“We are scarcely in a private place, Zoelyn. It isn’t intruding to put your plate where it belongs. It is good manners,” Vaze said with a faint chuckle as he nodded farewell to her.
“Have you ever noticed how many intimidating men Jala surrounds herself with?” Zoelyn whispered to the Blight as she hurried down the long hall toward the garden door. The door slammed open as she approached and she quickly flattened herself against the wall as Neph stormed past.
“Good luck on your lessons with her. If she is as vague with you as she is with me you won’t learn a fucking thing,” Neph called over his shoulder as he stormed toward the stairs.
“Too many,” the Blight answered at last with a hint of amusement in his soft voice.
Nodding slowly in agreement Zoelyn stepped out into the warm sunlight and pulled the heavy door closed behind her. Jala was standing near the garden pool with her back to the house. Zoelyn paused just behind her and glanced back toward the house. She didn’t know if Jala even realized she was there, and she wasn’t entirely sure she should announce herself after seeing Neph’s mood.
“When I was a child, all I wanted was to be special enough to mean something to someone.” Jala’s voice was so soft that Zoelyn still wasn’t sure she was talking to her. For all she knew the High lady was talking to herself. “Now that I am, I look back and wonder how I was ever so foolish,” Jala finished in a louder voice and slowly turned to face Zoelyn. “If anyone ever offers you a small house and a quiet life, take it, Zoey.”
“Considering my curse, I sincerely doubt I will ever get that offer, Jala,” Zoelyn responded with a faint smile. It seemed strange to be on a first name basis with someone of Jala’s station, but she had learned quickly how well Jala liked the title Milady.
“We are going to fix that, remember?” Jala sighed and motioned toward the garden. “We are going to run a test today. I want to see if there is a limit to your draining. I suggest we start with the roses. I have the most of those.”
“Jala, I will destroy your entire garden,” Zoelyn said with a quick shake of her head as she folded her arms across her stomach tightly.
“Then, I suppose I will restore it. I need to understand your condition to help repair it, Zoelyn, and I can’t use magic to learn about it so that leaves trial and error. It will be a lengthy process, but I don’t see that we have many options and frankly I need the distraction,” Jala said and motioned once again toward the roses. “Start with the red ones. I can’t stand the color red.”
*
In Arovan she had lived so near the forests of Glis that only portions of the sky had ever been visible through the trees. In Merro, however, the sky was endless. A cool breeze washed over her and Zoelyn closed her eyes for a moment, enjoying the peace and solitude of the night. The rest of the household had retired hours ago and she wasn’t even sure the Blight had remained with her. Her eyes opened again and she leaned back on her arms to stare up at the stars.
It was a brief distraction from the devastation around her. Jala’s gardens had been beautiful and now they were in ruins. Not a single flower or tree remained and still her curse had been voracious. When the last tree had withered, Jala finally admitted defeat. Zoelyn was more than willing to admit defeat with the first plant, but Jala insisted. She doubted the High Lady had even noticed how each tiny death had been a wound to her. She hated killing, even when it was just a plant. To know that just the touch of her flesh destroyed beauty and killed, was punishment enough. To actually use that power and willingly destroy something, was appalling to her.
With a weary sigh, Zoelyn rose to her feet, her gaze traveling through the garden. Every wilted leaf whispered Undrae as she followed the cobbled path back to the house. If Blackwolf could see this place he would go for her throat, and she wasn’t sure she would even bother stopping him.
She pulled her boots off once she was through the door. Jala had assured her the house had not been built with magic, but this was the first time she had actually tested that statement. Nervously, she watched the boards for any sign that she was damaging anything and slowly made her way for the stairs as silently as she could. It would have been impossible, in the boots, to move through the house without waking everyone.
The hall above was as silent and dark as the downstairs had been. Zoelyn glanced toward Jala and Valor’s door as she passed and quickly made her way farther down the hall. A faint scuffle from the next door gave her pause and she lingered outside the door listening closely. It was silent for a long moment and then the noise was repeated, a faint scuffle of little feet. Slowly, Zoelyn lowered her heavy boots to the floor and pushed Legacy’s door open just far enough to look inside. The boy was usually sound asleep by this time. Legacy looked up at her with wide violet eyes from a perch near his bed. A tiny wooden knight was clutched in one hand, and by the scattering of other toys on the floor he had been playing for a while. He waved at her with his free hand and offered a smile before returning to his play.
Smiling faintly, Zoelyn slid inside the room and closed the door as quietly as she could behind her. “You are supposed to be asleep now.
Do you know how late it is?” she whispered to him. Honestly, she was amazed the child wasn’t red-eyed and wobbling. It was close to midnight by her best guess.
Legacy smiled at her again and set the knight aside as he shifted to sit cross-legged on the floor. “Being quiet,” he offered with a shrug of one tiny shoulder.
Zoelyn grinned at him and nodded her agreement. “You were being very quiet. I almost didn’t notice you were awake. If you don’t sleep now, though, you will fall asleep at breakfast tomorrow and land face down in your oatmeal,” she informed him gently.