“Don’t flatter yourself. This is as much a nuisance for me as it is for you.”Tassarion kissed his teeth. The sound was so clear, as if he were standing next to me.“I needed your bond. Not your thoughts. But make no mistake, Iwillhave my fun.”
“Delightful,”I quipped.
Lookin within, I found the shimmering veil at the center of the bond. I rushed for it within the chasm of my inner mind and yanked it down. Then I smiled. I’d effectively cut off the mental connection between Tassarion and my mind... for now.
“Roièssa, are you even listening?”
“I am! I got a bit distracted. Sorry.”
He nodded in sympathy.
“You’re right. I’m overwhelming you.”
“No, no. I... just need a break before we continue.”
“In that case, do you want to go to the garden?”
I grinned, immediately forgetting this little mental snafu with Tassarion.
“I absolutely would!”
I was lost in thought while the Gargorètti made his way to the garden. The gargoyle eventually burst through four sets of high-standing, raven-black doors with latched knocks. I tossed my head back and took in a long, satisfying breath. I’d missed the kiss of sunlight against my arms. Missed the warmth of dawn brushing my cheeks. It felt good to be outside again. I looked around, taking in my surroundings. I gaped at the garden, unequivocally in awe.
Many of the flowers towered as high as the manor itself. Endless bushes, the size of small Pegasi, filled innumerable columns. There were all kinds of fruit tucked within the folds of their leaves. And the colors!
Purple flowers. Gilded bushes. Ivory trees. Scarlet leaves. I marveled, unable to find any word to describe the emotion filling my chest. Tears trickled down my cheeks unbidden. What a privilege this was. I knew it and I refused to take it for granted. Edenael had its own beautiful gardens, but nothing quite like this. I felt as if I were in a small, enchanted forest. It was lush. Magical. Otherworldly.
“Wow,” I breathed.
“A marvel, isn’t it?”
Bones wasn’t so reverent. The cinderwolf burst into the garden and immediately took off running, shaking his bushy coat of ebony fur. Obsidian lowered me to the ground. I instantly kicked off my sandals. Soft dirt, through thin grass blades, brushed the bottoms of my feet.
Being in this garden felt so much like home. I reached down to press a hand into the ground when I saw them.
Tracks.
My blood turned to ice.
Bones came running back through the large bushes, plowing through the pretty flowers of the Everthorn garden. As my cinderwolf neared, my body began to spasm. In Bones’s mouth was the body of a dead bloodhound, his teeth buried into the broken neck of the demonized dog.
And in the slack jaw of the hound hung six ebony boneraven feathers.
Chapter 16
Nahomie
A hard knockon my bedchamber doors startled me. I choked on my fried plantain, coughing mid-bite. Nadege—Saundeiah’s youngling attendant who’d finally trusted me enough to give me her name—had just delivered my dinner. Bones had left off with Obsidian to stars knew where, and I didn’t get visitors. Wheezing, I turned to the door to see who had disturbed me.
“Good twinight, mi Roièssa.”
The plantain lodged in my throat. Tassarion watched me with a gaze so intense my skin burned. Something hungry, prowling, brushed against the veil in my mind. Then the shadow of a soul skittered down the golden thread that bound us metaphysically. The greedy sensation kept pressing against the veil between Tassarion and me, trying to break through.
I glared at Tassarion pointedly.
The Monster King glared back.
His eyes drank in my bare skin draped in silk and lace, and unbound braids sprawled over the bedcloud where I was cozily tucked in. Then the soul pressed against the veil of our bond again.
