Chapter 30 #2
“You all should be fine now,” I said, smiling reassuringly. Then I looked at Tadeus, who’d finally dropped the blanket to reveal his wrinkled tunic and pants. “I’d appreciate your help as well. Then, maybe we can find somewhere else for you to go. Do you have any ideas?”
He shook his head. “The last I heard, Karganoth has taken over the only places I could stay outside of Therress. I still can’t believe they attacked us out of nowhere.”
Darrow might not trust Tadeus, but my cousin was a good person with the best of intentions.
I didn’t want any harm to come to him. I hesitated before telling him what my husband suggested, but I supposed explaining it now would give him time to decide while we worked.
He listened as I explained all the details.
“It’s a bit extreme, I know, but you would be safe there,” I said, giving him a sympathetic look. “I would never let them hurt you.”
He ran a hand through his still-mussed hair. “What about the Andalagar? Do you think they’d let me stay there for a while?”
“That’s doubtful.” I shook my head. “They don’t seem very open to guests staying long, and they don’t know you at all.”
His shoulders sagged in defeat, making me feel worse for him.
“I’ll think about it,” he said, then moved to help the others.
I began giving everyone orders. Darrow had brought along a few of Darynia’s most experienced gardeners, so I’d have some people who knew what they were doing.
I set them to work with the plants that needed a gentle touch, but wouldn’t cause harm without provocation.
Everyone else either worked on the harmless, non-sentient plants or on those that wouldn’t cause any permanent damage if someone upset them.
Rynn helped guide the handling of them since she’d been in here helping me enough to understand the quirks of my garden.
We managed to bring four wagons by borrowing them from other fae.
I started on the tractvines, carefully encouraging them, one at a time, to emerge from the ground.
Once only the roots remained, I loosened and extracted them.
They’d gotten a lot thicker from their recent meal, but they coiled so well that I could still get two into each wagon side by side.
“Now, you two rest and don’t fight,” I said after pairing the first batch together. “I’ve got a wonderful new space for all of you that you’ll love, but if any of you misbehave on this trip and try to eat anyone, I can always dump you in Darynia’s lake for the creatures to chomp on. Understand?”
Each of their single blooms nodded.
“Good. You deserve the best after what you did for me, so please cooperate. I miss all of you and can’t wait to show you the new place.” I patted each one, and they happily hummed under my touch.
Then, I glanced at the archway, seeing no one out there aside from a servant passing by the entrance.
I’d sent a sebeska to Sariyah last night, letting her know I’d be here this morning.
It was last-minute notice, so she probably couldn’t get up here, but I’d hoped she might manage it.
I missed and worried about her. It would have been nice to see for myself that she was fine.
Over the next couple of hours, everyone worked hard getting as many of the plants as possible.
Jax got a case of the itches from the Tullipworms because he couldn’t help sharing his sour mood with them, but he’d recover in a few days.
At least he managed to get them all potted before he took a break to scratch his arms incessantly.
I began working on the crunchertrap. It snapped at me, the flower’s teeth grazing my skin to leave light scratches. The poor thing was lonely and letting me know all about it. This plant breed was very social with its own kind. They didn’t like being alone, and I had no doubt it mourned its friend.
“I know,” I said, rubbing its petals gently. “As soon as I can, I’ll see about getting another companion for you, okay?”
It sagged a little but nodded.
“Aella, Aella…you are a strange one,” a familiar voice said, walking up to the garden archway. “I’d wondered when you would come back here. It certainly took you long enough, but I’m guessing you’ve been rather busy lately, haven’t you?”
I clenched my fists. Ulmar’s malicious voice brought back graphic memories of the unending torture he could inflict on my body with his powers. My head throbbed as it braced itself for the intense, lightning-sharp pain he had wielded against me so many times.
The muscles in my back twitched from the recalled agony of sharp whip cracks against my skin until I lost consciousness from pain and blood loss.
As I straightened and tried to turn, my bones ached from the beatings Ulmar ordered the guards to do, breaking my limbs as I screamed and begged for mercy.
My breath came in short gasps from remembering the times he grew bored and used other creative methods to make me wish for death.
He was a monster disguised as a tall, lean, clean-cut elf who might have inspired trustworthiness if not for the cruel glint in his remaining blue eye.
I was damned glad one of my plants destroyed the other one.
Pushing down those terrible memories, I swore to myself that Ulmar wouldn’t figure out how he affected me. He would not get to see how broken he’d made me inside. If I could hide the worst damage from the rest of the world, I could hide it from him, too.
I drew a deep breath, found my center, and turned to face my evil cousin. “Are you allying with Karganoth?”
“Don’t act like you're innocent when you married a half-dark elf yourself.” His gaze ran past me to the others. “I see you brought your husband with you, and you’ve got my little brother helping. It’s impressive how many fools you manage to find.”
“Did you really threaten to kill Tadeus?” I asked, glaring at him. Maybe it was better that Sariyah hadn’t managed to visit here, since my deranged cousin would probably try to hurt her as well to get to me.
Ulmar shrugged. “My brother is softhearted and useless. Always has been, though father refused to kill him as I suggested countless times.”
“Then why didn’t you do it as soon as you became the lord?” The way he’d always treated Tadeus, I probably should have gotten my cousin out of here sooner.
“Mother begged me to spare him,” he said, expression annoyed. “I have some fondness for her, so I agreed as long as he behaved himself. Instead, he interfered in business that wasn’t his.”
How could anyone be so evil, even to his own family? I glared at him. “You’re working with Zadrya’s greatest enemy, and you think Tadeus misbehaved? Really?”
“You should have taken father’s offer while you still had the chance.” Ulmar stepped closer to the archway, inciting my crunchertrap to snap its teeth. “You’ll never get the fountain, and this world will die, taking you with it.”
Darrow stepped up beside me. “I should kill you now, you coward. The ink on our new treaty was barely dry before you not only betrayed Veronna but all of Zadrya.”
My husband’s gray eyes were full of rage. I was surprised he didn’t smash my cousin’s body with his powers right then, but he must have had his reasons.
“You were a fool to think I would really cooperate with you,” Ulmar said arrogantly.
Darrow allowed a slow smile to form, sending a chill down my spine. “Oh, I knew you’d break it sooner or later, but I wanted to see how involved you were with Karganoth.”
A group of dark elves appeared down the walkway, heading in our direction.
Shock hit me at the woman in the lead. She looked like someone I had seen before in one of Darrow’s memories—Bogdan’s sister.
Evrenn’s face and body were maturer now, and her eyes were colder than any I’d ever seen before, but I was almost positive it was her.
She had her long, dark hair down, framing her face and chest, and wore a tight black tunic and matching pants.
Is that your cousin? I asked Darrow telepathically.
Yes.
Ulmar turned to look at her and smiled, holding out a hand. Once she reached him, she took it and faced us. It was hard to believe she was the same terrified girl from that memory. The God of Wrath said she had changed, but seeing it was another matter.
“This is my wife, Evrenn,” Ulmar said proudly. “We’ve allied, so you can consider Therress as part of Karganoth now.”
My jaw dropped. He’d come out and said it aloud without any hesitation. The gall! “Have you lost your mind?”
Darrow’s hand jerked outward toward my cousin, using his powers to lift him into the air. “You’ll die for this.”
“Don’t even think about it,” Evrenn said, reaching out her own hand.
“You know I can break the wards on this courtyard in under two minutes. If you harm my husband, we will get inside there and kill all of you before your little wife can open a portal. There are a lot more of us than there are of you, and my soldiers are all level eight and nine,” she said, voice like sharp glass.
He hesitated, studying the twenty dark elves behind her.
The look in my husband’s eyes told me that he’d calculated the odds of us escaping alive and found them unfavorable.
Reluctantly, he dropped Ulmar to the ground.
My cousin’s knees buckled so that he landed on his butt, but he quickly stood with a glare.
“Why didn’t you break the ward already?” Darrow asked.
She gave him a wry look. “For one, it was too amusing seeing Tadeus in there half-starved while trying not to upset all your wife’s killer plants. For two, we knew if you arrived and found the wards down, you wouldn’t have stayed long enough for us to get here.”
“You assume Aella can open another portal that quickly,” Darrow said, voice flat.
Evrenn glanced at me. “From what we’ve heard, it was best not to take any chances.”
I crossed my arms, wishing I could kill this woman and my cousin. It would be doing us all a favor. “If you can break the wards now, why don’t you?”