Eris looked over to Lira. “I don’t think this is working.”
Lira’s mouth tightened. “You did what you could. More than any of us could have done.” She touched Rochelle’s cheeks, smoothing back hair that covered her eyes. “It’s good she returned to us—to this place—before she passed. It is fitting that she has returned.”
Shadow pulled himself over to her and crouched in front of Rochelle, golden eyes glowing in the darkness. “You haven’t healed her injuries fully, keeper.”
Eris shook her head. “I don’t know how to heal what’s wrong with her,” she said, looking to Shadow.
He snorted. “You cannot sense it through the connection you share?”
Eris frowned as she considered. Could she use that sense—the same as she used to reach Terran and Shadow—to understand what was wrong with Rochelle?
In that moment, she withdrew, drawing deep into herself, delving through herself. The connections became clear as she did. Terran and Shadow were clearest and strongest, but there were dozens of others, each like tiny twigs sprouting away from her. These connections puzzled her at first, but then she realized what she sensed. These were the connections she made to the keepers around her. Like she had done when trying to save the trees along the border when the magi attacked with their desolation, she had claimed these keepers.
Within those, she felt one differently that the others. It was stronger than the other connections, nearly as strong though different than the one she recognized as the connection to Lira.
Eris reached for this branch and surged along it.
Darkness waited for her. Eris drew her energy, pulling it from all around her, surging it through her and sending this through the connection as she had with Shadow. With Shadow, she had managed to chase out the darkness, could she do the same with Rochelle?
The darkness in Rochelle was different than it had been within Shadow. Eris pressed the energy she controlled against it, burning it from her. As she did, the last injury that had plagued Rochelle eased, disappearing into nothing.
Eris leaned back. She stayed withdrawn, holding her energy tightly, uncertain if she should release it.
Rochelle took a gasping breath, and her eyes opened.
She looked around, and a relieved smile crossed her face. “Sacred Mother. I’m home.”
Chapter 90
Morning came quickly. Eris slept in fits and starts, waking frequently to check on Rochelle. Her aunt rested flat on the ground, unmoving except for her hands that occasionally gripped the ground with tight fists. As dawn approached, the clear sky swirled with yellows and oranges, reflecting off the flowers. Eris rubbed her eyes as she awoke.
Terran had stayed with her the entire night. When she sat up, he propped himself up and touched her hand, caressing her softly. “You should rest more.”
She sniffed. She barely needed the connection to him to know how tired he remained. Everything that had happened left him weakened and changed. “I think you need the rest more than me,” she said.
His tired eyes blinked, and his shrug did nothing to remove the sag to his shoulders. “If only we had the time.”
“You aren’t—”
He squeezed her hand. “I am strong enough to do what is needed.”
Eris wanted to tell Terran that he didn’t need to risk himself for her, not while injured. That he should return to Eliara and the palace to stay until they stopped the Darkbinders—if they stopped them—but the hurt look that came onto his face as she considered telling him stopped her.
Instead, she turned to Rochelle and studied her. “She’s lost her guardian and her gardener. I don’t know if I could be as strong as her if I lost you.”
Terran took her face between his calloused hands and twisted her toward him. “You’re the strongest person I know. You would go on. Because you would have to.”
She inhaled slowly. She wasn’t certain if she would. The idea of losing only Terran was enough to make her want to retreat into the forest as Imryll had, to hide there as the world passed her by.
“Why do you think she’s pushed herself so hard?” Eris asked.
Terran shook his head.
Rochelle stirred and turned toward Eris. Her eyes opened. “Because of you,” she said. Her voice came out in a ragged whisper.
Eris crawled next to Rochelle. “Aunt Rochelle? What happened?”
She coughed and started to push onto her arms. They quivered and shook, dropping her back to the ground. Rochelle snorted in annoyance and rolled toward her. “You can call me Rochelle,” she said.
Eris swallowed and nodded.
“As to what happened, I made the mistake of thinking I could stop them on my own. After you came, I went to the Dark Garden, but they knew you had been there.” Rochelle managed to push herself up, and she studied Eris for a moment. “Your sister is too far gone. I didn’t know she had recognized me. I feel a fool for not seeing that. When they took me, I feared Ferisa would take from you what they took from me. You haven’t been a keeper long enough to understand how painful a loss that can be.”
Eris glanced at Terran. “I don’t need to have been a keeper long to understand that loss,” she said.
Rochelle sighed. “Perhaps not.” She shifted, coming to a sitting position. “When I learned she trapped your guardian and took your gardener, I thought you might be dead. I did what I could—I destroyed their garden of Saffra veratrums.” She swallowed a hard lump in her throat. “She caught me there. Trapped me with iron and veratrums.”
“How did you manage to escape?” Eris couldn’t imagine Darkbinders leaving a keeper living, but what if they had a reason to let her live? Could they have thought to use her somehow?
Rochelle shook her head. “I didn’t.”
Eris frowned. “If you didn’t escape, what happened?”
“They released me. They pinned flowers to my arms and legs. They pressed their magi stones into my scalp. They set their darkness working through me. Then they released me. I think they knew where I would go.”
“But you didn’t have any stone or flowers pinned to you…” Eris trailed off, remembering how Shadow crouched alongside Rochelle when she’d found her. He had kept Eris from getting too close. She remembered how much blood oozed from Rochelle, how many places she’d been injured. How could she have survived that? “You removed them?” she asked.
Rochelle nodded. “Touching each one sent pain jolting through me, twisting my connection to the flowers. That was what they wanted, I think. They thought they could turn me before I reached the gardens.”
Terran leaned in. “How were you able to do it?” he asked. “How did you remove the stones?” His voice had an intensity to it. The magi had buried a stone on him as well. Had Eris not rescued him, the magi would have turned him.
Rochelle fixed her eyes on Eris. “I managed by thinking of Eris. If I failed, she would never understand why I left her all those years ago. She would never believe I did it because I cared—that I still care—for her. I did it because I wanted to know my daughter.”
Rochelle looked away. Tears glistened in her eyes and dripped down her cheeks.
Eris hesitated, and then reached across and pulled Rochelle into an embrace. With the magi planning their attack, it was possible nothing would change between them. They might not have enough time for anything to change. But she would do what she needed to help Rochelle heal, even if it meant letting her think they would have time needed to know each other.
Rochelle sobbed quietly for long moment before pulling away. Eris sat and watched her, waiting as she collected herself. As she did, she looked around, her gaze catching on the new plantings around the garden.
“I never thought to see them restored,” she said with a sigh. “It’s beautiful.”
Eris followed the direction of her gaze. “It will be different than before.”
Rochelle nodded and turned to Eris. “I sense that. I don’t know that I should be able to.”
Eris st
ood and helped pull Rochelle to her feet. The longer she talked, the more her strength seemed to return. “The keepers work together this time. When you’re well enough, you should help as well.”
Rochelle gave her a strange look. “Together? As in one garden?”
“As in one pattern.”
Rochelle turned in place, peering over the gardens as she did. “Who is the Master of Patterns?”
Eris had never heard the title before and suspected it came from a time when the gardens had flourished. Now there would not be many gardens, but a single garden. “Lira.”
“She is a good choice, I think. She always had an eye for patterns.”
“Did you know her well?” Eris asked. She hadn’t learned how well Lira and Rochelle knew each other when the gardens were intact.
“Not well. Back then, back before…” She shook her head and smiled sadly. “I taught infrequently. Others were better suited. But I recognized Lira’s talent. I think many did, though it came as no surprise.”
“Why?”
Rochelle tipped her head. “She never told you?”
Eris shook her head. “Told me what?”
Rochelle stared toward the distant tree line, eyes searching. “Perhaps it should be for her to share.”
“Do we have time to wait for her to share?”
Rochelle closed her eyes. “If their intent is to come here, the priestesses and the magi will be here soon. The keepers you’ve collected may not be enough, Eris. They were evenly matched before, but we had the strength of Elaysia behind us then. Now?” She shook her head and opened her eyes. “They have learned much in the two decades since they attacked. They learned from us, using our techniques.” She fixed Eris with a hard intensity. “You haven’t asked how the magi came to use a flower of all things as their focus. Why they chose the Saffra veratrum as the key to their darkness.”
Eris hadn’t and realized she should have. “What aren’t you telling me, Rochelle?”
Rochelle sighed. “It’s not what I’m not telling you.” She looked past Eris and over to the trees. “Find Lira. Tell her she needs to share.”
Rochelle slumped back down. Her fingers dug into the dirt. She did not look up.
* * *
Eris found Lira standing near a svanth tree. She left Shadow watching over Rochelle. Terran helped the other gardeners with the planting. Near Lira and the tree, wide-petaled teraspals grew, pulling energy from the tree and shifting it to the rapidly growing garden. The midday sun didn’t pierce through the branches, leaving the teraspals growing in their preferred shade.
Lira looked up as Eris approached. Lines twisted the corners of her tired eyes. Chestnut hair swirled around her. She pulled a dark brown cloak tight around her waist as she worked.
“Eris. How is Rochelle?”
“Awake.”
Lira nodded. “Can she help with the garden? Can she help with the pattern?”
Eris glanced toward the center of the garden where Rochelle still sat. She hadn’t moved since Eris left her, the roots of the grasses and flowers sharing how she simply sat. There was something else, though Eris couldn’t tell with any clarity what it was.
“In time.”
Lira sighed. “I worry we won’t have much time.”
“We don’t,” Eris agreed.
Lira fixed her with a frown. “Ask your question, Eris Taeresin.”
“How did you know I had a question?”
Lira snorted. “I’ve known you much of your life. I’ve attempted to teach you the last few years. When you have a question, you hold yourself hesitantly. It is the only time you do.”
Eris unclenched her hands that squeezed the fabric of her thick cloak and took a deep breath. “Rochelle tells me there is something you haven’t shared.”
Lira paused. Her mouth tensed, and she nodded once. “There are many things I haven’t shared with you. Most because there hasn’t been a need.”
“Most?”
Lira looked away. “Some because they are too hard for me to speak of.”
Eris slid toward Lira, moving into her field of vision. “What can’t you speak about?”
Lira stiffened a moment as her gaze flicked toward the center of the garden. “Rochelle knows the secret. Many here do.”
“What is it? Why can’t you share?”
Lira sighed. “Because it is too painful. You don’t understand…my parents…”
“After what I’ve gone through trying to understand my family?” Eris asked.
Lira forced a smile. One hand touched her temple, rubbing it softly. “Mine is complicated. My mother was a skilled keeper, one of the most talented seen in generations. Nothing I did—or do—would ever rival what she managed.”
Eris motioned toward the garden. Power surged there, suddenly stronger than it had been before. As she recognized it, she knew why. Rochelle added her touch to the garden, planting beran lilies in such a way that they augmented the energy flowing through here. Had Rochelle recognized the pattern Lira worked or had it been accidental?
“When complete, this garden will rival anything any keeper has done in centuries. Did your mother ever do anything that changed the way the keepers saw their role?”
Lira reached into a pocket of her cloak and pulled out a thin, leather-bound book. Eris recognized it immediately. She had one with her now; a book by Feliran.
“She was my mother.”
Eris took the book from Lira and flipped through page after page of meticulous drawings and notes. Each was comprised of patterns worked out of flowers, each depicting different ways the flowers could be combined, building the pattern upon itself. Eris had never considered the complexity possible. Feliran had. Lira’s mother had.
“That’s not all, is it?” Eris asked. Something about the way Lira stood—the halting way she turned from her, the soft tilt of her eyes as she glanced at the ground, even the tapping of her foot—told Eris the Mistress of Flowers hadn’t told her everything. “What is it about the Saffra veratrum that you know? You said your mother loved veratrums. It’s her flower, isn’t it?”
Lira sighed, finally turning to face her. “Feliran was the most skilled keeper of her time. She thought she could change him, that she could turn him from the darkness.”
“I don’t understand.”
“My father,” Lira said. She held Eris’s gaze. “He was a magi when they met. Only later would he rise to become the High Seat. She thought she could take the darkness from him, that she could hold it at bay, that she could train him as her gardener. I think it worked for a while.” She licked her lips and closed her eyes. “She is the one who first bred the Saffra veratrum. For all her insight, I don’t think she understood what he did to the flowers she bred until it was too late. She never saw him as he was, only as she wished him to be.”
She took a deep breath and turned away from Eris. “You have blamed yourself for what happened with your brother. I don’t know if you blame yourself for what happened with Ferisa, but you should not. If anything, blame Feliran. Blame my mother. If we cannot stop the Conclave, it will be her arrogance that was the downfall of the keepers.”
Chapter 91
Dusk settled around the garden. The gardeners had managed to get much done throughout the day, and flowers bloomed throughout the gardens, their fragrance rising on the cool breeze. Terran had worked with Rochelle, helping her with her lilies as she followed Lira’s pattern. With another week, Eris thought they had a chance.
Except she knew there wasn’t another week.
Eris didn’t need to search through the roots to search for the coming attack. She sensed them well enough. Unlike when Ferisa had led the attack on the Verilain Plains and she’d only felt a void, this was a clear sense. They attacked along the border of the Svanth earlier in the day. So far, the forest held.
Shadow crouched next to her. His ears twitched. “They come, keeper.”
“We knew they would come. I wish I knew why they chose now.”
; “You ask what you already know.”
“Because of me?”
Shadow growled softly. “You are a keeper of light. They had no need to attack before you appeared.”
Eris looked over at the keepers. How many would be lost because of her? How many that she claimed would the Darkbinders take?
“None of this is your fault,” Shadow said, as if detecting her thoughts. “The fault lies in those who seek power they should not have. The fault lies in those who embrace the dark.” He sniffed and shook his head.
Eris delved briefly. She didn’t know what more they could do. Already they had done everything they could.
“Do you think—”
Shadow’s low growl erupted, splitting the night. He jolted to his feet and sprinted across the garden, moving faster than she’d seen him move in days.
Eris raced after him. Terran joined her wordlessly.
“What is it?” Eris asked.
Shadow growled again.
Eris reached through the roots of the garden as she ran, searching for what had caught Shadow’s attention. At first, she didn’t sense anything clearly. When she did, she nearly stumbled.
Terran grabbed her by the arm. He had strength, but not as he should have. The attack had left him weakened. Would he ever reclaim what he’d lost?
Eris righted herself and smiled at him. She hurried after Shadow, but with less urgency than before. There was no need to hurry. What came was no threat.
When she saw the figure emerge at the edge of the trees, she smiled. “Imryll.”
The keeper of trees took another step before stopping. “Your guardian—”
Eris nodded. Shadow prowled behind Imryll, watching her and her guardian wolf. “You came.”
“You summoned. And your trees were…insistent.”
Eris laughed, wondering how the svanth trees she’d planted outside Imryll’s forest had convinced her to come.
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