Page 27 of Bound and Tide

“And am I to assume that your god and his flower are responsible for the entire street?”

“In a way. My mother did so well that she was able to give the leather worker who made her pouches a loan so that he could buy the place next door, and then when they were both successful enough, they bought the building across the street and signed the deed over to the families who were already living there.”

Xander stood straight and scrunched up his face. “Wait—you mean they bought a property and then gave it away?”

“No, they gave it to the people who’d already been paying more rent to Lord Terrin than the place was worth for years. Those families helped to feed us when we first came to town—my mother was only giving back what they’d more than earned. The rest of the road was always up for sale, and when Lord Terrin lost a massive sum buying his way out of legal trouble when he got caught smuggling, he was happy to sell and make back the gold he was losing.”

“This Lord Terrin—his son is the one who’s always visiting you?”

“Horace, yes. The Terrins believe they deserve some sort of…compensation for everything. They argue that they sold the plots too cheaply, forgetting that they never took care of a damn thing when they owned it all. Horace has been coming around on and off for years. I mistook his interest once for genuine companionship when my mother was unwell. A mistake I have not made again since.”

“And he knows about the el’erium?”

“No—no one does.” The admittance should have made her chest tight and her blood pump, but it was more like a weight was suddenly lifted.

“Because it’s such a mythic plant it can’t be seen?”

Evangeline stood and crooked a finger at him, defiance dominating her hesitancy. Xander abandoned his bowl and ended up so close behind that she could feel his heat as she traveled down the drafty hall at the back of the shop. They climbed the stairs, passing her bedchamber’s door. She pushed aside the tapestry that hung on the wall and revealed a narrower set of stairs that led upward. She bade him follow quickly so she wouldn’t change her mind and lifted the hatch to the attic.

Xander climbed up beside her and fit himself into what little space there was. His body pressed to hers as they both stuck their heads into the cramped loft. It should have been pitch dark, but it only took Evangeline a gentle caress of one of the el’erium’s vines to light up the entire space. Brilliant yellows and pinks filled the attic as arcana pulsed through the blooming petals of the most massive flower she was sure he had ever seen.

Xander choked on a disbelieving laugh, the sparkle of the plant’s magic reflecting in his eyes and his canines, and she noticed then the glimmer of something silver in the deep darkness of his irises. “The stem,” he said, pushing up onto his toes for a better look, “it goes right through the center of the shop?”

“Just between the walls.”

“And the roots?”

“Pull up any floorboard.”

“It doesn’t get sun.”

“The Wildwoods don’t get all that much sun.” She shrugged. “And the vines have little places they poke out on the roof. If you look close enough, you might see them, if it wants you to.”

Xander turned his gaze back on her, and they were so close she could have bit his nose clean off. “You’re telling me a flower rebuilt this street?”

“No, we did that. Everyone who bought in lent a hand, cleaning out the mold and vermin and patching up walls and roofs. The el’erium just…it just gives people a sense of…”

“Hope.”

Evangeline hummed. The word in elven was more complex than that, but yes, she supposed it really was hope. “I only wish my mother could have seen it in all its glory.”

Xander’s nose crinkled like the pollen was a bit too strong. “Why would you show me this?” His white hair picked up the pink and yellow glow so that he looked to be an extension of the plant.

“You told me your truth,” she said. “I only thought to tell you mine as well.” Really, it had been a relief, finally sharing the secret she’d kept her entire life, the words like dead leaves falling away to make room for new blooms come spring.

“Well, you did lie to me at least a bit.” He poked at the edge of a petal, and it shivered under his touch.

“I did not.”

“You said your mother came to Bendcrest with only two things, coin and this seed, but in actuality, she had three.” Xander grinned sidelong. “She had you too.”

Chapter 14

NICKED-OPHOBIA

Xander stood restlessly beside Maia and Costa on the bank of Bendcrest’s river. It snaked its way through the city and continued northeasterly into the heart of the realm and eventually to the capital. He could see Eirengaard in his mind again, the shadows of the eclipse painting the world in a brilliantly beautiful red, silvery tears in the veil releasing infernals, the possession of and near destruction of his…perhaps not his nemesis, as that wasn’t what Bloodthorne was anymore, but was he a friend?

Probably not since Xander had exactly zero friends, which was fine. Life was meant for amusement and short-term amusement at that. When people hung around they…well, Xander didn’t know what happened when people hung around, but he assumed they became as banal as the streets of Bendcrest.

---