“Things aren’t always as they seem, girly. It’s best to have a mind for yourself instead of believin’ everythin’ ya hear.” Breesha’s smile is kind, and my shoulders slump with relief at the comfort.
She pours us each a cup of tea, and beckons for me to sit at a small table at the edge of the kitchens with her.
“Tell me child, do you know what the word Rhiza means?” she asks, tapping her spoon on her cup and reminding me so much of Phillipa.
I search my brain for the answer, but I don’t recall. I shake my head.
The weathered fae gives me a soft smile, and it strikes me that perhaps she knows quite a lot that I do not.
“It means roots. We may be in hiding, but we are still Lukasian to the core. We are the ones who will bring nutrients and life back when the time comes.”
I consider her words.
“Can you tell me what happened? Do you know where the curse originated?” I ask.
She taps one spindly finger to her mouth.
“Have you ever heard of the demon-goddess, Invidia?” she asks me, and the question doesn’t make any sense.
“No?”
Breesha purses her lips, and I wonder what secrets she has.
“I’ve shared too much. Do you feel up for a bit of a walk?” She changes the subject so fast my head spins. I don’t even finish my tea before she snatches up both cups to clean them.
“I don’t know … ”
She throws a small towel over her shoulder. “You are going to come with me.”
There’s no room to argue, and I sort of hope maybe she’ll share something more useful than some demon creature that I’ve never heard of before.
It feels impossible to reconcile the heathens who hang bodies in the streets and paint warnings with their blood to the civilized, and even—mostly—kind, fae I’m encountering here.
But as we walk, I find that’s exactly what I’m doing.
Children chase each other through the tunnels, their squeals and laughter echo off the cavernous stone. Lovers walk hand in hand. They’re all living their lives and seem so much happier doing it than anyone I’ve witnessed above ground.
Breesha gives me a proper tour of the underground city. She shows me how to get from my room to the kitchens. Directs meto the common areas, and then she takes me to the caves where there are fae tending crops.
It must be mostly root vegetables and fungi, not much else would grow down here. There might be some legumes, but I can’t see the full length of the field. It seems to go on forever.
“This way, girl,” Breesha says, guiding me to a path off to the side that leads upward.
“What’s up here?” I ask over my shoulder.
“You’ll see,” is all she says in return.
We climb higher, and with every step, my hopes rise, too. We have to be nearing the surface. An odd sort of smell hits me when we reach what I estimate to be the halfway point. The air changes, and it’s surprisingly damp in some spots on the stone.
“This is a vital part of our survival,” Breesha says just before we reach the top of the path. “You’ll want to cover your eyes at first.”
“Why—” But I don’t need an answer. My arms instinctively shoot to shield my eyes from the bright light of the upper cave.
“We use this space to grow some of the things we can’t cultivate underground,” Breesha explains as we allow our eyes to adjust. It aches, and I press the heels of my palms under my brow to ease the pain.
Here, like in the sanctioned greenhouses in Lukasia, tomato and squash plants grow in abundance. There are some smaller areas with different herbs, and one patch of leafy greens.
The opening of the cave is on the other side from where we entered, and I try not to look too eager to reach it. If I can just get some grasp of where I am—
