Page 49 of The Unseen Hour

CHAPTER 23

“Breakfast,” Orion announced the following morning, tossing something at my head. I fumbled to catch it. Sometimes, like when I rode Pellix, I could pretend I was graceful. This was not one of those times.

I’d never excelled at any garden games that required hand-eye coordination. The last time I’d attempted shuttlecock the blasted thing had smacked me in the forehead, leaving an ugly red welt. Ambrose and Mother had relented after that, content to let me watch everyone else.

Playing the piano and horseback riding were the only times when I was able to demonstrate any real grace with my movements.

I took a tentative bite out of a round and purple fruit—and then a much larger one, when I realized it was both sweet and tart.

“Delicious,” I admitted.

Orion smiled.

With the adrenaline from the first few days wearing off, I was less focused on sheer survival and growing constantly more aware of how comfortable it felt spending my time around Orion.

How natural.

A man whose poetic brother had captured my attention with stories of his adventures; something Orion had already shown me plenty of in person. Maybe the three brothers had been similar.

“Here, try this one.”

A second fruit was lobbed at my face. I barely managed to shield myself with a blanket. The fruit smacked the thick threads and rolled down to my lap. I lowered my hands to find a pear— my personal favorite fruit. I bit into it eagerly, the juice sticky on my chin.

“Do the other Shades have to eat?” I questioned between bites. At least I was mannered enough to not ask with my mouth full. Mother would be so proud.

“No, they don’t. Another exception reserved for you and me. I have found, though, that I need far less than I ate in Emrys. The garden here has plenty of fruits and vegetables,” he informed me.

“Garden?” My ears perked up.

“Yes. I didn’t get around to showing you yesterday, since our animal encounter took more time than anticipated. It’s just around back.”

As soon as we'd finished our breakfast of fruit, he led me around the trees that held up the small home, and I saw the cleared patches of dirt between the trees behind us. Just like his house, it was hard to spot unless you went under the branches looking for it.

“And there’s food year round?” I questioned. “Even without sun?”

I’d already decided that the more I knew about this place, the more likely we would be to succeed. But I also wanted to know because I liked listening to Orion tell me about the Ether.

It was a bit like living in an adventure story, if not for my knowledge that the entire place was little more than an enormous prison.

“The soil here is very fertile. It does rain, but you’re right about the lack of sun. Either way, I’ve never had a problem.”

My own gardener would be envious from his toes to his teeth if he knew. Our estate boasted a convenient proximity to town that in no way detracted from the sprawling views, but the openness had made it difficult to protect certain plants from the weather. Scopshaven had a greenhouse, but I knew our gardener, Thestle, would have sacrificed a lot for this kind of natural environment.

“Does Charon eat?”

“Not that I’ve seen. Why?”

“Then why would he have fruits?”

“The same reason he has animals and plants, I suppose. He has fields of flowers and a forest of trees, as you’ve already seen. He is not Death, and he enjoys living things. With there being all sorts of creatures in the Ether as well, it stands to reason they’d need something to eat.”

“And it’s all safe to eat?”

Orion frowned.

“Much of it. What I told you about observing the animals helped me a lot, but I’ve made a mistake a time or two. It turns out half-Shades can still make themselves quite ill with the wrong supper, but overall I’ve been lucky.”

I was torn between insisting we leave for the Meadow and my innate curiosity. My stomach growled, making the decision for me as I plucked another pear.