Lux hurried back to him, and while she didn’t need to clear any moss, she did need to shift the gnarled fingers of the vine. It was loath to let go, but once several of them broke, the remainder retracted. She lifted the vine above the statue’s base.
GRANVILLE GRIMROOK
The House of Grimrook
Lux dropped the plant and backed away. She stared down the path. Because the sun had shifted, and her eyes knew what to search for, she found more pale outlines dotting the way.
Graves.
She did not stand in any garden.
She stood in the cemetery of Riselda’s family.
And Corvin hadn’t told her.
Chapter twenty
Attheendofthe path rose a wooden door, arched the same as the one leading to the sea at the other side. Perched atop it was a crow.
“In all the—you do know this isn’t the forest, Crow? There are hardly any trees out here, and there are cliffs.” The crow cocked its dark head to better view her and listened. “So you think yourself as good as a seabird on this wind? That’s bold.”
She waited for the creature to caw its outrage at the comparison or, at the very least, to hop from one part of the fence to the other. But it did neither, and its direct stare began to unnerve her.
“This is a graveyard. You’re disturbing the dead.” The animal gnashed its beak. “You’ll leave them alone. The statues, I mean. They’re not for perching on. Orworse.”
She wondered why she bothered scolding the creature. It would clearly do what it wanted, and especially did not need to listen toher.But she’d felt a fierce protectiveness build whilemaking her way through the so-named garden. She did not know these people; really, she shouldn’t have cared. Yet, as she cleared vines and moss and dirt away from a number of statues, she’d found, in fact, she very much did.
Lux scoffed at the bird, strode up to the door, and yanked.
The door did not budge.
She released the ring before gripping it a second time. This try she pulled harder, thinking it must be stuck—swollen from the salt. Still, it didn’t give.
It’s locked? Why?The same door existed at the other side. Why couldn’t she also go through this one?
The crow cawed. Lux ignored it. It flew down, stirring her hair, only to return and land gracefully on the iron fence once more. It cawed again.
Her first instinct was to call the animal a bothersome beast and frighten it into flight. Except her second reminded her of the blood debt she owed a bird she could no longer pay. “Are you trying to help?” she asked. “The brambles are too thick over there. Did you see those flowers? They’re made ofteeth.”
The crow didn’t speak further, merely tilting its head again. It eyed her wary approach.
“What did you find?” she asked it.
She peered beneath the animal’s perch, and realized she’d been wrong. The brambles had left a natural gap between their branches and the fence here. Though she’d been explicitly told not to, Lux stepped off the path. She crept carefully along the bars until she stood under the bird, and it was there she discovered it—the metal bent slightly off center. Not without tucking her long skirt, she couldn’t fit, but maybe—
A deep thud came from outside her line of sight. It startled her; she dropped to a crouch at once. Leaning, she peered through the brambles, back to where she’d come from. She knewthat sound; she wished she didn’t. It was the thick noise of a blow to the gut. And it was much too close.
“If I hear anotherwhisperof your grumblings… If I hear the nameAlessoeven leave your pruned mouth, I’ll sew your lips shut myself. Turn them into a ribboned hem for your ugly face, what do you think ofthat?”
A volley of hoarse muttering proceeded to bombard her after that harsh visual, and Lux patted down her bodice before groaning inwardly.You forgot the knife, you idiot!
“…no,absolutelynot.They’re not for you to command until you’ve proven yourself. We have all bided our time and so will you. Have I made myself clear? Or do you need a second lesson to be sure?”
More hoarse muttering. A grunt of approval. Lux heard shifting and then nothing.
Good. They must have continued back down the walk.
She straightened.Alesso?What about the name of a dead man had them so bothered? Lux glanced behind her to the opening in the bars. Her hands shifted over her skirt. If she gathered them just right, she could slip through and see what lay on the opposite side. Even if Corvin missed her absence for a few minutes.
