Carina

Evaline nodded, gathering up the confidence to do well. "Okay, sounds fair to me," she said, turning to him once they reach the clearing. "What do I do first?" James ...

"Sure," Evaline said quietly, nodding. "Yes. Okay." It made sense they do it now, and also it just occurred to her that he said they would have to backtrack to ...

"Alright, this way!" Elias said, running towards the trees and gesturing for Aen to follow him. He looked back every once in a while with a grin, chatting away like ...

Alistair blinked. She was joking, right? She had to be, unless she lived in the forest or something. That seemed unlikely since she seemed lost in the forest right now, ...

Well, based on her panic, the answer to her question was basically a 'no.' Alistair now wished he didn't ask; it was beginning to become clear that Riss meant trouble. ...

Alistair nodded, pleased that Riss no longer seemed to view him as an enormous threat. Hesitating, he decided to take a gentle step forward so he was more in view, ...

An ultimatum. Or perhaps a bet. Whatever this new condition James proposed, Evaline wasn't a big fan of it. It was clear that he was trying to set her up ...

Alistair didn't do anything wrong. Right? He only stood nearby and asked if she was okay. So why was she treating him like he was a predator? "Whoa whoa whoa," ...

So not only could she obtain necessary supplies, but she could also make decent money and potentially come back with a surplus. Evaline saw nothing wrong with this plan. "Great!" ...

"Well, okay then," she said through a forced relieved smile, failing to see the irony of the situation. "I can do that then. Does it pay decently?"

Evaline decided to ignore his concern for her getting lost and getting taken advantage of. She figured James would mention that, but at this point, she was much more comfortable ...

Oh, right. They had almost no money. But if this was the main roadblock to not going into a town, she could work with this. "I could help get money," ...

"I could go," she volunteered a bit too quickly. She tried not to sound eager, but she realized she was failing. "I mean, think about it," she quickly added, deciding ...

Evaline had to suppress herself from laughing. Having a destroyed shoe was not supposed to be funny, but this an example of perfect irony. "So between the soap, the shoes, ...

Evaline smiled lightly at his agreement, and she let the silence sit between them. This time, it felt comfortable. She was glad that the tenseness was under control and no ...