Free The Broken Forest by Megan Derr Page B

out of her boots and into warm house shoes. "Your parents are in the yellow drawing room, I cannot say where the others have scattered."
    "If they're smart, they're all snuggled warm in bed. Thank you, Cory."
    "Milady," he said with a smile, and walked off carrying her things to see it was all dried and put away properly.
    Adamina followed the sound of laughter to the yellow drawing room, her parents' favorite room in the house. True to its name, it had warm yellow walls and carpeting, accents of brown, white, and green, and the whole place smelled of old books and honeysuckle. Her father sat at a piano, playing in snatches frequently interrupted to chat with her mother, who rattled on a mile a minute as she discussed work, friends, and whatever latest gossip was running about the city half an hour away where her offices were located. During the busier months, they moved to their townhouse, but in the dead of winter everything fell into a lull and they retired to Rosehaven.
    Her mother froze midsentence. "Mina!" Tossing aside the papers she was holding, she bolted across the room and hugged Adamina tightly. "We have been fretting as to where you were. I did not expect matters to take so long! Are you home for a time, now?" She didn't wait for an answer, just hugged her again. "I'll have tea brought at once. Food? Look who I'm asking." She rolled her eyes at herself and departed, never very good at holding still and waiting for people to come to her.
    A soft chuckle drew Adamina's attention to her father, large and looming, but still the quietest, gentlest man Adamina had ever known. She knew the stories of the days when he'd had an uncontrollable temper, but she'd never seen it save when his wife or children were threatened. He hugged her tightly. "It's good to see you looking healthy again," he said gruffly. "You and your mother are determined to see who can put me in the grave first."
    Laughing, Adamina leaned up to kiss his cheek. "Now, Papa, we both know the answer is Mama."
    "Probably," he said with a sigh. "How are you? It seems as though something still troubles you."
    Adamina shook her head. "Nothing, Papa. I'm just exhausted. It's good to be home, and I don't have to go anywhere for six months."
    "How did you manage such a long hiatus?" her mother asked as she strode back into the room, thrust a plate of sliced vegetables, cheese, and warm, buttered bread into Adamina's hands. "Eat, eat. Charmian, why in the world have you not poured your daughter a glass of wine?"
    "My apologies, Bella," Charmian said with a grin. "I thought she'd want to drink the tea first."
    Huffing and shaking her head at herself, Bella kissed Adamina's cheeks and returned to her seat, gathering up the voluminous skirts of her brown and gold dress, settling them comfortably about her after she'd sat. "So will you be here your entire six months' respite? Normally I would give you two weeks before restlessness compelled you to do something else, but I think under the circumstances you may actually stay a bit…"
    "Edge Village was exhausting, but I don't think it was that exhausting, Mama," Adamina replied, taking a nearby seat and making quick work of the food. Goddess, she could not wait to start eating Laura's cooking again. Her father employed the best chef in the queendom, Adamina would bet her inheritance on it.
    Her parents exchanged a look. Adamina frowned. "She must not know," Charmian said.
    "Know what?" Adamina asked, narrowing her eyes at them.
    "You tell her, Bella."
    Beaming, Bella took a sip of the dark wine at her elbow, then said, "Why, we have acquired a witch. She's taken up residence in the gardener's cottage—" The words cut off as her parents laughed, but Adamina barely heard it, having bolted from the room the moment she realized what they were saying.
    Rushing through the house, she slipped out the doors at the back of the conservatory and through the snow-covered garden to the little cottage tucked away in the corner of