Chapter Four
A week later, when I get home from stocking up on marigolds, I check the anonymous request box out of habit and am surprised to find another form there from the same customer who ordered the Feiyan.
This one, likewise penned in unusual calligraphy, names another flower I’ve never heard of, the Odyssa, alongside—again—only two other words: Collection.
ASAP. However, this time they haven’t included a helpful map—not even a hint—meaning I have nothing to go on and no way of delivering with the same speed as last time.
Hmm. I wonder why it’s so urgent. Have they already used the Feiyan for something?
It can’t have wilted already, not with that much power inside.
And if they know more about rare flowers than I do, why would they ask me to collect them instead of going themselves?
Whatever the reason, knowing the customer was willing to part with ten gold for the first flower shows they are serious about their requests.
After several days of rifling through my mum’s old textbooks and asking everyone who might know at the castle, I decide to look for information in Card’s second home—the castle library.
If there are hours in a day and no urgent wedding planning taking up his time, Cardamine can be found among the bookshelves and dust.
I heave a pile of books onto the table where Card is sitting, crunched over a large textbook with a forgotten ink-dipped quill in his left hand.
When I’d asked for his advice, he’d waved me in the general direction of the botanical books without raising his eyes from the page—not even when I’d clambered up a shelf, cracked it, and accidentally pulled an entire string of books onto my head.
Luckily, the librarian forgave me fast enough once she saw who I was with.
Card’s presence had come in useful then.
“Hey,” I say, slamming the books down. “I found a few.”
His eyes skim the page he’s on, full of characters that have no meaning to me.
“Hmm?”
This is one of those times I wish I could use sarcasm.
I said I’ve decided to blow the castle up.
I said I’m running away to live in the forest among the fairies.
Whatever I say, Card’s not paying attention to me.
He’ll snap out of it in a minute or two.
It’s futile to fight against his obliviousness when he’s caught up in a book.
I plonk myself down opposite him and open the first book, titled Wild and Weird: Flowers Beyond the Garden.
The green angelica flower embroidered on the cover represents inspiration and imagination.
Based on that alone, I expect the author of this particular book to embellish a few facts, but it’s still worth a flick through.
A few pages in, I come across a beautifully illustrated vine of clematis, each violet-inked flower detailing eight long petals, open like a giant star.
I’ve never actually seen one in real life before, but I’ve heard the name and know that if it’s paired with rosemary, it makes a good luck charm.
I’d love to have them for the front of the shop.
They’d look so pretty growing around the door.
“Check it out,” I say to Card, regardless of if he’s listening or not. “The clematis represents problem-solving and cleverness. That could come in handy. Shame it doesn’t grow in Alrick.”
Card shakes his head. “Sorry, I’m reading in ancient Berian. What did you say?”
“Why are you studying ancient Berian? I thought you only started learning Wyean the other week.”
“Wyean was so easy; I’ve pretty much got it down already. Besides, if any ambassadors from those outlying kingdoms come to the wedding, I want them to be able to gossip with someone.”
“That someone being you.”
“Exactly.” Card grins, his blue eyes sharp with success. He finally notices my tower of books. “Oh, nice. Have you found anything useful?”
“Nothing about the Odyssa,” I tell him, and turn the page. “I’m glad they included a map to find the Feiyan last time. This time…”
“Looks like you’ll be spending the day inside with me, then. Quality fun!”
“Can’t we take these outside to read? It’s such a clear day and the field by the lake is still full of daisies.”
Card snorts. “Oh yeah, sure. You ask Librarian Yun if you can take her hundred-year-old books into the sun and see how she reacts.”
She already has her eye on me after the shelf fiasco. I’m not sure she’d forgive me for desecrating these books any further.
“Fine.” But unlike Card, I can’t read anything for too long.
His focus far outmatches mine, and in the stuffy silence, I find my mind wandering.
I reluctantly wonder if Willoh Vane would know where to find the Odyssa.
He knew where the Feiyan was instantly, and he studied at the Library of Heris, whose collection far surpasses this one’s.
The thought makes me want to test the waters, to see if it’s safe to tell Card about what happened in the forest—something I’d initially decided against.
“Do you know anyone who studied at the Library of Heris?” I ask. Mentioning the Library is an infallible way to crack Card’s concentration. Although I haven’t heard much about his obsession with the place lately because of all the wedding planning.
“I wish!” He sighs. “Occasionally there’s a visiting professor or student to see the king and queen, but I’ve yet to corner one of them, despite my best efforts. Why do you ask?”
His eyes lift from his page long enough to have my face squirming to stay straight. I have to be so careful here.
“Someone like that might recognize the Odyssa. Do you think Bash knows anyone?”
Someone like the sorcerer he frequently argues with?
Card brushes the end of his quill against his chin in thought. “Hmm, maybe. I can ask him later on if you like?”
I decide to go for it.
“What about Willoh Vane?”
Card’s lips pinch together, like he’s seen me sprout wings and wants to clip them before they can grow too big.
“What the—Felicity Farrow, have you gone mad?”
Ah. Okay. Perhaps a retreat, then.
“Never mind. I just— Well, he has magic, so…” I pretend that a paragraph in the book has suddenly enticed me.
The scoff in his voice is clear. “Yeah, magic that he uses to put people in harm’s way on a regular basis.”
“Someone knows where this flower is, but no one I’ve asked so far has any idea.”
“Yes, but if you’re genuinely considering asking that pest for help, then I fear you’ve lost your mind. Bash hates him; you know this. He wouldn’t be happy about you inviting Willoh over for tea and a chat about flowers. Good gods, imagine.”
I let out a short laugh. Yeah. Imagine…I force away the memory of Willoh’s fingers skimming the palm of my hand before he swept us into the air.
Pest. Is that how I would describe him? Not really.
It is true that he’s caused Bash an immense number of headaches and can do so easily with a few scathing words and swift flashes of magic.
And yes, apparently he was the one who caused the tree in the north to die, which blighted the northern villages and threw them into tension with the citadel.
But does that make him so dangerous that even suggesting a conversation is too much?
I didn’t feel threatened when I spoke to him the other day.
“It was an idea,” I say, and shrug, like it wasn’t the only lead I had to find this flower.
“A crazy one. Wow…you must be really desperate for information to consider—” Card bursts into a laughter that echoes off the dusty stone walls. He wipes the corner of his eye. “My gods, sorry, that’s just— Wow. Amazing. Sure, let’s go ask Willoh Vane. Ha! You’re so funny sometimes.”
My fingers rest on a page about snapdragons, an exotic plant from a distant kingdom.
Their cylindrical petals are curled like a mouth being squeezed shut, and there’s a label next to the illustration that reads presumption.
Snapdragons are famous for sending messages about oversights and misread situations.
Is there something I’m missing here? Willoh Vane went from being Bash’s best friend to bickering with him and occasionally drawing blood, and everyone just assumes it was because he poisoned the tree.
But why would he have done that? What did he have to gain?
I’ve purposefully turned away whenever I’ve come across him in the past, simply to save myself from having to inform the queen, but now my lack of information has become a hurdle.
I can’t ask a sorcerer about a magical flower I need to find because said sorcerer likes to rile my best friend’s fiancé every once in a while. How annoying.
I’m taking my time thoroughly combing through my thoughts as I often do, when the scuff of metal against metal grinds through the library doorway. A sound that unfortunately only means one thing. The Guards of Alrick are here.
“Ava!” Card greets the captain over my shoulder. His face hardens. “Lark.”
No. My stomach plunges. Two sets of footsteps stop behind me. I clench my hands into fists and stare at the snapdragons in the book.
“Felicity. I’m glad we found you here,” Captain Ava says. “The queen requests your presence.”
“She’s busy,” Card says, with the authority of someone protected by Bastion’s status. I don’t have that same leeway. I collect myself as best I can and turn to face Ava with what I hope is a steady expression.
“Of course.”
Ava rests her hands on the leather belt of her armor and offers me a sympathetic smile.
She has closely cropped brown hair and dark skin, and despite her being only a little older than Card and me when she took over as captain, I told her truthfully that they couldn’t have chosen a better fit.
It has nothing to do with the crush I had on her when I was younger either.
She’s genuinely a good person. Unlike the guard at her side. Who I don’t look at.
The push of my chair scratches across the stone floor.
“Are you coming back?” Card asks.