This was dangerous ground he was standing on. He knew he had to do something, but if he did the wrong thing he would end up creating more trouble for his family than he could even imagine. He couldn’t expose the King’s duplicity without embarrassing him. He couldn’t brace Erisha about what she had done without revealing “what he knew about her father. He couldn’t tell anyone about the game being played without risking the possibility that it would get back to the King.
But he couldn’t stand by and do nothing, either. He had taken an oath when he had become a member of the Chosen, and by doing so he had committed himself to helping protect and care for the tree in any way he could.
He walked slowly back to the gardens, thinking it over, trying to decide what to do. Nothing much came to mind. It depressed him to find himself so powerless, but rushing into things wouldn’t help, either. Like it or not, he had to be patient. He had to take his time and figure out what he could do to turn matters around. There was clearly something going on that he didn’t understand, and he had to find out what it was. But if he didn’t use care in doing so, he risked finding himself shut out of everything.
He arrived back at the gardens and without a word to anyone went back to work. He knew his duties for the day and didn’t need to speak to the others if he didn’t choose to. It might be better, he decided, if he waited for them to speak to him.
Biat was the first to approach, coming over as soon as he saw him.
“What did the King say?” he whispered, giving a quick glance over his shoulder in the direction of Erisha, who was down on her hands and knees digging out weeds across the way.
Kirisin shrugged. “He said he was glad I told him about it and that he would have a look at the histories. He didn’t get angry.” He paused. “Did I miss anything here?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, was anything else said about this after I left? Erisha was pretty mad.”
Biat chuckled. “Erisha was furious. But she dropped the matter right away and put us all to work. We’ve been at it ever since. What took you so long?”
“Did Erisha say where she was going when she went after me?” he asked, ignoring the question.
Biat stared at him. “What are you talking about? Erisha didn’t go after you. She never left the garden. No one did.”
Kirisin bent over his digging implement so that the other boy couldn’t see his expression. “My mistake. I thought I saw her.” What is going on? “You had better get back to work. We’ll talk about it later.”
Biat moved away, leaving him with what were now much darker thoughts. If Erisha hadn’t talked to her father, how had he found out what the tree had told Kirisin?
The answer came to him almost instantly. Arissen Belloruus had learned about it much earlier, even before this morning.
Though she chooses not to hear me, you must listen.
He sat up slowly and stared off into space. She. He remembered the tree’s words now, how they had seemed an accusation that lacked any basis. But they made perfect sense if this morning’s attempt to seek help from the Chosen wasn’t the first, if the Ellcrys had spoken to someone earlier.
To Erisha.
His gaze drifted across the clearing and settled on his cousin. She was their leader, the foremost among the Chosen. If the tree had spoken to anyone before him, she would have spoken to Erisha. She would have revealed her fears and asked for Erisha’s help, and the girl would have told her father.
That was how he would have known about the seekingStones.
He went back to weeding while he fought to contain his anger and channel it into something more productive than crossing over to wring Erisha’s neck.
Could it really have happened that way? If so, why? It didn’t make any sense.
Erisha might have told her father, but why would she keep it secret from the Chosen? For that matter, why would they both keep secret the tree’s perceived danger? Everyone knew how important she was as protector of the Elves.
He knew that he was going to have to find out. But that meant getting the truth out of Erisha without having her run to her father. He took a deep breath.
He had no idea how he was going to do that.
He continued with his work, trying unsuccessfully to come up with a plan.
He was still trying when she suddenly appeared at his elbow.
“What happened with my father?” she asked perfunctorily, kneeling next to him. She brushed back her long, dusky hair. “What did he say when you told him about the tree?”
Something in the way she asked it set his teeth on edge, and as quickly as that, he made his decision. He looked up at her so that he could watch her face.
“He already knew all about it,” he said.
Her fine, delicate features tightened, and she flushed. Her gaze dropped, and then lifted again to meet his. “What do you mean?”
He knew instantly that he had been right in his suspicions. The Ellcrys had spoken to her before this morning, and instead of confiding in the other Chosen she had gone to her father. Both of them had been hiding the truth ever since.
“You know what I mean,” he said quietly, his eyes locked on hers.
He could see the mix of anger and fear mirrored there; she was visibly distraught. “The Ellcrys spoke to you before today and you told your father about it, but you didn’t tell us.”