Chapter 20 is up. The following is an excerpt, and you can read the whole chapter here.
The girl had been crying again.
She’d tried to muffle it, but Blossom could hear the sobs through the door. The bottle in her apron pocket hung heavier with every muted cry.
This was all her fault.
“See that you don’t let that burn,” Briar dictated from the counter where she was slicing carrots with a little too much glee. And a knife three sizes too big for the job.
Blossom shuddered and turned back to the pot. Her arms ached, and the heat from the fire made her feel brittle. She was a wood elf, meant for open air and sunshine, not cold stone and fire. But the girl was here, so she would endure these small pains for her sake. As she stirred the soup, the firelight glinted greedily off the ribbons that peeked out from her sleeves at her wrists. The sky and her heart. The ribbons bound her to the girl more than anything else that cat could have done, which was probably why he’d used it.