent around her deeply. A mother and father sat in the sand nearby, watching as their children danced in the knee-deep water. Their teasing voices turned into high-pitched laughter when waves crashed against them.

This was the furthest point away from the tavern without leaving the town. It seemed her body truly did not care to return there. As she watched the ebb and flow of the ocean, she decided where she wanted to be. She took off her shoes and swept up the skirt of her dress before making her way across the sand.

Cool water washed over her feet and then her shins as she walked a small distance into the surf. Not so far that she couldn't keep her dress out of the water, but enough that the ocean never fully retracted its soothing touch from her.

She closed her eyes and curled her toes into the sand, simply enjoying the rush of water followed by the gentle pull. A small giggle escaped her when the grains beneath her feet escaped, letting her sink deeper and deeper. It was an odd but not unpleasant sensation. She had only been to the ocean once before, and she didn't realize how much she'd missed it.

Ash had to combat the urge to sit in the lapping waves, regardless of what it would do to her dress. Not much time could have passed, though suddenly she found herself alone. The family from before left at some point. The sun dipped lower than before. Perhaps half an hour had passed of simply watching the water move to and fro.

Out here, she was, well, her. Only Ash, taking a moment to be herself and breathe. No town or compatriots to fool. No moral quandaries to weigh her down. No sister to save. No Scion to ensure she didn't disappoint.

How could it have only been a quarter-lune since she met Roan and she already felt this tired?

She closed her eyes and let her head fall back, bathing in the sun and the light spray of the water. For the moment, she allowed herself to forget what her life had become and just be. But of course, that couldn't last for long.

"I feel as if I'm disrupting something."

Ash startled at the familiar voice. Part of her fluttered in excitement, and the guilt made itself known once again. Then another thought struck her. She reached fearfully for her glamour, only relaxing when she felt the veil of magic still layered over her skin. Her lapse in focus on the world around her hadn't dropped it.

The entire time, Callum stood a few yards away watching her, his lips quirked in a weary smile. 

*****

Ash is struggling over here v_v All the confusion and weight is just pressing down on her, and I can't promise she isn't risking a break.  She's so torn on what to believe, and when she finally gets peace to herself... Well, it doesn't stay by herself, it seems.  Looks like she's getting more quality time with the priest 👀I'm sure nothing will go wrong with them alone...

Let me know your thoughts on the chapter down below, and if you enjoyed it, don't forget to vote and comment! I also have a discord open to anyone who wants to join, and we have a section there to discuss the book :D Let me know if you want to join