“I need you to begin the process of rebuilding the gardens,” Eris said. “Contact the other keepers if you can—”
“I can’t contact the other keepers,” Lira said. “They are scattered. They left so that they couldn’t be contacted. Most fear the magi, but some simply grieve for what was lost. What you ask cannot be done.”
Eris nodded slowly. “Then I will send a message.” She didn’t know if it would work, but she thought with enough energy, she could push something through the roots. A request for help. If other keepers still listened, hopefully they would come. Eris hoped others were not also listening.
“Even trained, what you suggest would be difficult. And you have had little training.”
No real training other than what she learned on her own, but there was something she thought she could do. She focused on the svanth tree growing next to her, the wide branches now giving shade, the teary star flowers blooming along the vine, their sweet scent mixing with the bite left over from the magi taint. To send the message meant dipping into the deep power drawn from not only the tree, but from the Svanth itself. It meant tapping into the Source, though Eris wasn’t sure she should.
She sighed. Since the taint had been contained, she’d hesitated reaching into the power of the Svanth. She feared spreading whatever darkness the priestesses intended. But to do what she needed, she had to take that risk.
Drawing through the connection to the tree, she pushed forward, into the roots of the faded garden to press through a message. She had tried something similar once when she wanted to send word to Terran. Imryll suggested she had pushed so much energy into the communication that anyone could hear. Now, all Eris wanted was for Lira to hear. If it worked, she would draw on the energy of the Svanth Forest to send the message she intended.
Lira remained silent at first, but her eyes slowly widened. She heard the message.
“How is it you know to do that?” she asked, looking up at Eris.
“You recognized what I sent?”
“How could I not? You sent an image of the gardens. Not as I remember them, but close enough.”
Eris had never seen the gardens as they were when Lira had known them, but the forest held the memories of the keepers who had. They had stored images of the forest, leaving them like little more than dreams, but vivid enough Eris could see them. In her mind, she saw rows of blue listhanis mixed with pale yellow corinths. Thistlebuds grew alongside camogines. Calyips draped along the sides. Purple dyrans with long, slender petals mixed within, adding to the color and the pattern created by the garden. There were others, dozens and dozens similar but also different, each with a dominant flower, the one the keeper had bonded to, and each with a pattern created for the keeper’s purpose. The gardens flowed over the hills, spreading wide across what was now nothing more than grass and weeds, drawing energy from the sun and the deep stores beneath the earth. This was the image she held in her mind. This was the image she sent to Lira.
“Would you have known what I meant were you to receive the message without sitting alongside me?” Eris asked.
“I don’t know.” She frowned and looked over what had once been the gardens. “I think I would have been curious.”
That would have to be enough. But if keepers came, she wanted there to be something for them to find. That meant Lira needed to work her garden. If she did not, then any keeper who answered the call would find nothing but the remains of Elaysia and the trees Eris would plant. That wouldn’t be enough of a draw.
“Please, Lira. You need to start your garden here. I will lend you the energy of the trees to begin the process. Create whatever pattern you choose, but there needs to be something here.”
Lira fixed her with an uncertain expression. “Why? What will it accomplish if the Gardens of Elaysia are regrown?”
“So much has been lost to the magi already.” Eris swallowed back a lump in her throat as she thought about what she had lost. Her brother. The quiet peace of her home. Nearly the kingdom itself. But it was more than the magi, more than the Conclave. Whatever Ferisa was involved in mattered as well. She thought of Shadow’s fear of the Darkbinders, the cold darkness he had shown her. She couldn’t do what needed to be done alone, not this time. “I can’t be the only one,” she whispered. “I can’t face the Darkbinders on my own.”
Lira stood. She wiped her hands on her dress and looked toward the gardens. Her mouth fixed in a tight line. Only her eyes didn’t match her stern expression. They were soft and wide and carried within them a hint of hope.
“What do you intend?” she asked.
Eris debated whether to answer honestly. Doing so might only worry Lira or lead her to try and stop her, but she needed information in order to know what else she could do. Getting the information she needed was the dangerous part.
“I intend to go to Saffra. I intend to learn what the Conclave intended. I intend to understand the sect of the priestesses.” She sighed. “I intend to find these Darkbinders who frighten my guardian.”
Lira nodded, as if unsurprised. “Such a journey is dangerous for a keeper. It is why I was not able to go with Jasi when she married the Saffra prince.”
“I understand the dangers.”
“Then why go?”
“They are tied to this,” Eris said. “The Conclave and the priestesses.”
Lira frowned. “You might be right. Can your guardian protect you there?”
“I don’t know.”
Lira studied what had once been the gardens, her eyes surveying everything before her. “You have changed much in the time I’ve known you, Eris Taeresin. You were always strong-willed and independent. That was how I knew you would make a skilled keeper. That has served you well to this point.”
Eris laughed. “You don’t think it will serve me if I go to Saffra?”
Lira inhaled deeply and looked over at Eris. “Saffra is unlike any place you have experienced. There is a reason I tried convincing your father the arrangement should not be made. Your mother understood.”
“He would think only of the politics.”
Lira’s mouth tightened. “He was influenced by Adrick. Had I managed to remove that connection sooner, perhaps we could have slowed the magi before now.”
“What do you know of Saffra?”
Lira shook her head. “I know there is a place of learning within the Conclave, a school for the magi. What you seek might be found there. But I know nothing of the priestesses. They were hidden from me.”
It was more than Eris knew. It would have to be enough.
Chapter 76
The stop in Eliara was only to have been brief. If they were to reach Saffra, they needed supplies: food, water, clothing that would blend in. The palace was mostly empty. Thankfully, Eris hadn’t even seen any handmaidens walking the halls. Had she been stopped, it would have only opened her to questions. She wanted nothing more than to get moving.
Shadow waited outside the city. He claimed he could hide, that he could somehow blend into the city, but Eris didn’t dare risk it. There was no reason to do so. They would come to no harm. Unless the priestesses had returned, or worse—the Darkbinders Shadow feared.
She stepped into the hall outside her room and looked at the door. She had nothing she needed here. Other than books she still hadn’t the time to read, nothing in this room was hers any longer.
She turned away from her door and hurried down the hall. Terran had made her promise she would meet him in the gardens within an hour. That was all the time he gave her to gather what she needed. He would find the food and canteens for water.
Eris rounded a corner and nearly collided with Desia.
Her sister frowned at her. “You’ve finally returned?”
Eris let out a tight breath. “Only briefly.”
“Again, there is something more important than your family.” Her blue eyes blazed with annoyance.
Eris shook her head. “Not more important than my family. What I do helps protect my fam
ily. If I don’t do this—”
Desia pushed past her. “Save it. I understand. You’re an all-important flower mage. The rest of us are nothing to you anymore.”
“Desia…”
She shook her head, hiking up her long, violet dress. Eris grabbed her arm and caught her sleeve. Desia jerked it away, tearing it.
She opened her mouth as if to argue, but clamped it shut.
Eris watched as she started away. If she said nothing, she would lose her sister. “Desia. Wait.”
Her sister slowed but didn’t turn.
“I could use your help.”
Desia turned. “Help with what?”
Eris took a deep breath. She actually did need help but hadn’t expected Desia to be the one to provide it. “Where I need to go, I don’t quite know the style of dress. Maybe you could help?”
Desia frowned. “Where are you going that you need to hide yourself?”
Eris suppressed a relieved smile. Desia was smart and jumped immediately to the problem. Did she dare tell her the truth? If she did—and if Desia told their parents—what would her father do, knowing Eris had gone into Saffra? He understood she was a keeper, if not what that actually meant. But crossing the border into Saffra was something else altogether. She couldn’t have him sending soldiers after her. But if she didn’t share with Desia, there was the chance she wouldn’t help. And then Desia might be lost to her. Eris wasn’t ready to give up on her.
“Saffra,” she said. “I need to go to Saffra.”
Desia’s eyes widened slightly, and she pursed her lips. “Why?”
Eris shook her head. She wouldn’t burden Desia with the reason. “I can’t tell you. Just know that there is something there I need to do.”
“Even after everything that happened? Even after losing Jacen to them?”
“That’s why I need to go.”
Desia tipped her head and crossed her arms over her chest as she considered. Then she nodded. “Come. I might have something that will work.”
Desia turned and strode down the hall, leaving Eris watching after her, barely able to hide her surprise.
At Desia’s room, she found her sister sorting through a wardrobe twice the size of what Eris possessed. She flipped between dresses, pulling out one after another.
Eris laughed, and Desia looked up at her with a sharp glare.
“I won’t have need for formal clothing,” she told Desia.
Desia frowned and turned back to the wardrobe.
Eris glanced at the walls. At some point, Desia had claimed a series of paintings made to look like the sea. In the middle tapestry, it crashed upon the shore, sending waves and spray across the sand. Eris stared at it, surprised to see a painting like that in her sister’s room. Other artwork adorned the walls. A few ornately painted vases, a tiny sculpture probably meant to be the Sacred Mother, an iron key with a decorative neck. Eris stepped away from the last, moving before realizing what she did.
“Here,” Desia said and turned to Eris.
Eris looked at the thin, white fabric Desia held in front of her. She stretched it open and demonstrated wrapping it around her. “This comes from Baylan, but the styles are similar, so it should pass. You wear it around your waist and chest, twisting it like this.” Desia showed her how it was meant to tuck into itself around her chest. “More skin than I prefer, but that’s the custom.”
Eris took it from Desia and considered the fabric. It felt soft and silky, nothing like the dense cotton of her cloak or the heavy dresses she’d worn when she’d lived in the palace. Wearing this would feel like she was nude.
A flush came over her as she thought of wearing it around Terran, but she pushed it away. Terran had seen much more of her than that would reveal.
“Does your gardener have something?” Desia asked.
“What do the men wear?”
Desia shrugged. “Prince Petra always wore light colors. Your gardener should do the same.”
“His name is Terran.”
Desia nodded curtly. “Well. Anyway. Terran should do the same.”
Eris nodded. “Thank you.”
Her sister shrugged. “We’re sisters. Of course I would help.”
Eris hesitated and then pulled her sister into a tight hug. After everything they had been through, Desia was right. They were sisters.
“I don’t know if I can save her,” Eris said softly.
Desia blinked. For a moment, she seemed like tears might form, but she blinked them back. Her mouth formed a hard line and she nodded. “I know you will do what you can. That’s why you’re going, isn’t it?”
“It’s part of the reason. I don’t know how far she might be gone. I don’t know if I can bring her back.”
“You brought Mother back,” Desia reminded.
“And I couldn’t bring back Jacen.”
Desia nodded. “You tried. That’s why Mother and Father trust you. They know you did everything you could to help him.”
Eris swallowed. Would it ever get easier thinking of her brother? Would she ever stop seeing his broken face, glazed eyes staring up at her? Would she ever be able to remember him as the happy brother who had loved teasing her, the only one of her siblings who really seemed to care about her?
“I…I miss him.”
Desia nodded. “I miss him, too. Mother and Father, they don’t remember him the same way I do. Father sees him as his lost heir, the king who will never be. Mother sees her little boy. But I remember Jacen as he was. The way he would go for long rides in the countryside. How he would take his hounds and hunt. The charming way he had with the handmaidens.”
She laughed. It was the first time Eris had heard Desia laugh in a long time.
“I remember the pranks he loved to play. He hid here one time,” Desia said, pointing to her wardrobe. “He jumped out at me wearing one of my dresses. Seeing him all trussed up as he was I couldn’t even be mad at him.”
Eris laughed at the image. Hearing her sister describe it made it easy for her to remember her brother like that. “He locked me in the pantry once,” she said. “Told me to eat my way out. When I started crying, he pulled the door open and sat next to me and said he’d help.” She smiled at the memory. She never really feared Jacen would leave her locked in the pantry. That wasn’t his way.
She took a deep breath and smiled at her sister. “Thank you.”
Desia tilted her head and frowned. “For what?”
Eris shook her head. “For this. For everything. I needed to remember.”
“You haven’t forgotten him.”
“I haven’t forgotten him, but I wasn’t remembering him the way you did. All I remembered was the man who greeted me at the palace when I returned from the forest. The darkness in his eyes, the cold anger that twisted his heart. I couldn’t let go of the eagerness to fight I saw in him then. All I could see was the peace he found when he finally died, peace that he wouldn’t have to fight anymore.” She sighed. “But that wasn’t Jacen either. My Jacen is the one you described, the one he was before all this happened.”
Desia nodded. “Mine too.”
Eris sniffed. That darkness had twisted her brother, taking him from her, just as a different darkness had twisted her sister Ferisa and threatened to take her from them. She might not be able to do anything about Jacen anymore, but she would do all she could to save Ferisa from the Darkbinders.
“You’re wrong,” Eris said to Desia.
Her sister frowned. “You have to ruin this?”
“You told me there wasn’t anything for you. That Jasi would become heir while you simply waited for Father to make a match, but you’re more than that. Without you, I wouldn’t be able to see Jacen as he was. You will do the same for Jasi with her fear of Saffra, I know you will. And Father? I imagine you already know what he needs to hear. Mother will be fine in time, but you can help her see Jacen the way that you see him, help her find the memories that will soothe her. I couldn’t do that, Desia. That’s not my gift. T
hat’s yours. You’re the one who wants to hold this family together, the one who will ensure that, no matter what happens, it will go on.” She hugged her sister again. “You’re stronger than me in that way.”
Desia tensed for a moment and then hugged her back, letting Eris draw her against her. They held each other for a while, neither saying anything. Eris couldn’t remember the last time she’d hugged her sister. Years. Too many years. But she was glad she hadn’t left without doing so.
“Come back to us?” Desia said. “Bring her back to us.”
Eris swallowed again. The terror she felt at the thought of the darkness, the vision Shadow had given her, faded somewhat when she considered facing it for Ferisa. There had been reluctance with what she had done, Eris was certain of it. Now she had to somehow help Ferisa see that what she had done could be undone. She had to bring her sister home.
“I will do what I can.”
Desia nodded and gave her another squeeze before letting her go. “That will be enough. That’s always been enough.”
Chapter 77
The border with Saffra had changed since Eris last stood along it. Now, a row of massive svanth trees grew, their branches reaching high into the sky. Soon they would rival those in the Svanth Forest. The trees here were much like those in the Svanth. Roots buried deep, connected to one another, woven together. As Eris traced along the roots, she recognized the story woven there, a warning of the desolation, and a sense of hope that the keeper would succeed.
“They have grown,” Terran said.
She looked over. He wore his heavy green jacket. The sword hanging from his waist looked a part of him. He did not strain against the heavy pack strapped to his back that was stuffed with food and water for their journey. Neither knew what to expect once they crossed into Saffra.
“They draw from the Source.” Eris looked over at Shadow.
He stared at her, his tail swishing slightly. “It is power. It is light.” He shook his head and growled softly, annoyed he couldn’t explain more. His ears turned toward Saffra, twitching slightly. “This is the light,” he said, eyes turning to the svanth trees growing high into the sky. “You are the light.”
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