“You’re right. I came for answers. About you. I already told you that I wanted to learn everything I could about you.”
Dread climbed Graden’s spine in tingles. “Have you found your answers?”
“I know why you came here. I know that she gave you something to cure your father. There is still only one question I have. Why did you kill my brother?”
Graden stared at her for a long moment. It wouldn’t matter what he told her, she would always see him as a monster. “She doesn’t have that answer.”
“Apparently only two people have that answer. And one of them was killed.” She grabbed the reins of her mare.
“Did you make a deal with her?”
Ella hesitated. “If I did, it’s no concern of yours.”
She was right. It should be no concern of his. Yet, there was something about this little whirlwind of a woman. Something that made him want to shield her and protect her. He feared he was too late. “What did she demand as payment?”
She turned, her gaze slowly moving over him.
He silently prayed she had not made a deal with the witch. He would not wish this unending search on anyone. He had given his word to the witch to find the flower, an oath of honor. He was certain that if Ella had made a deal with the witch, she would keep her vow and search for the rose, as he had done. For as long as it took.
She shook her head. “Again, it’s of no concern to you.” She pulled herself up onto the horse.
Graden stood for a moment, unmoving. “I’ve heard tell that all she demands as payment is one thing. One thing that is more important to her than anything else.”
Ella glanced down at him.
“A blue rose.”
Ella dismounted in the inner ward of Castle Rames, leaving Graden alone. She felt his eyes on her as she walked up the three stairs into the keep. The sky above was still dark and there was little movement in the inner ward. Most of the castle slept. She was not tired and headed for the gardens. Working in the gardens relaxed her. She could clear her mind there. There was always work to be done, pruning and planting. Time to think.
A blue rose. The payment the woman had demanded of her. How had Graden known? Had the woman demanded the same payment from him all those years ago? The word, the image of a single blue rose, echoed in her mind the entire ride home.
As she entered the gardens, she saw a tiny tush wiggling about beneath one of her rose bushes. She watched him, confused. Thomas was ducking his head and searching beneath the bush. “Have you lost your cat again, Thomas?”
Thomas emerged from beneath the rose bush, startled. He brushed at his dirty tunic. “No, milady.” He had a scratch on his cheek, probably from the thorns of the rose bush.
“I’m glad Sir Dumount helped you find your cat.” And that was the truth. The memory of Graden handing the cat to Thomas came to her mind again. Strangely, tenderness stirred in her.
“Aye,” Thomas agreed and turned away to look beneath another rose bush. “I was lucky he spotted her in the tree.”
Lucky. Ella scowled as Thomas fidgeted beneath the rose bush. “What are you doing under there? There are many thorns. You –”
“I’m helping Lord Dumount,” Thomas exclaimed.
Ella’s scowl deepened. “Helping him with what?”
Thomas poked his head from beneath the rose bush. “He found my cat, so I am helping him find his rose.”
“His rose?” she repeated, prickles dancing along the nape of her neck. “Why would his rose be in my garden?”
“It’s a special rose,” Thomas said. “A blue rose. He said he lost it and if I could help him find it –”
A blue rose! Graden had gotten the cure for his father from the witch and in return he searched for a blue rose for her! Was that why he killed Edwin? For information about the blue rose?
