Darkthaw by Kate A. Boorman Read Free Book Online Page A

blackcloth. Sitting here, I remember her knobby hands, remember them soothing my brow, and I feel like she’s reaching toward me from her resting place.
    And I feel the goodness of these woods sinking into my skin. My skin, bathed with the starlight that shines and pulses and echoes the
mescacâkan
song.

AS WE PRESS THROUGH THE DEW-KISSED FOREST, the wild song from last night trills in my mind, my heart. I catch Kane looking at me. The low brush touches our legs and hands with its drenched fingers, drawing soft, wet patterns on our leggings and skin. The trees above stretch tall with leaves that twist lazy in the morning breeze. As we walk, the beauty of the woods becomes dizzying—like one too many cups of saskatoon wine. And seeing Kane out here, beauty in beauty—
    â€œWhere are you?” Matisa’s voice snaps me from my reverie. I turn my head. She’s beside me, leading her horse, one eyebrow cocked.
    â€œHere.” I flush, embarrassed at being caught doe-eyed. “Just . . . distracted. By the . . . trees.”
    â€œAh yes, the trees,” she says, throwing a glance to our right, where Kane walks. “They cast a spell.” Her lips twitch. “On some.”
    I clear my throat and look around.
    To our left, Nico sits atop Isi’s horse; Daniel, atop Nishwa’s. Matisa’s cousin and brother are leading the beasts, casting glances at each other that verge on irritation and amusement at once. The little boys are arguing over which horse is smarter.
    Violet and Andre are quite a ways behind, distracted by examining the tall trees and strange new plants that are coming up through the forest floor.
    â€œAre we losing too much time, do you think?” I ask her, in part to change the subject.
    â€œWe are slower than I thought we would be,” she admits. “But the season of rains is still in the night air.”
    I hope she’s right. Matisa made this decision so I didn’t have to ask Kane to refuse his family. I don’t want it to mean she’s sacrificed anything more than patience, than time we can safely lose.
    She notices the worry on my brow. “I have said it before: Isi and Nishwa can ride on ahead.”
    â€œLeaving you won’t sit well with Isi,” I say.
    â€œWe will deal with things as they come,” she assures me. “For now, we are headed home, and you are with me, and it is a beautiful day.” She looks to the blue sky stretching above the treetops.
    I follow her gaze, taking a deep breath of the fresh-smelling air, and feel a rush of fierce love for this girl. This girl who followed her heart to find me and brought us the freedom I’d always longed for. This girl who knows so much more than me but never makes me feel foolish.
    It
is
a beautiful day.
    I risk a glance at Kane again—he’s walking with the boys now.
    Last night, lying in the makeshift tent with Matisa, I could feel him lying awake like me, far across the coals of the fire, tucked away in his tent. Could feel his breath, soft on the night air, winding over to me, hot on my skin that burned with the memory of that day on the riverbank.
    I’ll go anywhere with you
.
    His voice when he said those words, husky, honest. My pulse skips into my throat now, remembering.
    And watching him now as he walks in that easy way, watching him throw his head back and laugh at something Nishwa says, just watching him do anything—it’s unbearable.
    Matisa looks over at me and squints at my face, then looks over to where Kane is walking. She shakes her head. “Still haven’t found that burrow.”
    I flush and sigh deep. I’m not foolish; I know that getting in a family way would be a disaster. But more of those woodshed moments wouldn’t be so bad.
    Matisa smiles in sympathy. “There is a place, back home, where we go to get away from”—her eyes sparkle—“disapproving eyes. It is a secret place,