He piled pebbles in his hand. “She gave me life, and for that I will always be grateful. But she’s not my mother. Aunt Lettie and Nurse Hatton took that role. Ava has only ever worried about herself, she never wanted to see me. I doubt she ever loved my father but simply used him to get what she wanted.”
Dawn thought of her own warm relationship with her mother. She could not imagine growing up without gentle maternal guidance, patience, and support. What must it be like to have a mother who wants nothing to do with you, to turn to the woman who gave birth to you for comfort only to find cold indifference? At least there was some balance in Elijah’s life and he had a wider family who loved him.
She watched him hurl another pebble into the lake. “I will not do it, if it will cause you distress.”
When he turned, a tinge of sadness crept into his grey eyes. “She poisons us all, and we need you to save us. Ava is chaos and turmoil, and you will be the calm after the storm.”
How did a youth manage to reconcile feeling for his mother to the needs of the wider community? He did it with such grace and without any trace of bitterness in his tone. “You’re so mature for your age.”
A sly smile lit his face. “You forget I am nearly twice your age. I should be calling you missy.”
What would it be like to spend her short life span here, to wither and die while time barely caressed his youthful face? It would be the same with Jasper. How many women would he love and watch die as he endured for centuries? Life really wasn’t fair. She breathed in a deep sigh. It didn’t matter if she was allowed a handful of days or decades, what mattered was what she did with the time allocated to her. She would live every day as though it were her last, enjoying each moment and person.
“There are so many things I need to learn about the world of the Elementals. There should be books with your history in them.” Her wrist ached, and she rubbed her thumb over the scratch that stubbornly refused to heal.
He tossed the last stone and wiped his palm on his trouser leg. “You shouldn’t be afraid, you know.”
“Of Ava?” That confrontation most assuredly worried her. How did one battle the embodiment of a garden – did she need a hoe or hedge trimmers?
He gestured to her right hand. “Of Uncle Jasper and the vine. It’s probably scary to be told a weird plant has decided you are fated to be with someone you hardly know.”
“You can see it?” If everyone could see an invisible plant, was it really invisible? Or could only Elemental eyes see it?
He took her hand and helped her to her feet. “Not the Cor-vitis itself, only the shadow it casts on your skin.”
“This does all sound rather farfetched, doesn’t it?” That was the other tight knot of fear in her stomach. Jasper seemed so ready to embrace what the Cor-vitis meant, but it terrified Dawn.
Elijah shrugged. “I trust that Gaia knows us better than we know ourselves. Perhaps in a tiny way, this is the balance in your life. We can never replace the family you lost, but we can give you a new one who will support you and look after you. If you would have us.”
On impulse Dawn reached out and hugged him. “You really are an old soul.”
He returned her hug and then pulled a pocket watch out and flipped open the silver casing. He let out a groan. “Please remind Uncle Jasper how old I am when you see him. I have to go back to my studies.”
He ran off down the path toward the house.
Dawn patted Mouse’s head. “We should also be on our way. I am supposed to be supervising a workforce, not lolling around by the lake.”
Woman and canine walked back around the edge of the forest to find her workers. The herbaceous border progressed as men monitored the small controlled fire. The others continued to chip away at the monster holding the maze. She couldn’t wait to examine the map in the cottage, to see if the phantom hand updated the cleaned borders.
There was little Dawn could do to help with the manual labour, and it seemed rude to lounge around watching the men work. Especially once shirts were removed as the day heated. She couldn’t see bare chests without remembering the heat of Jasper’s torso as he pressed her to the cottage wall.
Leaving the men under Hector’s care, Dawn collected a few of the botany specimen books from the cottage to return to the earl’s library. She had the idea of changing focus from finding the larger genus of the Ravensblood tree to researching diseases and blights that affect large specimens. She might be able to pinpoint how or why the tree sickened, which would lead her to a course of action to remedy its condition. Rather like a doctor diagnosing a patient and recommending a treatment.
Clutching the books to her chest, she entered the silent house. Mouse poked his head through the door first and looked left and right, then he trotted through and waited at the bottom of the stairs.
“Library today, boy. Are you allowed in there?” She ignored the curved staircase and headed left toward the back corner of the house.
Dawn paused with one hand on the door knob. There were muffled voices from within, and she didn’t want to disturb the earl if he had company. A feminine laugh rang out, and curiosity overcame Dawn. Before she could call it back, her hand pushed the door open.
No sign of Jasper, but a laughing Lettie clung to the library ladder while Nurse Hatton wheeled her along the cliff face made of books.
The wolfhound took one look, heaved a sigh as though it were common place, and then he padded across the floor to hurl himself down by the cold fireplace.
“Dawn!” Lettie shrieked. “I am a librarian and I can fill your mind with knowledge.”
Less librarian and more circus acrobat, Dawn thought as she watched the other woman swing her body off the ladder. Even her gown was stripes of black, white, and red and reminded Dawn of a performer’s costume. She wore no bustle, but a simple style of dress with full silken skirts that swirled around her body.
“Put your feet back on the rung, or I will climb up there and fetch you down,” Nurse Hatton said.
“How is she today?” Dawn whispered as the nurse held onto the ladder.
Marjory smiled, although tired lines pulled around her eyes. “Today is a good day, and she wanted to pick a book to read. However, she seems convinced this is a gymnasium, not a library.”
Lettie climbed down a few rungs until she was nearly level with Dawn. “What are you looking for?”
“Diseases and blights of large trees, if your brother has such a tome.” She placed the books to be returned on a wooden trolley, piled high with other books of varying sizes.
A smile lit Lettie’s face. She stuck out a hand pointing to the right and called out, “Starboard ahoy.”
Marjory rolled her eyes, but the smile remained. “Now it’s a pirate ship.”
The nurse rolled the ladder to the right. Lettie’s fingertips skimmed the rows of spines. She clambered up another rung, and then another. Then she reached out and snagged a book. “Found it!”
She let the book drop from the top of the ladder and Dawn leapt to catch it before it hit the ground.
It was a large book with a sage green cover. Dawn ran a finger over the title, picked out in faded gold. “Infectious Diseases of European Flora. Oh, brilliant Lettie, thank you so much.”
Lettie placed her bare feet on the outside of the rungs and slid down, using only her hands to slow her momentum. Marjory shook her head, obviously long used to her charge’s unladylike behaviour. As Lettie approached the floor, Marjory let go of the ladder so as not to impede her descent.
Once back on earth, Lettie wrapped a hand around Dawn’s arm and pulled her away from the books and toward the map of the estate. She leaned in close as though she wanted to share a confidence. “Jasper says you will not be scared away.”
“I am needed here, and I have nowhere else to go.” There was more to it than that. She glimpsed a larger world here and she wanted to be a part of it. If she walked away from this tale, she would never know how it ended.