Chapter 24

24

Fertilize the present, and the future will bear fruit.

~ Master Gardener Lady Fomalia

Before heading up to speak with the plant, Kaylina stopped in the kitchen to make a fresh batch of honey-water fertilizer and check on her siblings. Both hard at work on the evening's menu, they hadn't heard the confrontation out front, though Frayvar had been confused when he'd spotted some men running out the back gate.

"They won't return," Kaylina said. "Don't worry about it."

She didn't know if Vlerion would succeed in talking his mother out of additional attempts to have Kaylina kidnapped—Lady Isla seemed stubborn and quite determined to protect her son—but she doubted that particular group of men would return.

"Kaylina," Silana said primly, "you're in the service business. You want people to return. Often."

"Not those people," Kaylina said.

"Why not?"

Frayvar raised his eyebrows, doubtless curious how she would answer.

Since Kaylina hadn't mentioned the kidnapping attempts to her sister, and didn't want to worry her, she decided on, "They don't have any money. They're not getting paid for their most recent work."

Silana's brow furrowed.

Maybe sensing he should distract her, Frayvar grabbed a stack of flyers from a counter. "I had these made for tonight. Do you want to distribute them around the area, Kay?"

"I just got here, and you want to send me away?" Kaylina glanced at the flyers, reading the promise of free mead samples with the full-price purchase of a meal at Stillguard Eating House. Promoting the business was a good idea, but Vlerion wouldn't be happy if Kaylina ventured into the streets, and she'd sent the taybarri back with him.

"We've got the cooking in hand and everything ready to go. Silana has been helping." Frayvar smiled at their sister, then leaned close to Kaylina to whisper, "She hasn't hugged me today."

"Well, you're not that huggable of a guy. I shouldn't think you'd have to endure that except after long absences and near-death experiences."

Frayvar wrinkled his nose to suggest even those weren't acceptable reasons for touching.

Kaylina pointed at the flyers. "Let me fertilize the plant—" and discuss whether my life is linked with its, she didn't say aloud, "—and then I'll hand some of those out."

"All right."

"Plant?" Silana asked.

"It's tied in with the curse you heard about. If we keep it happy, it won't act up when diners are here." Kaylina didn't explain that acting up involved killing people with vines.

Though Silana had heard about the curse and hadn't dismissed the notion outright, her brow did furrow again at the statement. If she hadn't yet seen how the castle could act out, that relieved Kaylina. Better that their sister not be traumatized—and report to the family how inadequate a facility this was for a meadery and eating house.

Silana watched as Kaylina made the fertilizer and carried the heavy pot out of the kitchen, but Frayvar said a few things about his recipes to distract her, and she didn't follow Kaylina or ask any more questions. Good. This needed to be a private chat.

Kaylina dragged a chair under the hole in the tower floor, stacking a crate on top of the cushion so she could climb high enough to lift the pot up. With a grunt and much sloshing, she hoisted it onto the floorboards.

By the time she pulled herself through, fallen leaves crinkling under her knees, the plant had draped its odd combination of branches and vines into the water, hungrily drawing it up. Before she could pull away, a star-shaped leaf much larger than the one on her hand caressed her cheek.

"Stuff like that is creepy," she said.

At least the plant hadn't thrust a vision onto her. She'd been avoiding letting it touch her out of the fear of receiving more of them—especially the kind that showed her killing Vlerion.

She looked out the window into the courtyard, but the vines that had sprouted from the wall earlier had disappeared.

"I do appreciate you helping to intimidate those kidnappers," she added.

As her brother had pointed out, it wouldn't hurt to show gratitude toward the plant. He'd thought she should call it my lord or some such. That, she refused.

"And not killing them. I know you're not human, and the druids weren't either, but we have laws against such things. Even if you're protecting someone."

One of the vine tips flicked. Dismissively, she thought. That didn't keep the rest of the plant from absorbing honey water. She ladled more over the soil in the pot.

"Let me know if you want me to bring in any fresh dirt for you. Or maybe some compost? If your soil has been here as long as you have, it has to need some amendments." Kaylina glanced at her brand, debating how to bring up the question that Sabor had raised. No, the threat he'd raised.

Better to make the plant extra happy first. She ladled more honey water onto the soil.

"I could bring you mead to try too," she offered. "I don't know if it has nutrients, the way the fertilizer does, but you might like it. I'm making a batch using some of the yeast that Vlerion gave me. He's a good guy, you know. The beast curse isn't his fault."

One of the vines rose toward her face, the tip wavering in the air.

Kaylina flinched and drew back, afraid it would punish her for speaking well of a ranger it considered a threat. The vine hung there in the air. Waiting.

She longed to have a discussion with the plant far more than she wanted it to give her visions, but that was how it had communicated with her in the past. She still didn't know if it had spoken into her mind during one of the visions or if that had been a taybarri elder, somehow talking to her across countless miles. When she and Vlerion had visited their kind in the mountains, Queen Seerathi had been the only one to speak with her, and she'd had a different telepathic voice.

As it had once before, the vine hovered near her temple, not yet touching her. It was asking for permission.

"No visions of me killing Vlerion," she told the plant. "Of anyone killing him."

It didn't move. Vines didn't nod.

Kaylina sighed. "Go ahead. And, if you could, let me know if my life is bound to yours and if I'll die if you die. I didn't sign up for that."

She hadn't signed up for anything . The plant had branded her without asking, and it had hurt. A lot. The presumptuous thing.

The tip stretched toward her temple, and she cleared such thoughts from her mind.

She already knelt but she rested her hands on the floor, bracing herself. Last time, she'd passed out, and Frayvar had run to Doc Penderbrock for help. What would Silana think if she ventured to the tower and found Kaylina unconscious on her back?

The rubbery flesh of the vine was cool against her skin. At first, nothing happened. Had the sentinel not decided yet what vision to share? Then she sensed a presence in her mind, the plant's presence.

Instead of pushing a vision onto her, it stirred up her memories, rousing thoughts of the previous night when she'd woken to the pained roar of the beast. Kaylina winced, certain it would see her encounter with Vlerion in the bathhouse and see that he'd torn the head off an enemy. That might, in its mind, prove that he was a threat. It wouldn't help that he'd also leaped onto the walkway and stalked toward her with the intent to have her.

Yes, she'd kept him from hurting her, as she had in their other encounters, but, on each occasion, the beast had been weary from battle and on the verge of collapsing. As he had this time, dropping to one knee and leaning against her, the fight fading from him. One day, she might rouse the beast when he was fresh and there weren't enemies for him to battle, and then… then what would happen? She could guess, and the plant, she had no doubt, could too.

She swallowed as the memories shifted. The viewpoint did as well. Now, she was looking down into the courtyard from the tower as Vlerion sprang into view and grabbed the lead kidnapper from behind.

The plant had been prepared to strike—she sensed that through the vision, and she'd known it at the time as well. But it had paused to watch and see what happened. It had seen that Vlerion had defended her. Only when he'd kissed her had it grown concerned again, tempted to lash out. The plant's duty was to keep those with the blood of the ancients safe. Kaylina's Daygarii forefathers would have wished that. Her Daygarii father would have wished it.

Surprised jolted Kaylina. Her Daygarii… father? The green-haired man?

She'd assumed any druid blood she claimed had been diluted through generations, that the man who'd visited her mother at the Spitting Gull had been only partially one of their kind. Druid enough to have some strange hair and exotic facial features, but…

Perhaps the sentinel made an incorrect assumption, a dry male voice spoke into her mind. It was the same one that had communicated with her before. Perhaps enough of the Daygarii is within you that you can control the cursed one and keep him from harming you.

I don't want to control Vlerion. I want to lift his curse.

That is the punishment for his line.

It's not the fault of his line that starving people hunted in the preserve hundreds of years ago. He's committed no crime. He shouldn't be punished.

Someone had to be for that crime. Those lands, and all that thrives there, must be preserved for when the time of man passes and the Daygarii return. Without the curse, men would not remember and would again threaten those lands. The memories of their kind are short, their minds feeble.

Really. Kaylina couldn't help but feel affronted on behalf of humanity.

If you can control the cursed one, perhaps he does not need to die.

Though she wanted to argue again that she wished to lift Vlerion's curse, not control him, Kaylina couldn't help but lean forward with hope. Does that mean you would let him come to the castle without threatening him? You would let him come see me to talk and…

And what? Even if vines stopped trying to strangle Vlerion when he visited, he would still turn into the beast if she roused his lust. They couldn't be together.

The plant finished her thought with another look at them in the courtyard, again from the tower window viewpoint. It shared something between wryness and mockery as she writhed in Vlerion's arms, gripping and groping far more than she'd realized she had, and she flushed with embarrassment. She hadn't been aware of being that into the moment, into his kisses and his caresses. No wonder she—and her enthusiasm—roused the beast.

He desires you carnally.

Yeah, I know. Kaylina desired him carnally too. Something she did not want to discuss with a plant.

That is not how you control him, however. He is drawn to you carnally but also magically, and it is because of the power in your blood that he is compelled to listen to you—to obey you—and doesn't spring upon you and force you to mate.

Cheeks still warm at the uncomfortable conversation, Kaylina shook her head and didn't point out that Vlerion wouldn't be forcing anything if he took her, that even as the beast, he stirred her libido. Even if it was beyond dangerous, and she was afraid of the beast, she was also… She would be his if he wished it.

That was something else she didn't want to discuss with the plant. All I need to know is if you'll let him in, if it's safe for him to enter the courtyard, the castle.

A long moment passed as the plant seemed to consider that. In his human form, he is not a threat to you. He may approach.

All right. Thank you.

That was something. Kaylina smiled, feeling she'd won a victory. If Vlerion hadn't been on the way to his family estate, she would have run off to tell him he could come to the grand opening. He didn't drink alcohol, but he could enjoy the food. Or she could put him to work clearing dishes, as Frayvar had suggested. She smirked at the idea of her haughty aristocrat employed at such a task.

Reminded that Vlerion wasn't the reason she'd come up to speak with the plant, Kaylina said, Spymaster Sabor wrote that he's done research on the druids and on you. Is it true that we're linked now? Because you branded me? She tried to keep reproach out of her mental voice but didn't know if she succeeded. Though the power of the brand had proven useful, she couldn't help but resent it.

The human knows nothing.

She doubted that was true—Sabor knew far too much when it came to her and Vlerion—but allowed herself a modicum of hope. Then our lives aren't linked together? If you die, I won't die?

You will continue to feed me the superior honey fertilizer, the plant stated firmly.

Yes, I'm planning on it. I wouldn't stop. Even though the plant had gained in power, alarmingly so, since she'd started fertilizing it. She shivered at the memory of a purple beam shooting out to kill a Kar'ruk invader. But is my life tied to yours? Did you brand me to make sure I would stay here and keep feeding you?

I did not. It was necessary to waken your somnolent blood.

My what?

The brand helps you access your power, your birthright.

Kaylina digested that for a moment. So… the times I've seemed to draw upon magic, it's come from me? Not the brand? Not you?

The power of the Daygarii is within you. It is why the cursed one is drawn to you and will protect you. It is why the sentinel is drawn to you and will protect you. It will not allow you to be manipulated by some feeble human.

At first, she thought the plant meant Vlerion was a feeble human , but through another vision, it took her up through the roof of the tower where a vine she'd never noticed thrust between the slate tiles. Like a tall stovepipe, it rose high enough to have a view in all directions, above the rooftops of the city and to the harbor, and even over the wall and toward the highway heading along the river toward the preserve and the mountains.

In the vision, it was dawn, and two dark horses with hooded riders were visible on the highway. When they turned to point back at the city, Kaylina could see their faces. One was the lead sage assassin, the man who kept getting away. The other figure was Spymaster Sabor.

They chatted easily, like allies. Or… like one man hiring the other?

If so, Sabor had lied about knowing the assassins. He'd lied about everything. Could Kaylina be surprised?

Sabor delved under his cloak and pulled out a small bag of coins and deposited it in the assassin's hand. He pointed at it, then gestured to indicate a much larger coin bag. The reward should the assassin succeed at killing Vlerion?

What in all the altered orchards? Kaylina asked.

Why would Sabor hire assassins to slay the very man he kept saying he wanted to use? One of his own people. A loyal kingdom subject.

Kaylina roared in fury on Vlerion's behalf.

"Kaylina?" an alarmed voice spoke, startling her.

The vision grew wispy, Sabor's face fading.

"Kaylina?"

The voice sounded close but also far away. She struggled to focus on it and remember where she was. Her vision had turned inward, toward memories and the plant's conversation, and she had to blink several times before the vine-draped stone walls of the tower room came into view.

"What is that hideous plant doing to you?"

"Silana?" Kaylina croaked, recognizing the voice now.

Her sister stood on the crate on the chair, the top of her head poking through the hole in the floor. "Yes, of course. Why are there vines all over you? And why…" Her gaze lowered to Kaylina's hand. To the brand. Had she not noticed it before?

Kaylina shifted. There were vines all over her.

Alarm flooded into her veins before she realized they weren't restraining her in any way. It was as if they'd simply grown over her.

A leaf brushed her ear, and the plant's earlier words repeated in her mind: It is why the sentinel is drawn to you and will protect you.

Better than being attacked by it, but she gently plucked the vines off so she could slip away. Silana was in the way, though, frozen as she stared through the hole, her gaze focused on the brand.

Kaylina lifted her hand, about to joke that the mark was the trendiest thing in the capital. Then she saw what was alarming her sister. It was glowing green.

It had happened before but only in a dream. No, that had been a hallucinogenic vision induced by consuming those altered berries for the taybarri test. According to Queen Seerathi, they'd allowed her to see a broader spectrum of light. There was nothing altered about her vision now, and her sister could also see the glow.

Oh, well. By now, Kaylina was used to the plant—and her brand—doing odd things. That last vision had left more pressing matters on her mind.

"I need to talk to Spymaster Sabor. No, I need to catch him talking to the sage assassins he's hired while Vlerion is observing, and then we need to tell…"

Who? Queen Petalira? The king couldn't be trusted to act, even if he believed that his spymaster was having members of the aristocracy hunted down. He might not even comprehend the problem. If he did, Sabor might convince him that Vlerion was a traitor, someone who couldn't be trusted. But would the queen even care?

"Spymaster Who?" Silana asked.

"The guy manipulating the king. And probably the entire kingdom."

Silana shook her head slowly, staring back and forth from the glowing brand to the vines and leaves all around Kaylina. "I don't know what you're involved in up here, but?—"

"I need to go." Kaylina scooted to the hole, waving for Silana to climb off the chair so she could drop down. "It's important."

She didn't yet know what she would do, but she couldn't stay at Stillguard Castle and serve mead while one of the most powerful people in the kingdom tried to get rid of Vlerion, the man who cared about and supported her like no one else ever had. The man she was falling in love with.

"What's important," Silana said tartly as she held up a hand, "is for you to explain what you've gotten involved in. I'm worried about you. Frayvar is being evasive whenever I ask him for information. I know he's protecting you, but, Kaylina, the family cares. We need to know what's going on. Grandma and Grandpa can help."

"Not from the far end of the kingdom."

Even if they'd been close, they couldn't have done anything about Spymaster Sabor.

"Nonetheless, I insist on an explanation."

Kaylina shook her head. "This isn't the time."

Though Silana didn't move, Kaylina squirmed past, swinging down without using the chair. She started down the hall, but her sister spoke again.

"If you want my endorsement of this business—and of you staying up here in the capital—you'll take the time to give it to me."

Temper roused, Kaylina turned with a scowl, about to tell her sister to drop it, that she didn't care about the business. But that wasn't true. And Silana was still glancing at her hand, her face twisted with worry.

Kaylina rubbed the back of her neck, reminding herself that she didn't know what to do next. She couldn't talk to Sabor alone—she doubted she would even be permitted in to see him, not by herself. She needed to wait for Vlerion to return. That meant she had time to talk to her sister.

"All right. I'll try to explain everything."

"Kaylina?" Frayvar called from the stairway. "Silana? The first guests are here."

"I guess I'll explain later," Kaylina said.

"No." Silana hopped down from the chair and strode toward her. "You'll explain while we're pouring glasses of water and telling patrons about the tasting notes for the mead. If you learned nothing else at the Spitting Gull, it should have been how to multitask."

"That's the truth." Kaylina managed a smile for her sister as they headed toward the stairs. "I'll do my best."