“H-How do you know my name?” I was confused. I didn’t remember ever having met her before.

Oleander pulled back a chair for me. “Please, have a seat. You must be tired,” he said.

I sat down, feeling uneasy now about entering this cottage. What was it he’d called it? “The Abode of the Twelve Months.” What did that mean?

He laughed at my puzzled expression, but not unkindly. “My wife is a seer.”

“A seer? What is that?” I asked

Lily sat down again and resumed her work peeling potatoes. “I can see the future, read minds,” she replied. “Much to the delight of the villagers.”

She laughed, the sound of it musical, bewitching. I found myself laughing along with her.

Her husband’s smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “They branded her a witch and exiled us into the woods, far away from town. We are to stay here for one year at which time the king will decide our fate.”

“Ah, the Twelve Months, ” I said, getting it now. “How many months have passed?”

“Eleven,” Lily answered, the smile leaving her eyes, too.