What do you want?

Gieruchna couldn't rule out that her parents knew about Samuel, but whether they did or not, she was certain they didn't approve. Her final clue had been when her father had mentioned the arranged marriage to Herbort, a man three times her age who'd been a widower twice and had children older than her. He was one of the wealthiest men in their village and she would be taken care of, which was probably what her father had been thinking about. He wasn't an unkind man, so Ruby should have felt bad when he 'suddenly fell ill' with gastrointestinal issues. He'd tried everything in the apothecary to no avail. All of his cows had started giving sour milk and most of his crops had failed. Unfortunately, that had only delayed the appointed marriage (and Ruchna didn't feel bad).

At least it had given her more time to sneak around with Samuel and try to convince her family that she didn't need to marry anyone (marrying a witch hunter was out of the question since she was an actual witch and had made the deal to save her little sister from the Black Plague last year).

She couldn't be certain who had first raised the witch allegations, but Herbort or one of his children were high on her list. They'd dragged her from her bed in the middle of the night and thrown her in a makeshift cage in the center of the village square to await her trial and punishment. Samuel's father had led the charge. Ruchna couldn't even protest because she was the reason Herbort, his cattle, and his crops had fallen ill, but she was also the reason not a single person in the village had died from the Black Plague (it hadn't been her goal, but she hadn't known her own power). Rather than scream her innocence, she'd tilted her chin up and remained silent. She'd maintained that silence when they threw her in the cage and poked at her with sticks.