“She’ll be all right even if they weren’t.”
“I think she’s sensitive, even if she hides it,” Terlu said. It musthave been hard to be blamed for decisions you didn’t remember making—or never made. Laiken could have lied to Lotti as well. She might not have known what he’d intended to do when he entered the greenhouse with the sleep spell. Or maybe she had known, but she hadn’t thought to question the man who had created her. She’d trusted him. And now to be the target of so much vitriol while the little rose was still mourning the loss of her father figure…Poor Lotti.
“I think she’s tougher than she looks,” Yarrow said. “Like you.”
Terlu barked a laugh. “I’m the least tough person I know. I was so unable to handle being a little bit lonely that I broke imperial law.”
He shrugged as he pried the muffins out of the tin and arranged them on a plate. He wrapped a few in cloth napkins, embroidered with vines. “People were cruel to you, and it didn’t make you bitter. What else would you call that?”
“Naïve? Needy? Pathetic?”
“Strong,” he insisted.
Yet again, Terlu felt speechless in front of him.
Yarrow handed her a wrapped muffin and her red coat. “I’m heading into the greenhouse. Do you want to come?”
“Ah… Yes. Sure. Of course.”
Wow, he was beingfriendly. And kind.
Outside, fresh snow blanketed the forest, covering their footprints from last night. The sky was a soft dove gray, and a lone bluebird sat on a branch and sang.
“Why don’t the birds leave for the winter?” Terlu asked. “Why not go someplace warmer?” Her island always had an influx of birds every winter. She loved when they arrived, filling the skies and covering the roofs.
He shrugged.
“You feed them.”
“I like to bake; they like to eat.”
“You take care of every plant and every bird, every living thing on this island,” Terlu said. “Who takes care of you?”
Another shrug.Him and his shrugs,she thought. She never knewshoulders could talk so much. “I don’t need taking care of,” Yarrow said. “In case you didn’t notice, I’m grown.”
“That has nothing to do with it.” As they reached the door to the greenhouse, Emeral flew from the treetops into Terlu’s arms. He nestled against her, instantly purring.
“Who did you have looking after you?” Yarrow challenged.
“No one,” Terlu said.
He held the door open, and she and Emeral went inside.
“But if I had,” she added, “maybe I wouldn’t have ended up as a statue.”
They walked through the greenhouses, with Yarrow pausing to check on various plants. He pulled a few weeds from a flower bed, pinched dead blossoms from a petunia, and examined the leaves of a bush that was covered in white berries.
After he stopped to fuss with a perfectly healthy-looking clump of daisies, Terlu asked, “Shouldn’t we check on Lotti and the others?”
“Yes, we will.”
He straightened, and they continued to the next room, where he paused to re-pot a plant, shifting it from a smaller clay pot into a larger one, where it had space to expand. Its leaves flopped over the sides of the pot. As he watered it, he seemed to feel that Terlu was watching him, and he glanced up at her.
Gently, she asked, “Are you delaying?”
“No.”
She waited.
