I required answers to those questions and had to know what was between us, but I shouldn’t go. It was too risky to meet tonight when so many others were around.
We could talk in the Revenant Woods tomorrow or the next day. We still had to hand out some of the money we’d stolen from Ivan and formulate a plan to continue our plot against the king and nobles.
I was going to see him again; we could talk then, but excitement pulsed through me, my fingers itched to touch him, and my heart yearned for him. I should wait….
The large, ornate clock hanging over the open doors to the garden steadily ticked away the seconds and minutes as I slid into the shadows. I could hear it steadily ticking away to when I was supposed to meet Ryker.
I leaned against the wall and rubbed my temples as the musicians stopped playing. Lifting my head, I watched as Callan set his lute down and moved to the front of the dais.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” he declared loudly and concisely. “The Earl of Oakley has asked me to announce dinner is now being served. You can continue dancing as we will resume playing again soon.”
Some of the amsirah broke off to head for the buffet established on the veranda. As they walked, the music resumed, and many amsirah returned to the floor.
With everyone moving freely between the ballroom, veranda, and dining room, it would be a lot easier for me to slip away without being noticed. I studied the open doors to the garden as I chewed on my bottom lip and debated my choices.
It wouldn’t be my best decision if I met with Ryker, but I’d made many bad ones over the years. I should have learned from them and the consequences I’d faced because of them, but when it came to Ryker, I was incapable of making sound decisions.
I searched for my mother in the crowd. I was more worried about what would happen to her if I got caught with him.
She stood in line for the buffet, chatting with a woman I recognized from a neighboring farm. She was safe right now, and I had to ensure I didn’t get caught.
There was nothing wrong with walking in the garden; I’d seen more than a few amsirah slip out the doors over the night. I wouldn’t be the only one out there and would have to be careful not to be seen with Ryker, but I could do this.
I bit harder on my bottom lip as my eyes darted from the clock to the doors and back again.You won’t be gone long.
I glanced at Ivan on the dais with the earl and his sons. The duke was near the doors to the entrance, talking with a group who had gathered around him and his fiancée. If I was going to go, now was the time.
Without stopping to think it through more carefully, I pushed myself away from the wall and headed for the doors to the garden. I had to see Ryker. I had toknow.
I shouldn’t go, but I couldn’t stay.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Ellery
Snowflakes floatedaround me as I wandered the gardens. The haunting notes of the music drifted to me while I searched for the wall of roses and kept an eye out for anyone following me.
Switching from one path to another, I encountered some other amsirah along the way. Some of them were alone, but others were couples looking to sneak away for some time alone.
A towering wall encompassed the garden; more lightning rods decorated the top of it, and I spotted some in the bushes and near the trees. I didn’t know if the earl always had this many lightning rods in his garden or if he’d installed them as a precaution against Ryker as they would diminish his ability to draw forth lightning… and mine.
The lazily falling snow melted against my skin and on the blue stones beneath my feet.
Torches, placed every ten feet, lit the pathways crisscrossing the beautiful trees and bushes. Some of them were flowering, and their petals caught the snow.
I passed what had to be the wall of roses Ryker was talking about but kept going to ensure I was alone. With every step I took, my mind screamed at me to go back, but I was already being incredibly foolish by being here; I had to make sure I was at least safe about it.
After what was probably only another ten minutes, but felt like an hour, I headed back to the roses. I hadn’t encountered anyone else in a while and was certain I was alone.
Stopping before the roses that climbed over trellises fifty feet in the air, I marveled at the different-colored blooms. There were reds, yellows, oranges, peaches, blacks, greens, and multicolored flowers.
The colors created a beautiful rainbow wave over the trellises and the rock wall in their center. They flowed over the wall and onto more trellises on the other side before cascading to the ground.
Crystals of snow had collected on some of the petals. Their beads shimmered in the fire from the torch only five feet away.
Entranced by the beauty, I ran my fingers over the delicate petals and brushed away some moisture as I marveled at the flowers and moved deeper beneath the trellis. I ducked to avoid some of the branches and thorns that created an archway between the wall and a trellis.
The torchlight didn’t penetrate beneath the thick wall of roses as I moved deeper into the alcove. I stayed close to the wall to avoid the more ruthless side of the beauty surrounding me, but a thorn caught in my hair, and I had to tug it free.
