Nobody's Goddess (Never Veil #1)(8)

I dug my heel sharply into the dirt. “Because your goddess is everything.”

Jurij’s wooden face bobbed up and down. “She is.”

Unlike Mother, at least Jurij didn’t try to soften the statement with assurance that some man would find the goddess in me one day. I was glad for it. “Nice face, by the way.”

The smile carved onto the wooden face might have been genuine if it didn’t look so freaky. “Looking forward to seeing what’s under it?”

I forced myself to laugh. “Not as much as Elfriede, I’m sure.” A lie.

The name of his goddess pulled Jurij into some dream state of mind. His wooden face looked off behind me again. I’d pretend to seek out what caught his attention, but if I chanced to look up and glance at the castle that lay flush against the eastern mountains, I’d have a bit of explaining to do to the village.

“Are you looking forward to today more or the wedding?” Sometimes it was easier to feed into his reverie than to try to snap him out of it entirely. Plus, today I was supposed to be happy for them.

Jurij tensed and rubbed Bow’s head wildly. “I can’t even think about the wedding yet.”

“Why?”

He smacked Bow’s back three times. She might have jumped, but her attention was focused on the basket in my hands. “It’s just too much. Too much happiness to think about. I feel like I’m going to burst.”

Hmph. I wonder if your father would agree if he had a mind of his own. “It’s too bad you’re not already over seventeen like my father was. He had his Returning and his wedding on the same day.”

Jurij shrugged. “That doesn’t matter. I can wait nineteen months and four days.” Of course he had the exact days counted. “But today … ”

Today he could finally kiss Elfriede.

Not that some clever couplings hadn’t managed to before their Returnings by blindfolding the woman or making sure she kept her eyes shut tight when the man took his mask off. But Elfriede and Jurij were both too naive to try such things. “Today you get to walk around without a mask once and for all, never again fearing the eyes of women.”

Jurij didn’t respond. His mind was on the kisses, I feared, not the fact that he could finally let the skin on his face get acquainted with the sun.

“Well,” I said, not wanting to keep the woman who would spit on me waiting. “I guess I should get going. I’ll see you later. Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” Jurij stopped. “Do you want me to come with you?”

I felt the heat rush to my face. Of course, the only person in the entire village who could at all sense my discomfort was the one who was about to be lost to me forever. To a primping girl who had never fought a single monster with him.

“Sure. Thank you. I mean—” I shut my mouth, took a breath, and opened it again. “If you’re not too busy. Today being what it is.”

Jurij shrugged and made his way to the Tailor Shop door. “What more do I have to do? Swapped my mask, wore my cleanest clothing. I could use the distraction, actually. Every moment is proving to last forever.” He opened the door and Bow bolted past him to get inside. “Luuk! Watch Bow, will you?”

A young boy poked his wooden face out of the door and nodded. As ever, Luuk wore his timidity on his face, his features obscured by a darling wooden puppy. Rather like a certain boy forever in a kitten or bunny mask who used to tag along with me.

“Where are you going?” asked Luuk. At least I think that’s what he said. Thanks to his murmuring voice and the muffling veil over the puppy’s mouth hole, he might have asked, “When is dew snowing?”

Jurij understood his brother better than I did. He patted his head. “Old lady Ingrith’s.” He leaned in to the house and reached for something that must have hung near the door.

Luuk pulled back shyly to allow Jurij more room. He tapped his two index fingers together, like he was waiting for a turn to speak. But no one else was speaking.

Jurij pulled a red apple out from the doorway and lifted it to his mouth hole. Laughing, he tossed the apple, unscathed, onto the top of the cloth covering the rest of the food in the basket. “Can’t snack just now, I guess. I always forget you’re not a guy, Noll.”

Thanks so much for that.

“Mama … ” Luuk coughed. “Mama says you and her are not to be bothered today.”

Jurij scoffed. “Mother says not to bother her most every day.”

That’s especially true for her husband, I imagine.

Jurij grabbed the basket from me. He bobbed his wooden face toward the grassy fields. “Should we take the shortcut?”

I grinned, hitching up the bottom of my skirt. Dirt was sure to blend in. Who would notice a few grass stains? “I’ll race you there!”



***



My legs weren’t made for running anymore. About halfway between the Tailor Shop and Ingrith’s, I gave up and started walking because there was no way I could run with the pain in my side. “Okay, you win, you win.”

Jurij had managed to get several paces in front of me, even with the basket in tow. He strode confidently through the grasses like he didn’t know the meaning of fatigue. But his body seemed to have noticed the exertion. By the time I caught up to him, I could hear his stomach rumbling.