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"Alan, go tell my father you have too much time on your hands and see you what he needs done Do you think the shop runs itself? My father needs to concentrate on the h wood for the fire or if the goods are polished to show thee"

Alan looked as if he was about to say so - probably that he had already laid in the next day's wood supply, or that the silversh for the day - but he bit off an answer that could only get hied out of the roohted on Nola's e closet for yourself and your daughter, and h, and if you don't ements until bedtime, you will disrupt us all"

He turned on Nola Over his shoulder, Nola saw her n to avert the evil eye Brinna, fortunately, took that as funny, and placed a hand over her o to sleep then and there, tried to look alert and interested, andon behind Kirwyn's back Her mother set the still-blackened pot down and left the kitchen - one could only hope she was headed for the storage closet

To Nola, Kirwyn said, "As for you, your work starts tonight rather than to needs to be changed and cleaned before the stains set"

"Yes, Master Kirwyn" Nola curtsied to hide the dis was all Kirwyn had on his mind

But Kirasn't interested in her She saw that a moment later as he tried to snake his arm around Brinna's waist

"Master Kirwyn," Brinna protested, deftly dodging hi and she Hipped it as she turned, so that it spattered - apparently all unintended - on Kirwyn

A pretty girl like Brinna, Nola realized as she headed for Kirwyn's roo unwanted attention She wouldn't have caused a scene the way Nola had with the blackberry farmer in Low Beck Of course, Nola could look pretty, too She could cast a gla, exotic, breath takingly gorgeous, the kind of wo ballads about But as the point? It was safer to look unremarkable, so people wouldn't notice her, wouldn't remember her, wouldn't bother her Plain as she was, she'd had a close call today

Working by the light of the candle she had brought with her, Nola stripped Kirwyn's bed He had apparently tried to catch the goblet as ic tipped off the nightstand and had sent it flying even farther, spraying wine over the top of his clothes chest and onto the tapestry that covered the wall behind She needed a bucket of water and a rag but didn't wane co go back to the kitchen for fear of Kirwyn, so she went to the storage closet She could hear herher lullaby in the roo with Brinna Fro the mattresses as she had been instructed

There was, indeed, an extra bucket in the closet, and Nola got it, filled it ater, and brought it back to Kirwyn's roo at the wine stain that had soaked into the one before he came back Then she flipped the mattress over, dry side up, and fetched fresh blankets fro by the bed and from the top of the chest, then she did the best she could with the tapestry To the tapestry down, but if she did so tonight, Kiras sure co coht the bucket around to the back of the house co du heavier and slower, until she stopped altogether She'd recognized from the smell chat the wine Kirwyn had spilled had been blackberry wine, and that put her in ain of che man from Low Beck, the farmer who had hired them to pick blackberries She reo thatAnd she remembered, nor only his unwanted advances, but that he had called thery?

You're being foolish, she told herself Surely other women - even other unreestions before He couldn't suspect her of being a witch just because of that

That, she res and oddities

And the fact that he ht have seen her take and save that strand of his hair

But wouldn't he have said so then if he had noticed?

Unless he had assuh surely her later actions disproved that

Maybe - if he had seen her take the hair - he simply didn't knohat to make of such an action

And that meant she was safe

Unless he mentioned it to someone else Someone who knew the tricks of witches

Don't wish troubles onto yourself she tried to convince herself, troubles that don't even exist You're overtired and not thinking properly

There was no reason to suspect that the silversht their blackberries from the man in Low Beck, and there was no reason to check to ainst the the bucket back to the storage closet, she brought ic down to the root cellar That the water ine colored and only as deep as the breadth of two or three fingers would not trouble the spell Carefully she set the bucket on the floor Very quietly she said the words that made the water receptive to shadowforms Then she took from her bodice the little square of unbleached here she had placed the man's hair She had another square of cloth in which she had collected two hairs off che cohtstand and one from the cloak he had thrown over a chair Not that she was interested in Kirwyn But Nola always gathered strands of hair when she could, just in case she needed theratulated herself on being clever With one last glance around to make sure she was alone, she tossed the hair of che blackberry farmer into the water

The hair puckered the surface of che water, then shapes began to swirl and dance They settled into the i across fro For longand very quietly - voices always just barely ca to bed or not?"

Nola saw her pick up che candle, and her husband scratched hih to s che entire buckec of water that contained hi at the knee Nola had kicked His lips twitched soundlessly It didn't take uess that what he muttered to himself was the word "witch" Then he followed his wife to bed and the two of the another word In another fewthe town istrate or witch-hunters onto her trail

Nola put her hand on the edge of the bucket to overturn it, which would end the spell

Except that the farry What if he made his move tomorrow?