I let Alastor lead me away from the stall, but when I glanced back over my shoulder, she was still watching me intently.
All this over a plant?I looked down at the deathless rose cradled in my hands. A beautiful plant, yes, but even if itwassome sort of magical charm…
Tentatively, I lifted it up toward my ear, inclining my head toward it the way she’d done. And I listened.
I heard the music from the performers on the corner. The laughter of the people around us in the street. The shouts of vendors on all sides. But I heard not a peep from the plant.
“What are you doing?” Alastor asked.
Face heating, I lowered the deathless rose. ”Is it really possible for plants to speak in this world?”
His eyebrows knitted together. “Isthatwhat she was going on about? What did she tell you?”
“Just that…well, it might tell me something important. If I learn how to listen.” My face got even hotter as I added, quickly, “But judging by your expression, that was probably a bunch of bullshit.” I’m glad he didn’t hear the bit about it being some sort of love charm—I never would have lived that down.
“People will make all sorts of assertions when they want you to buy something.” He stated it simply, with no judgment, but that didn’t keep me from feeling incredibly gullible for entertaining the woman’s claims, even for a second.
“That’s not why I wanted it,” I assured him. “I thought it was beautiful. And I…I love plants like this. Back home we call them succulents. I have a whole collection lined up on my windowsill.” I felt a pang of homesickness as I said it, and I didn’t let myself think about what the state of those succulents might be when—if—I ever returned.
We paused on a street corner to let a small procession of musicians march past, and Alastor looked at me over the rim of his mug as he took another sip.
For reasons I couldn’t quite explain, his attention made me nervous.
“Thank you,” I said.
He lowered his mug, one eyebrow rising. “For what?”
“For buying it for me.” I shifted the little pot in my hands, letting the deathless rose’s fleshy leaves catch the light of the lanterns above us. I was still in awe of that pale shimmer. “Whydidyou buy it for me?” He didn’t strike me as the sort of man who recognized the pleasure to be found in a little thing like aplant,nor as the type to spontaneously purchase gifts for people—let alone people whom he barely tolerated.
He seemed surprised by my question—and judging by the long pause that followed, perhaps evenhedidn’t know the answer. He took another long sip of his drink before he finally responded.
“You wanted it,” he said matter-of-factly. “And I wanted you to have it.”
As if it were as simple, aspure, as that.
Something stirred inside me, something strange and confusing and—
“It’s the least I could do,” Alastor added. “Given that you brought us home.”
Ah—obligation.Thatmade more sense. He was simply trying to repay the debt he felt he owed me.
That stirring inside me loosened, easing back into something comfortable and expected.Something I understood.
We both fell quiet after that. As Alastor led me through the crowd, I held my new plant baby close to my chest, occasionally glancing down just to admire it again—and to remember the seller’s words. Despite Alastor’s claims, I couldn’t completely quiet the part of me thatwondered. Wondered if maybe, with some practice and some carefully wielded essence, I might be able to hearsomething.If maybe the woman’s words had carried a nugget of truth.
It sees great heartache in your future, but also great love.That declaration terrified me as much—if not more—than any of the woman’s claims that the fate of Therador was connected in any way to my ability to hear a plant talk.
But before I could unpack any of that, Alastor stopped in front of me—so suddenly that I nearly ran into him.
We were in front of a railed platform that was built right into the side of the Hill. There was a line of people leading up the platform’s steps, and Alastor guided us into their ranks.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“Watch,” he replied.
I did—and a moment later, the platformrose.
I hadn’t even noticed the ropes until the platform started moving, but now I tilted my head back, following them all the way up—to one of the huge branches of the tree that stretched out above us. The platform was essentially anelevator.Up into the giant oak-like tree on top of the Hill.
