Chapter 16
Elodie
I’m sitting with the tattered notes, scratching my head when Kael enters the glasshouse.
“Plant girl, in her natural habitat,” he calls, gesturing with his arms. “I come bearing good news.” I turn to him with a blank expression, my mood clearly showing on my face.
“Unless that news is, ‘We opened the gates without our stupid magic butterflies, so you are free to go home,’ I don’t care.” I snap, returning to the notes which I’m not even sure why I bother looking at anymore.
“Stupid magic butterflies?” Kael repeats my words mockingly.
“Well, it’s stupid.”
“You, plant girl, need to spend less time with the High Warden. His sunny disposition is clearly rubbing off on you,” he says, eyeing me with mock concern.
“At least Rowan gets straight to the point whenever he’s telling me something.”
“You are in a bad mood, my friend. Seriously, it’s like you’re being forced to be here, against your own will.” Sarcasm drips from his tone, and it finally causes me to crack. I cackle out a laugh, which causes his face to brighten.
“Okay, you win. You said you had good news,” I offer, turning to face him now.
“It’s the annual Mourning,” he says with a wide smile.
“Does mourning mean the same thing to me as it does to you? Because it sounds like a funeral…” I trail off.
“It’s the annual banquet the King throws. Food, wine, music, dancing, more wine.” He says, taking a seat on the bench beside me. “It’s honouring the Greyhollow butterfly, which admittedly seems a little… misplaced. Given the current situation. But the King insists.”
“I’m failing to see why this is good news."
“Because,” he says, pushing me off my chair to stand. “You get to finally spend the night off drinking, dancing and not alone in your room.”
I actually wouldn’t mind another night in the library if I’m being honest.
“And the King has agreed to this?”
“He has. Everyone has to be there. I asked him myself. Don’t worry.”
“And Rowan?”
“Oh, he’ll be there. I mean, he hates it. Dancing, the whole public get together, but he’ll be there.” He grins.
“Why are you smiling at that?”
“No reason,” he replies. He’s planning something. I know it.
“Well, when is this… Mourning?” I say.
“Tonight. So finish up and get dressed,” he says, clapping his hands together. How he can be so happy when the rest of the kingdom seems in such despair, I will never know.
“Kael?” I ask.
“Yes, Elodie, I will happily be your date."
“What? No…I…”
“I’m kidding, relax. As if Rowan would allow it, anyway.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think you know, plant girl,” he says, winking at me. My face flushes red at his suggestion. I quickly change the topic, looking at the notes in front of me.
“I actually needed to ask you something.”
“Shoot.”
“Why is it called Widowsbloom?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, where does it get the name from?”
“Huh…I’ve never really thought about it. I guess because it’s poisonous, so maybe from the fact that it can kill you?” I stop and stare at him.
“It can what?” I almost scream at him.
“Whoa, calm down. Only if you ingest it.” He nudges my shoulder and gives me a wink before turning his head to the slight movement on my workbench. “A Rustcap!” he says, moving closer to my little mushroom friend. “Wow, haven’t seen one of these guys in years,” he says.
“Thomas said they normally travel in groups, but I found him here alone.” I say, moving to pat him gently on his cap. He looks up at me, wobbling closer to my hand. “He’s become my companion in this glass prison of mine,” I say, turning to Kael with narrowed eyes.
“It’s not a prison, Elodie. Don’t think of it like that,” he says, but I don’t respond, only rolling my eyes slightly. He gives the little Rustcap a wave before turning to leave.
“Be ready by sundown,” he calls over his shoulder with a salute.
Ready?
What the hell do I even wear?
The castle feels quiet after a full day in the glasshouse. Thomas escorts me back, dutiful as ever. At the threshold to Rowan’s wing, he straightens, turning to me.
“Don’t forget my dance,” he says.
“I won’t,” I tell him. It feels like a harmless promise.
Giving him a small wave, I close the door behind me with a familiar, heavy click.
The shared room greets me first, as always.
The chessboard still set from the night before, and the book I’m reading sits on the armchair of the sofa.
Passing through the adjoining door into my room.
My room… did I actually just call it that?
The word doesn’t feel as foreign to me anymore.
I glance down at the bed and laid out perfectly across it, a dark green silk dress.
From the neckline, fine strands arc outward and upward like the veins of a leaf, tracing the collarbones and shoulders.
It’s structured around the bodice and pulled close at the waist. It’s beautiful, not something I would wear, but all the same, stunning.
I pick up the note to the side, the messy handwriting telling me who it is before I have to see the scribbled K at the bottom.
Wear this. Trust me.
I shake my head, deciding there is absolutely no way in hell I am walking out in something like that. My entire figure would be on show, let alone my cleavage. But then I panic, fearing they will expect me to wear this.
Does everyone dress up?
Will I look stupid turning up in my simple floral dress?
I let out a heavy sigh before deciding to try it on.
It can’t hurt just to see how it fits, right?
I slip into the dress, placing the fine strands across my shoulders and staring down at the silk fabric.
It has a slit that runs to the top of my thigh.
I glance at myself in the bathroom mirror, feeling a flutter of nerves but also something new.
I feel good.
Great, actually.
And I can’t help the thoughts that run rampant in my mind.
What will Rowan think?
I haven’t seen Rowan all day. The last we spoke was after we returned from our trip into the forest.
After I barely won the deal, we made with the sword.
He’s different around his knights, more guarded.
Stern and closed off. I suppose it’s normal and expected of the High Warden, but I can’t help but feel flutters at the fact that I have seen this other side to him.
I hear a knock on the door, and my heart pounds in my chest. Slowly opening it to reveal wide-eyed Kael.
“Damn, plant girl, you clean up good,” he remarks, giving me his trademark grin. I blush at his words, but it doesn’t make me want to change back into something more casual. Something I can blend into the background with. It makes me want to stand a little taller.
“Are you ready?” he asks me, offering me his arm as I link my hand into his elbow.
“Ready,” I say. “Where’s Rowan?” I ask.
“He’ll be there. He’s on his usual nighttime activities, whatever the hell it is he does.”
I linger on that for longer than I should.
I guess I just assumed Kael would know where he goes in the evening.
The walk to ‘The Mourning’ takes us through the upper halls of the castle, the parts that are seen.
Torches burn brighter here, orbs steady with their lights catching on polished stone.
Fresh banners hang from the arches as if someone is trying to make this place seem more alive than it is.
The doors to the hall stand open, revealing a room so vast it echoes.
Designers clearly built it for crowds that no longer gather.
It was once rich but is now left to starve.
The tables and chandeliers make it look impressive nonetheless but it’s like decay dressed in silk.
Conversations murmur at the edges of the room.
People speak in low voices and offer controlled smiles.
Despite their beautiful attire, everyone looks exhausted.
This isn’t a celebration. It’s a performance, a ritual meant to convince the people that Greyhollow is still whole.
But I’m not sure how many people believe it anymore.
I hear the faint giggles of women to my left.
I turn to glance at them as they look away. Kael gives me a quick nudge.
“Eat, drink, enjoy.” He glances at the women. “I’m here if you need me,” he winks at me before sauntering off toward the giggles.
Great.
“Well, if it isn’t my botanist free of her dirty overalls.” I turn to the voice on my right, coming face to face with the King himself. We haven’t spoken since our deal was bargained, the deal that’s kept me trapped in my glass prison. I decide to leave the niceties and cut to the chase.
“Why hold a banquet to honour a dying land?” My comment must catch him off guard as he stands immediately on the defensive.
“Have you forgotten who it is you are talking to, child?”
“The king of death and decay?” I don’t know where any of this is coming from, even more so my ability to say it, but I figure he needs me enough that I can safely say I’ll come to no harm.
The musicians falter for half a second before correcting themselves.
His smile doesn’t fade, but something in his eyes sharpens.
He smooths the material of his cloak, as if to brush dust from it.
“You have been here mere moments, and you think you can cast judgment on a realm you know nothing of?” His eyes narrow in disgust.
“You are lucky you have a skill I require. Or you would be dead with the rest of them,” he says, his voice dipping low.
“The rest of them?” I ask.
“Traitors. Idealists. Boys who think knowledge makes them cleverer than a crown.” My stomach tightens, and his name leaves my mouth before I realise I’ve said it.
“Masen?”
His eyes flicker.
“Do not speak that name to me.” His tone is almost wicked.
Almost.
Voices fall silent. He inhales, slow and measured, before his smile returns. Settling back into place like the crown atop his head.
“Now,” he says lightly, glancing towards the musicians and smiling at the crowds of people around us as if nothing has happened. “Shall we enjoy the evening?”
I give him a smile before bowing and walking away, my heart pounding in my chest. I spot Thomas seated at the table, looking bored and fed up. Remembering my promise to offer him a dance, I approach him. His face lights up when he spots me, a faint pink tinging his cheeks.
“Miss, you look beautiful.”
“Thank you, and seriously, you need to stop with the ‘miss’. My name is Elodie.” I say, more to remind myself, since I appear to be acting like a completely different person tonight.
“Would you like to dance?” he says to me, offering his hand with a bow.
“Of course…” I’m cut off by a dark shadow that appears on my left. My hand drops back to my side as we turn to Rowan, his face flickering with something I haven’t seen before.
“What do you think you are doing?” Rowan growls. The temperature in the space between us drops. Thomas stiffens, his hand still half extended toward me.
“I…High Warden. I just asked miss Elodie here for a dance."
Rowan doesn’t look at him. His eyes remain fixed on me.
“Miss Elodie will dance with me instead,” Rowan commands.
He’s not angry, just authoritative. I cast a sorry glance at Thomas before returning my attention to Rowan.
“You don’t get to do that,” I say, my pulse hammering. It seems my newfound confidence has abandoned me in my time of need.
His eyes darken “I just did.”
“That wasn’t your decision to make,” I say, lowering my voice so as not to draw a crowd. “I agreed to dance with him.” He holds my gaze, unresponsive, but a possessiveness behind his eyes I can’t quite understand.
I shake my head, turning to leave before he grabs my arm. In the next moment, I am pulled against him, my chest rising and falling against his as he takes my hand and follows the other couples in a slow dance.
“Kael said you don’t dance,” I say, my breath light.
“I don’t,” is all he says, and my heart stutters at his admission. His gaze wanders down my dress. I feel more exposed than ever before, aware of how my breasts press against his firm body, and how the fabric tightens at my waist.
“You are wearing my favourite colour, Hawthorne,” he says with a smirk.
Kael, you smug menace.
Rowan’s hand slips lower down my waist. I stare at the eyes that linger on us in the background. Whispers and mutters from the women nearby.
“Ignore them,” Rowan whispers in my ear.
“Everyone is looking,” I say, feeling on edge.
“Let them,” is all he says, I tilt my head up to meet his gaze. I don’t think he’s looked away from me once. His piercing gaze has me deciding to test him.
“You know I could use that free pass I won yesterday to ask another knight if he’d like to spend the evening with me.” His eyes darken, daring me.
“What a waste that would be, Hawthorne,” he responds, his face moving closer to mine. Heat pools between my thighs.
“Why is that, Warden?”
“Why choose a knight you don’t really want?” His gaze drops to my mouth. “When you can have the one who actually understands what you want?” My breathing halts as I try to find my words.
“You sound very confident in yourself."
“I am.”
“Are you sure it’s not just arrogance?” I tilt my head at him.
“I don’t need arrogance, Hawthorne. Your pulse tells me all I need to know.” His mouth curves in a wicked grin.
“And what is that?” I murmur, my voice a breath of air.
“That if I let my hand wander, I’d find you already ruined for me.”
“Rowan, I—” I’m cut off by the sudden crash of the doors swinging open.
Rowan pushes me behind him, his hand gripping my waist as he places the other hand on his sword. A young knight comes rushing to our side.
“High Warden. It’s…Kael.” He stutters, out of breath, panic wild in his eyes.
“What about him?” Rowan questions, his grip firm on my wrist, but I feel his body physically stiffen at the panic in the young knight’s voice.
“He’s gone. He left through the gate.”
I turn to the young knight, confused.
“But he can come back, right?” I ask.
It’s Rowan that responds, his voice changed to something I don’t recognise.
“There is no way back.”