Beside me, Rose stiffens and steps away. “Oh, okay. Sorry. I just thought …”
Bile rises in my throat. She should not be apologizing to me.None of this would have happened if I hadn’t told Sol everything. None of it would have happened if I’d just kept my promises to him in the first place. Then he’d never be able to accuse her of being a bad influence on me.
There’s a long, awkward silence, in which I keep my head turned away from her and Rose doesn’t leave. Finally, when the tension grows too thick, Rose cuts through it with a simple question.
“Iris, are you okay?’
“Fine.”
“No, don’t do that.” She puts a hand on my shoulder and urges me to turn around. “Talk to me.”
I keep my eyes on the ground, only to have Rose tuck a finger beneath my chin and tilt my face up to meet her gaze. She’s beautiful, as always. Even in the near-dark of the closed shed, she looks like that lost princess. Her large eyes search mine, and I have to fight the urge to look away again, afraid that she can see the truth of my thoughts through that intense stare.
“Talk to me,” she says again, voice quieter this time.
And I want to. I want to so badly. But talking to Rose before is part of what put us in this situation.
I gulp down air as my lungs ache, the water flowing in again. “Rose,” I rasp. “Listen, I—”
Theshed door swings open, and two figures stand silhouetted by the afternoon light.
“There you are, Rose,” Lily says. “Come on. We need you in the garden.”
Rose sighs, her hand falling away from my chin. “Yeah. Okay.” She turns and begins to follow Lily out. She looks back at me over her shoulder, mouthing, “We’ll talk later,” before slipping out of the shed.
And leaving me alone with the other, more angular figure in the doorway.
Violet.
She stares at me, arms folded over her chest, body still and rigid. I feel my own spine straighten in return. Violet says nothing. Only glares for a moment before raising a hand to gesture for me to follow her.
I trudge forward, because not following her will only be worse.
Violet leads me out of the shed, but instead of going toward the cabin, she begins walking deeper into the hollow. I glance over toward the garden, where I can see Rose, Lily, and Zinnia pulling weeds, before turning back to Violet.
“Where are we going?”
“Wereyou gonna tell her?”
I stop, startled by the question. Violet takes a few more steps before turning to look at me, icy eyes somehow colder than I’ve seen them before.
“Tell her?” I ask.
“About your trial.”
“You know what my trial is?”
“I know it’s got something to do with her,” Violet says. “I’ve been warning Sol for weeks about what a threat she is and how oblivious you are. It was only a matter of time before he’d make you deal with it.”
I have no idea what to say to that. I just gape at her. After a moment, Violet turns back around and keeps walking into the trees.
“Come on.”
I start moving again, but I’m shaking. Has Sol asked her to bring me somewhere? Have I already failed somehow? I’m supposed to have two and a half more days.
“Where are we going?” I ask again.
“Lily says you were asking about Marigold,” she says. “Asking where she’s at. So I figured I’d show you.”
