Dawn closed her eyes and exhaled all such thoughts. She needed a clear mind and to focus on what she knew. The thick black vines were strangling the estate, and they were connected to Ava. The scratch on Dawn became infected but not on any of the men, although she needed to confirm that with Hector. Ava’s vine had scratched Lettie years ago, and there was a chance that the same rot dwelt inside her head. At the very least, Dawn could free the once beautiful grounds of the horrid monstrosity killing all it touched.
“If I’m going to defeat Ava and cure both this garden and Lettie, I need information, Marjory. Starting with everything you know about Ava.” Dawn picked up a biscuit and popped it into her mouth.
Marjory’s eyes shone. “Ha! We shall muster our forces together. I shall begin with the autumn day when I first arrived here in 1840. It rained as though the very heavens wept—”
23
Dawn and Marjory moved to the parlour side of the cottage. Dawn curled up in an armchair and Marjory dropped a blanket over her. Then the older woman carried over the tea and biscuits before settling down in the other chair.
The nurse talked until her throat dried out and their tea went cold. She told of events from the day a twenty-three-year-old Marjory first came to Ravenswing to be the constant companion of a grief-stricken Lettie.
She narrated how a few weeks later, a tiny babe was abandoned on the back lawn amid the autumn leaves. Ava had given birth to Elijah and then left him for his uncle to find, uncaring that he suffered in the chill air.
As the years wound by, Ava’s shadow spread over the estate with her black python vine. Lettie screamed of Ava’s tendrils in her mind, burrowing deep and tearing her apart. The young woman’s madness ensured she could never usurp Ava as heart of Ravenswing and custodian of the Ravenswood tree.
Before Dawn realised, full dark had fallen outside the window and a knock sounded at the door. Her mind swirled with forty years of history, the estate’s downfall, and how Jasper had struggled to hold together family and the wider community even as Ava sought to destroy it. The other woman seemed more like a jealous child with a toy that no longer held her interest but who also didn’t want anyone else to play with it.
“That’ll be Hector with dinner,” Marjory said as she rose from the table.
The loyal retainer had a far bigger tray this time, carrying dinner for three – both women and the wolfhound. Hector winked at the nurse as he stepped inside and placed the tray on the table. “Can’t have my favourite girl wasting away. I do appreciate a woman with curves.”
Marjory rolled her eyes, but a smile appeared on her face. “Get away with you, you old dog.”
Dawn smiled to watch the two of them. The affection for each other simmered under their good-natured banter and grumping. They did deserve to share their twilight years together. “I have made Marjory talk for hours, I do hope I didn’t exhaust her.”
Marjory laughed. “Now don’t you go encouraging him, Miss Dawn. Next he’ll want to get all handsy and check my curves are still in place.”
Hector’s face lit up. He extended long arms and wriggled even longer fingers toward the nurse. “Oh, yes. Just a quick squeeze to reassure myself everything is still as it should be.”
Marjory giggled and swatted his hands away with the tea towel. “Get out and leave us womenfolk alone.”
Hector heaved a great sigh and his hands dropped to his sides. “I only have your best interests at heart.”
The nurse pushed her old beau out the door and shut it firmly. Then she drew the bolt to ensure they didn’t have any unexpected visitors during the night.
She took the dog’s bowl and placed it on the floor. Then she carried a bowl of broth over to Dawn. “Get that into you, then back to bed. You need your sleep so you can regain your strength if we are to tackle Ava.”
Dawn stared at the hearty mixture with chunks of meat and vegetables in a rich soup. “I hope there is enough for both of us. If you were to faint, Hector would never forgive me.”
The next day, Elijah visited with a chessboard under his arm and a frown on his brow.
“I refuse to play with you if you are going to scowl at me,” Dawn said as he pulled the armchair around so they could sit opposite each other instead of side by side.
“You won’t talk to Uncle Jasper.” He dropped the case on the little table between the chairs and flicked open the lid. He removed the folded board and laid it out.
“I think I am entitled to take a few days to let my physical wounds heal somewhat before I consider the state of my heart.” Dawn picked up a pawn from the box and placed it on its square.
The frown stayed in place on the young man’s forehead as he picked up handful of black pawns and set them down on the board. “I don’t know what happened in the maze because no one will tell me, but the Cor-vitis is never wrong. You two are supposed to be together.”
Dawn set out the rest of the white pieces to face an ebony army. She didn’t want to have this conversation with him; he wouldn’t understand. Then she remembered he was twice her age, despite his youthful face, and had displayed a remarkable maturity on other topics.
Her fingers gripped the ivory queen as she whispered, “I saw your uncle Jasper with your mother.”
That removed the frown as his eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up. He plucked a pawn of each colour from the board and formed a fist around them. “Uncle Jasper does what he has to, to protect us all.”
Dawn bit back a quick retort. There was protecting your family and then there was succumbing to baser needs. “I don’t think you understand—”
“Oh, I do understand. I have watched for years as Uncle Jasper has kept himself between her and us.” His serious grey eyes were so like his uncle’s that her heart tightened at the reminder.
Dawn sat back in her armchair and turned to stare at the fire. She couldn’t have this conversation with Elijah. His view was clouded by his love for his uncle.
“When you first came here, Ava tried to frighten you away,” he said, rubbing the pawns together in his hand as though they were dice.
“Yes.” Then after a few failed accidents, she had all but vanished after Jasper started sleeping in the chair now occupied by his nephew.
“Then she stopped.”
Dawn sighed and turned back to face him. This discussion was pointless. He held out two fists to her.
“I presume she gave up when she realised she couldn’t reach me.” But her vine had. The scratches all over Dawn’s body itched and heated. Soon infection and the black strands would bloom from them all. Would she crumble like the roses or make a valiant last stand like plain viridiflora?
Dawn tapped Elijah’s left fist and he turned it over to reveal the ivory pawn.
They placed the pieces on the board, where Elijah’s finger lingered on the ebony pawn. “She didn’t give up. She has always been watching to discover your weaknesses. She has seen you with Uncle Jasper in the grounds. I wouldn’t be surprised if she lured you to the maze so she could use Uncle Jasper as a weapon against you.”
Dawn moved her bishop’s pawn forward two squares. She wanted to dismiss Elijah’s theory with a wave of her hand. She had experienced an odd compulsion that night to breach the centre. That aside, she knew what she saw. She knew what Jasper had done.
Or did she?
To think Jasper betrayed her cut her deeper than a falling pane of glass ever could. Knowing it was him in Ava’s arms made Dawn gasp for breath more than being trapped in the pineapple pits. Thinking they desired each other was a poison more toxic than what Ava’s serpent vine released.
“Could we just play the game, please?” Dawn’s eyes moistened to think she was wrong and Ava had used them both. The seed of hope burrowed a little deeper into her flesh.
“Of course,” he murmured. “But promise me you will consider what I said?”
“I promise.”
Elijah left when Dawn started to sacrifice too many pieces and her tired mind couldn’t consider the long game any more. The next day she eschewed all visitors and told Marjory she wanted time alone to think. The nurse frowned. The expression was quite the epidemic on the estate.