“Well, I will tell no one,” Petra promised. “And I will think of ways in which you can visit.”
“Thank you, Petra.”
“Oh, one day, I will come to you with a request, and remind you of the favor I just granted.” She grinned.
The scolding Nina received from Cassian last evening wasn’t so terrible. Perhaps he finally realized that she was no longer a child and could do as she wished so long as whatever she wished was confined to the grove.
With a sigh, she settled onto her favorite reading spot within the temple where the sun warmed her skin. But the book did not hold her attention. Nothing that she owned told her of what was happening in the world now. Fictional stories were made up and the factual and historical books were at least twenty years old, and mostly older. What was happening outside of the grove? What were people doing at Nightshade Manor, in Bocka Morrow, London, or anywhere in the world?
Was King George even the king any longer?
There were times that she had asked Cassian what had become of France. He had only told her that the Terror had finally ended and that was all that mattered because the chateau that had been in their family for generations was no longer his. She’d asked what England was like and what he did when away from Nightshade Manor, but Cassian told her little. He said it wasn’t necessary that she know because she would either be sad that she missed the world outside or worry about the state of affairs in other places. He wished her sheltered without a care. In time, Nina stopped asking. She now regretted that she had done so and asked for more recent histories. Just because she was isolated didn’t mean that she didn’t wish to know of the world, and what was occurring now.
“Nina,” someone called, and she turned to note a young woman walking toward her.
Nina stood. “Petra?” she asked.
The woman brightened and smiled. “You remembered.”
“It has not been so long since we were introduced,” Nina laughed. “Why are you here?”
The smile fell from Petra’s lips. “Would you rather not have a visitor?”
“No, that is not it at all. I rarely have visitors.”
“That is a shame,” Petra answered, then settled onto the steps of the temple. “Unless you would rather not have visitors. If so, I will leave.”
“Please do not leave,” Nina blurted out and sat beside her. Was she so hungry for a conversation or even a friend that she’d resort to begging?
She mustn’t let that occur because then Petra would feel sorry for her and that was the last thing that Nina wanted. However, she was grateful for the visitor.
“I am very glad.” Petra’s bright smile returned. “For I would like to come to know you and perhaps we might even be friends.”
“Friends?”
“Unless you do not wish for friends, but it is better than having an enemy.”
Nina couldn’t help but laugh. “I would rather have a friend. Thank you.”
“Now, tell me all about yourself, Nina. I am certain my mother left out pertinent details.”
Nina wasn’t certain what to say so she offered an abridged version of what she had told Orion a day earlier.
“Have you tried to leave the grove?” Petra asked.
“I am too afraid.”
Petra leaned back, her lips pursed in thought. “I wonder if there is a spell or potion that could break the tie you have to the tree but not kill you in the process.”
“I am certain that if there was such, your mother or one of your aunts would have used it.” Nina was only assuming such, but what if they hadn’t? What if they had simply accepted that her life was tied to the tree and had never considered finding a way to break it?
“Just to be certain, I will ask because if they have not, then I will put my mind to it.”
“Why? You do not even know me.”
“I want to. I also assume that your brother would prefer that you were not held here either.”
If she was free, then Cassian would be as well. He was here by choice, but Nina also knew that Cassian would not venture far so long as she was tied to the grove, as if he were paying a penance for the decisions that he had made as a little boy.
