Chapter 8
LILIA
The afternoon sun washed over the gardens. What could I find out here that would help with a protective ward? I grew plants for food, for healing—not for magic that I was unfamiliar with.
I’d said goodbye to Mom and Henri an hour ago.
He was a bit stronger after the elixir, with more color in his cheeks, and they’d ventured on to the village to find a healer.
The vast castle felt emptier without my family, every footstep echoing too loudly, the stone walls emphasizing their absence.
To distract myself, I focused on my new goal—strengthening the wards.
A small voice inside me questioned if that was even possible, but I stifled it. Look how the herbs had helped Henri.
I wrapped my cloak tighter around myself and ventured outside the castle. I kneeled beside one bed and pressed my fingers into the soil, letting my awareness stretch outward the way it always had when I worked.
“I don’t know what you need,” I whispered. “But I’m willing to listen. And help.”
The land remained silent.
A presence prickled along my spine, curling at the back of my neck, and I hunched my shoulders. I straightened slowly and looked up. High above, the gargoyle statue perched on the castle’s highest tower stood silhouetted against the sun-drenched sky.
Could it be—Hadrien?
I swallowed. Was he watching me?
My skin tickled with awareness, but it wasn’t unsettling. The weight of the stone stare did something—odd. I couldn’t explain it. But I straightened and smoothed my hair.
“Hadrien?” I whispered, feeling ridiculous, not that he would have even heard my barely audible voice.
The statue didn’t move or respond. Of course it didn’t. It was stone.
Still, I couldn’t shake the sense that I was being watched.
I shook my head at my foolishness and turned to venture in search of the wards. I hurried past the stone statues on the castle grounds, the unsettling stone locked in petrified pain.
Focus. I headed back toward the forest I’d traveled yesterday. As I did, I held my hand up, trying to sense for vibrations, an energy.
The lush gardens surrounding Valgarde gave way to dense foliage and uneven stone, where the land wasn’t maintained. Still, I kept my hand spread, my senses attuned for…
Nothing. I lowered my hand, grimacing in frustration.
As I turned back, I kept my head down, watching before my feet for any branches or rocks that could trip me up. I crouched and studied the ground, threaded with moss and fern around trees.
A bitter laugh slipped out of me. “You don’t know what you’re doing,” I muttered.
Right. I needed someone who did. If I wanted answers, I needed to ask someone who knew this land.
That left very few options.
I found Victor in the courtyard, cleaning rust off a set of garden tools.
“Victor,” I said as I approached.
He straightened and looked at me with an odd expression, as if surprised I was still here.
I shook it off. “Do you know anything about the wards?”
He shrugged. “I know they exist.”
“Do you know how to strengthen them?”
“No idea,” he said, shaking his head. “I grow food. I patch walls. I keep things from falling apart. That’s the extent of what I do here.”
My heart sank. “With these plants,” I began. “So many rare and magical types here. They must be able to help us do something.”
He considered that with a furrowed brow before saying, “I don’t know anything about magic.” He turned back to his project. “If there’s anyone who does,” he said, “it’s Hadrien.”
My lips turned down. I stole a glance at the highest point of the castle, but I could no longer see the gargoyle statue from this angle.
The last thing I wanted to do was approach that imposing gargoyle, let alone ask him a question. I exhaled with a low whoosh.
If I wanted to strengthen the ward to protect this land, I couldn’t do it alone.
Resigned, I asked, “Where is he?” somewhat afraid to hear the answer.
“He’s unavailable right now,” Victor replied.
“When will he be available?” I asked, jutting my chin up to brace myself.
Victor fixed an earnest blue gaze on me, as if pressing me to understand. “After sundown.”
“After sundown,” I echoed.
The words settled deep inside my chest. I would have to seek help from the terrifying gargoyle who’d imprisoned me.