“The Waterstones are nothing to worry about.” Tasia scowled. “They come, they posture, they leave. Orin always handles them.”
“The Starglens, too,” Amalyss mused. She pointed to some indistinct spot on the horizon, as if I somehow possessed the kind of magic necessary to see what she was indicating. “They’re our closest neighbors. Orin teaches their son, Briar, alongside Flix.”
“And you two?” I asked.
Tasia shrugged her shoulders. “We attend sometimes, depending on the subject matter. We’ve been at it longer than Flix and Briar.”
“What sort of things do you learn about?” While I knew I was here to study and eradicate blight, I couldn’t deny the flicker of curiosity that flared to life in me. Evers had been around for centuries, even predating our town. I could only imagine the wealth of knowledge they possessed. And how unnerving it must’ve been for them to not understand how to cure a sickness that had the strength to take down immortals.
“Lots of stuff.” Amalyss tipped her head thoughtfully. “Ever history, the different variants of magic, our ancient tongue—all stuff that’s far beyond your comprehension.”
“Typical,” I muttered. “Where is Rorik?”
“Where he always is,” Tasia drawled.
“What does he intend to do with me?”
“You ask a lot of questions.” Amalyss ran a hand through her locks. “But I suppose we can’t expect you to have the same deductive reasoning as the rest of us.”
Anger flickered to life in my core, and I met her stare head-on, only to find they were both watching me with vicious curls to their lips. Waiting. Goading. A bigger person probably would’ve held their tongue. I had no such inclination.
“I wonder, is that haughty superiority an Ever trait? Or is it because you have sticks shoved up your asses and I can’t see them through all that ridiculous glamour?”
They both stumbled, and their mouths fell open for a breath. Then their gazes sharpened as some of their glamour fell away to reveal the iridescent feathers shimmering along their cheekbones.
Tasia smiled, but her words were sharp. “Threadmenders can’t heal themselves, right?”
A warning bell crashed in my ears, but I kept my gaze locked on the horizon. “Is that a threat?”
“That’s for you to decide.” Amalyss chuckled darkly before falling silent, leaving me with nothing other than their hungry gazes and my swirling thoughts. Their glamour returned to normal as we moved out of the gardens and onto the sprawling, manicured lawns. Wildflowers pushed through the soft dirt to add vibrant pops of orange, magenta, and indigo to the sea of verdant green. A lazy breeze ruffled the grounds. Beautiful, and yet quiet, save for the muted, inconsistent chirps of insects. We were heading for the tree line, and a single dirt path marked by moss-covered stones caught my attention. It wound into the depths of the forest before disappearing entirely in shadow.
Run.I could flee, but that would break my vow with Orin.And I’d never run without my brothers, which meant I’d somehow have to sneak two floating caskets out of Fernglove unseen.
And then there was the obvious issue of the caskets themselves.
Work with me.Orin’s words rattled through my brain, and a heavy weight pulled at my wrists, my feet. Invisible chains tethered me to the Ever lord of this estate. What, exactly, did he have to do to maintain the magic keeping my brothers alive? Did they have to remain nearby? If I took them, would their life-saving tombs simply disappear?
No, I couldn’t run. I would stick with the plan. I would learn. And if—when—I found a way to cure blight, then I would hide the results and save my power for Noam and Nohr. Mavis had lived long enough.
A faint smile tugged at my lips. No one would use me or my magic for their own gain.
For now, I would use them.
“We’re here,” Amalyss said as she and her sister came to a halt. She pointed toward a single tree that stood slightly apart from the rest, and I stilled. Its trunk was knobby and uneven, its bark a riotous whorl of whites and browns and blacks, and it was far larger than any surrounding tree. But what pulled my focus most was the hundreds of delicate bone-white flowers blooming from the highest twigs.
“I’ve never seen a tree like that before,” I murmured, gaze transfixed on the strange mix of colors streaking through the bark. I was still a short distance away, not close enough to inspect the bizarre bumps and awkward angles of the twisted trunk, but I could see Rorik standing beneath it, staring up at the flowers with his back to us.
Tasia and Amalyss were quiet. Somber, even. They closed their eyes for a moment as if offering up a silent prayer, but when theylooked at me again all traces of sadness were wiped clean from their expressions. Dark curiosity flickered in their identical gazes, and Tasia reached forward to drag her fingers over my cheek. My chest tightened as a chill crept down my neck.
“I hope he doesn’t rough you up too bad.”
Amalyss giggled. “But if he does, all the more reason for us to doll you up.”
I scoffed. “Don’t you have better things to do?”
“Not in the slightest.” Tasia’s grin deepened.
Amalyss peeked over her sister’s shoulder, then locked eyes on me. “Come play with us when you’re done.” There was a heat to her words I couldn’t place, and a fresh, floral aroma that came and went with the breeze. I cut a glance at the wildflowers nearby, lazily dancing in the wind.
