Weather-wise, March was a tricky month for Ryleigh. The sun could break through the clouds on a day when the snow didn’t fall and help to melt the drifts. The temperature overnight, however, would turn everything icy. Yet if there were enough sunny days, the banks slowly diminished. Only to be rebuilt when another storm hit.
It had been all Jade could do to keep from shoveling a path from her house to the church, tunneling her way to the snow level that had been about mid-calf deep the night she’d lost the necklace. But doing so would have increased her chances of moving the pendant unwittingly and tossing it aside with a shovelful of snow.
The white mounds, though, had succumbed to a week of unseasonably warm weather, and only barely covered the ground. So the search was on.
She traded her day shifts for night ones with Tanner and scoured the area in front of her cottage, hoping the rays from overhead would catch the diamonds and make them sparkle enough to signal her of the necklace’s whereabouts.
Three days later and still unsuccessful, she branched out to the east. She was in the woods after the sun set when she heard footsteps behind her. They were so light and perfectly measured, she didn’t reach for her sword.
Standing, she turned and faced Sheena. “Hi.”
“Hi,” her vampire friend said, a contrite look on her beautiful face. “I’m sorry I’ve waited so long to see you again.”
Jade swallowed a lump of emotion. “I figured you’d given up on me.” As Darien clearly had. She tried not to dwell on that excruciating thought.
“No, of course not.” Sheena seemed to fight to conjure the right words before saying, “I’ve been struggling with the difficulty of having a mortal friend. It’s…challenging.”
Jade didn’t dispute that fact but said, “It’s not my blood that bothers you.”
Sheena shook her head.
With a sigh, Jade said, “You think I’m reckless and that disturbs you.”
“No. I think you’re determined and that disturbs me. Plus you’re a trouble magnet. It’s unnerving.”
Temporarily giving up her search for the necklace, she said, “I have to be out on patrol. Do you want to join me?”
Sheena nodded. “I’d like to spend time with you, yes.”
They headed back to Jade’s cottage for her to start her counterclockwise routine, which she and Tanner changed up regularly. Not that they’d had any indication they were being watched, but it was a guideline Walker had implemented long ago.
As they started the patrol, the vampire asked, “Do you enjoy this?”
“I’m usually on horseback, but the exercise this evening is nice.”
“I meant, do you enjoy being out here alone. At night?”
She glanced up at the clear sky and the near-full moon. “It’s peaceful. I like how quiet it is. If I put all my concentration into hearing something—like the snap of a twig in the distance from an animal—I don’t have to think about anything else.”
Sheena strolled alongside her. “What would you think about if you didn’t have something else to distract you?”
With a shrug, Jade said, “Everything.”
“The king?” the vampire ventured.
Jade let out a long breath. “What would be the point?”
“I don’t know, the fact that he loves you?”
Her stomach twisted. “That seems unlikely. I haven’t seen him in over a month.”
“He’s been busy.”
“Right.”
They continued in silence. Jade typically diverted her route every other night to cover more territory. The intent of the patrols, Tanner had explained, was to search for any sign of a demon inhabiting the woods. Or more than two of them crossing the boundaries.
She wondered how the checks-and-balance system worked at the castle. She surmised the demons had to report to someone that they intended to go into the village to ensure they kept to the king’s law. She had no doubt Sheena possessed enough clout to supersede another demon’s request. Not that they came into the village all that often. They didn’t hang out at the tavern and shoot the breeze. But they seemed interested in seeing how the humans fared in this new world.