Page 34 of Ira

“I don’t hate it! I’m glad that I have a place to live, that’s for sure. I don’t know. I guess it’s a little more crowded thanI generally like. I’m heading to Elverston House now to ask if they’d mind me still tending to the garden.”

Verner frowned. “I certainly hope they wouldn’t have a problem with that, considering what a valuable resource it is. One that they benefit from directly.”

“I know, I know, but they’re skittish.” I dropped my voice as we approached the border, both coming to a halt. “I suspect that, like me, these were Hunters who really didn’t have an easy time of it. Except, unlike me, they didn’t do anything to warrant getting kicked out, so they just lived with the horrible treatment.”

“If anyone can get them to feel more at ease here, it’s you.” Verner’s expression softened, and he gave my arm a quick squeeze before stepping back. “I’ll meet you by the river tomorrow?”

“Yes please.” I smiled, finding myself biting my lower lip and quickly releasing it. I didn’t want to look like I was flirting with him now when we’d agreed to go back to the way things had been before.

“Until tomorrow.” He inclined his head, which did something incredible to his half smile that I tried to view in a platonic light.

Friends,I told myself sternly, heading up the path to Elverston House.Friends, friends, friends.

I winced at all the weeds I could see popping up in the garden beds, desperately hoping no one would have a problem with me doing at least a little maintenance. Fortunately, we’d had a rainy couple of days so at least the plants hadn’t died of thirst.

Before I could even get to the front door, someone was opening it to let me in.

Jade, I recalled from our brief introduction. She couldn’t have been older than twenty, yet she seemed to have taken on the role of spokesperson for the group. Which I guessed wasn’t surprising—she was a big, firey personality, and many ofthe other Hunters who’d been sent over with her were… well, definitely not that. I suspected the older ones may have been once upon a time, but they’d had their spirits thoroughly broken over the years.

It was why I had to approach this so carefully. The last thing I wanted was for these people who had already suffered so much to feel any kind of pressure.

“Hi, Meera.” Jade tipped her chin up, her arms crossed over her chest. Her words were cordial, but her body language very much wasn’t.

“Hello, Jade. How are you this morning? Have you guys had breakfast?”

The new Hunters didn’t come to the dining hall for meals yet, and even though food and raw ingredients were delivered to them here, I worried. The kitchen facilities at Elverston House were pretty medieval.

She blinked at me. “Um, yeah. I mean, we all just kind of forage for ourselves throughout the day, then cook together in the evenings.”

I made a note to check in with the palace chef that they were being sent forage-type food. Bread. Sandwich fillings. That kind of thing.

“I came here to ask a food-related question actually. I was wondering if you would all be comfortable with me coming here to maintain the garden.” I gestured at the beds behind me. “It’s all planted with fruit and vegetables from the human realm so we don’t have to rely on supply trips for them.”

Jade frowned. “I mean, we don’t want to starve, so yes. Obviously.”

This one could give Astrid a run for her money when it came to being painfully blunt. Probably best if I kept the two of them away from each other. Tallulah wouldn’t do well here either—she did her best not to show it, but Astrid’s sharp words often rubbed her the wrong way.

“Patrick used to be a gardener,” she added begrudgingly, almost as though she realized she’d been a little snippy and was making an effort at politeness. “He mentioned the garden too. Something about helping out. I don’t know. I can’t remember.”

“Perhaps he could speak to me about it?” I suggested gently. Patrick was in his forties and walked with a pronounced limp. He wasn’t skittish like the others necessarily—or I didn’tthinkhe was. I’d never heard him speak. He seemed more gruff than frightened, though.

Jade watched me silently for a moment, unabashedly sizing me up. She was deeply mistrusting and quick to protect herself regardless of the circumstances, and I had the slightly terrifying realization that I was looking into a mirror. Though, it was more a reflection of who I was when I’d first arrived in the shadow realm than who I was now, I liked to think.

“I saw you. Through the window. Hugging that Shade.” She tipped her chin up, daring me to argue.

“Yes. That’s my friend, Verner.”

If my voice wobbled a little on the word ‘friend’, Jade didn’t seem to notice.

“Are you sleeping with him?”

I choked on my own saliva, coughing loudly for a moment. “No. That’s a really personal question, you know.”

To her credit, she didn’t argue with me. “Does he not want to sleep with you?”

“That’s an even more personal question.”

Jade shrugged. “Just trying to work out if they all want to have sex with us all the time. I don’t want to do that.”

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