After all, if being the gifted can’t save me from the unravelling of life, then being stuck inside my own head surely won’t.
As we continue through the Goddess’s Garden, I spot the hemlock plant that I stole leaves from before another plant grabs my attention.
Slowing slightly, I look at a deep purple bud, trying to recall its use.
Cravenwort, my magic whispers to me.The berries are toxic, but the leaves can be steeped in milk to make a tonic to cure inflammation. And with a little magic, it can calm a blistering infection in minutes.
Did I know that before? I’m not quite sure, but I don’t believe so. It’s clear that this magic – my mother’s magic – holds far more power than I ever realised.
No wonder she adored these gardens. To her it must have been a veritable catalogue of rare plants and herbs and their myriad uses.
‘Just through here,’ Dinah says as she opens a gate into a small courtyard. The space offers a degree of privacy, with no one else around, but the fence is relatively low, only about seven feet, and made of thin wood. Someone could easily stand behind the feeble fence and overhear our whole conversation.
‘It’s warded.’ Dinah effortlessly reads my dubious expression. ‘You don’t need to concern yourself, Rose. No one will be able to hear what we say.’
‘What about see?’ I ask. I have heard of those who can read lips.
She shakes her head. ‘The courtyard always appears empty,’ she explains. ‘That is part of the ward. For all we know, there may be plenty of other people here at the same time as us, also discussing private things.’
I reach out and swing my arm around me, twirling in place to see if anyone is within arm’s reach. Thankfully, no one is close enough for me to make contact with, and my nerves settle a little further.
‘Come,’ Dinah says with an indulgent smile at my antics. ‘Sit with me, Rose.’
A smooth bench appears where I swear there wasn’t one before. I hesitate only a moment before taking a seat beside her, enjoying the impossible warmth of the stone.
Dinah watches me with a cautious look I recognise all too well – the kind reserved for situations that must be handled carefully, delicately. Does she know what I am going to ask of her? If so, then she must have some knowledge to impart, and that gives me hope that Imay walk away from this encounter a little wiser than when I first entered it.
I study the older woman, her face still clear of lines, making her appear ageless. She raised my mother, yet her appearance remains almost as youthful as my own. Her eyes are open and ready, but the warm smile has been tempered.
She is the Goddess’s servant first and foremost, and my faux grandmother second. It is a truth always worth reminding myself of.
‘Something troubles you,’ she says as an opening gambit. ‘I can feel it – your worry, your concern. What is it, my child? You may speak freely here.’
I draw in a long breath, and despite all her assurances of privacy, I still cannot help but drop my voice low. ‘It’s about my powers.’
‘The ones the Holy Goddess restored?’
‘Those,’ I admit, ‘and others. Powers that returned to me before the gifting. Powers that I discovered during the Retterheld, given to me during one of the trials. Powers I should not have, but which are still here.’
She stills. She is not startled by this admission – she’s never startled – but sheisalert in a way that tightens the air around us.She knows.
‘Which trial?’ she asks, and I suspect she is giving herself time to think.
‘The third, on Follen Lake.’
Dinah exhales slowly. ‘Where the Issen spirits roam.’
I instinctively lower my voice further still. This secret could see me dead. Kay and William, too.
But I have known that since I killed Oke. The only way to keep us safe is to control it.
‘Yes. My new powers … one of them is ice, Dinah.’
Chapter 10
I’ve done it. I’ve shared the secret that could kill me. A secret that no one knows beyond those from whom I couldn’t keep it hidden.
Now I just have to pray that I made the right decision.
