“Oh, don’t mind me,” he announced with a broad smile. His white teeth were stark against his tanned face. “I’m just going to tend to the flowers.”
As he’d requested, Elyse paid him no mind. She was in a rhythm with her reading, and thesnip, snip, snipof the gardener’s shears as he pruned the tall yellow flowers served as a soothing cadence.
Before long, Elyse had skimmed through the entire book. She set it aside and let out a breath. Her eyes ached, both from crying and from staring at the pages for so long. She stood and stretched her legs and arms, reaching high toward the cloudless sky.
Killian glanced at her and offered a kind smile before he returned to his studying. Manny and Sera looked like they would expire from boredom at any minute. The gardener, who had moved on to pulling weeds, continued to work diligently.
Lost in a daze, Elyse watched as he yanked one weed after another from the moist soil. She watched his gloved hands as they pulled and tossed, pulled and tossed, again and again, moving his way down the line. Near the edge of the flowerbed, a lone bloom sprang from a crack in the patio. It was still young, only a bud that hadn’t quite opened yet. But it was a tenacious little thing that had somehow managed to nestle among the stone and thrive toward the sun.
The gardener’s hands reached for the singular flower, and Elyse snapped from her daze.
“Don’t,” she uttered, so quiet she didn’t think anyone would hear.
The gardener paused and turned toward her.
Elyse felt her cheeks warm. She’d spoken without really planning to, without really understanding why she said it. She cleared her throat. “I like it there,” she said.
The gardener studied the bloom for a moment before offering a smile. “It would be a shame to pluck it after it worked so hard to thrive among the stones, wouldn’t it?”
Elyse attempted a warm smile in response. “What sort of flower is it?” she asked. She’d always been terrible about knowing these things. If it wasn’t useful in a tincture, then it hadn’t been worth memorizing.
“Starflower,” the gardener offered. “Stubborn things—they can survive in all kinds of environments. Makes them easy to grow, but a nightmare to contain.”
“They’re the same flowers my mum has on her porch,” Killian pointed out.
Elyse’s eyes narrowed on the flowerbed, and she realized she had seen them before. Maybe she would ask Mrs. Southwick for some seeds—when all this was over.
“I’ll leave it for you, miss,” the gardener decided. “I don’t think Madam Dah would mind too much,” he added with a wink.
“Thank you,” Elyse answered, unsure why she felt so grateful.
The sound of a door opening caught her attention, and she shifted toward the house. She expected to see a servant, or even Sera’s parents. She did not expect Corin and Nina to be crossingthe threshold, their swollen eyes taking in the garden. Both women seemed subdued—likely the lingering effects of a strong sleeping potion.
They hadn’t come out of their room at all the day before, not that anyone really expected them to. If they still didn’t come out today, though, Elyse had planned to make sure they were at least eating. She was glad to see them up and about, exploring the house.
“What are you doing?” Corin asked, her voice soft and hoarse from disuse.
Manny, Sera, and Killian raised their heads toward the door, surprise on each of their faces. No one spoke for a moment, as if afraid of spooking the women, of speaking too loudly or moving too quickly.
It was Killian who said, “We’re looking for ways to incapacitate Lazarus.”
Corin took a step into the garden, as if drawn to the cause, pulled by an invisible thread spun from Killian’s words. Her delicate fingers remained entwined with Nina’s, who followed her tentatively.
“I want to help,” Corin said. Her voice was quiet but her face was set in determination. She moved to the table and peered down at the scattered books.
“Me, too,” Nina offered.
No one argued. Elyse considered telling them they didn’t have to help, that they could stay in bed as long as they liked and no one would think less of them. But, they were adults. They knew the extent of their own grief better than anyone else, and they could make their own choices.
“What have you got so far?” Nina asked as she settled into one of the chairs. Her eyes eagerly scanned the books.
“We don’t have shit,” Elyse sighed.
“We know how to kill Lazarus,” Manny chimed in. “We have the Blade of Hanael, which is capable of killing demons.”
“Well, that’s something,” Corin .
“It is, but…” Killian began gingerly. He lifted his face toward Corin. “Lazarus is very powerful. As it stands, we won’t even be able to get near him to use the Blade before he obliterates us,” he explained.
