“If we had gone after Alise right away,” Jadren said, shaking a finger in the air and quickening his step, out of enthusiasm for his topic, though, Selly thought, rather than because he’d noticed the house’s reactions, “or—better yet—if I’d thought fast enough in the moment to tear that fucking Elal monster cell from cell, I’d have—”
“Created a bloody mess at Bria’s naming ceremony,” Selly interrupted, “and effectively declared open war against House Elal andtheirallies.”
Jadren only paused a moment.“Not if Alise became Lady Elal,” he countered, a bit sulkily.“Shewouldn’t declare war.She likes me.”
“You call her Baby Elal.”
“Which she likes,” he countered and Selly had to suppress a smile.
“What about their brother Nander, who might indeed be the heir, as nobody seems to know?”
“By all accounts he’s a mewling numbskull.”
“That doesn’t mean he’s not dangerous.Maybe even more so because idiots with power think only of themselves and not how their actions affect the people they’re meant to rule,” Selly said.“Plus, Elal’s allies are formidable, as we’ve already covered.”
“Yes, but at least it would be open war and not this increasingly cold détente where we’re all just standing around with our thumbs up our asses, waiting for something to happen and why is this hallway so cursed long all of a sudden?”
“The house has been extending it while you ranted,” Selly answered.
“I never rant.”
“Oh honey, you rant with the best of them and that was an excellent one.”She laid her head on his shoulder.“Truly one of your best rants.”
“I should never have taught you sarcasm.”
She restrained a laugh.“Jadren, my point is that this is all water under the bridge.You can’t rewrite the past.The moving finger writes and, having writ, moves on.”
“IknowI didn’t teach you to pile on annoying metaphors, crazy girl.”
“If you want to talk about what steps you want to take now,” she told him, very reasonably, she thought, “then I am on board.That’s totally my wheelhouse, some might say—”
“I’m begging you to stop.”
Now she did laugh.“Rant successfully derailed,” she couldn’t help announcing, but then she quickly added, “Look, we’re here.”
“Whereverhereis.”
“Where the house wanted us to be.”
“Yes, yes,” he grumbled ungraciously, then threw up his hands to the sky.“Very pretty courtyard, thanks.Duly admired.Can I go on with my life now?”
For the destination had turned out to be a courtyard, indeed, and one open to the sky, though with very high stone walls.A statue stood in the center, no greenery around it, of a woman.She stood with head bowed and face turned to one side, the exquisitely rendered carving of her hair obscuring all but a hint of her profile.A stone cloak flowed in ripples around her, the unused hood draping down her back, her long-fingered hand on the head of a slim hound sitting by her side, muzzle lifted to the caress.They both seemed remarkably lifelike for all that they were made of polished gray stone.
Bricks of the same color paved the floor of the courtyard, patterns of intersecting straight lines out to the four walls, forming a precise square.Along each wall, trees had been ruthlessly espaliered.Peach trees, it turned out, as Selly drifted closer to one, seeing the restrained branches bore heavy fruit.Because the limbs had been trained into patterns and fastened to the stone walls, they didn’t bend with the weight of the fruit, as would be the case in the orchards at House Phel.To Selly’s mind, the trees seemed to keen with pain at the rigid structures they’d been forced into, bearing the fruit almost against their will.It made the hairs on the back of her neck prickle.The whole place was eerie for no good reason.She had no idea why the house had wanted them to see it.
She turned back to Jadren, to get his insights, and found him standing with arms straight by his sides, face pale behind his auburn beard, so his few freckles stood out in stark relief.Sweat beaded on his forehead and he swallowed hard and repeatedly, as if mastering the urge to vomit.
“Jadren?”she asked, hesitantly approaching him.He looked as if he’d shatter if she touched him.His wild black gaze went to hers, clenched jaw flexing, but he didn’t otherwise move, as if he, too, had been espaliered into place.“Are you all right?”
Which was a dumb question, because he was obviously very muchnotall right, but she wasn’t sure what else to say or do.She most of all wanted to get him out of there, but she wasn’t at all sure if she could move him or if the house would let them leave.Hard on that thought, she realized what she’d already observed: four walls, making a perfect square.No exit.They were stuck here until the house let them go—and that would only happen once they confronted or learned whatever the house was shoving down their throats.
Probably just Jadren’s throat.And he hadn’t answered her.
“Can you speak?”she asked gently.
He nodded, jerkily, but didn’t say anything.The sweat glistening on his skin made him look as if he, too, was carved of white marble, with his red hair and beard splashes of lurid color like blood on snow.The hands at his sides had curled into fists, also whiter than the marble statue.
“Do you know what this place is?”
