It was thick with magic too. One brick from its structure ground down to dust might fuel a lifetime of work for a good magician.
In the face of the beauty of the place, I found dread growing.
Had Bryony hired a mage and I hadn't heard about it? Perhaps Prince Thao had called one up from Mennary?
"Aric!"
I stopped my horse as Owen jogged down the steps of the castle, wearing a wide grin.
"I didn't know you were coming," Owen said, but it was him, so he made the surprise sound especially welcome.
"I didn't know there were renovations being made on the palace," I answered, swinging down from my horse.
"Hm? Oh, those. They weren't really planned. Bryony is busy at the moment, but we can take your horse down to the stables and get him watered and fed while we wait," Owen offered, immediately stepping up and introducing himself softly to Scoundrel, my gelding.
"Would it be rude of me to ask you to handle him so I might explore the palace?" I asked, offering Owen the reins. No one would ever accuse me of missing an opportunity.
He looked up from his murmured conversation, eyebrows rising slightly. "Insidethe palace?"
Interesting. "Yes, if that's all right." I smiled at him, not too wide. Owen was gentle and often trusting, but not as much of an idiot as he let people sometimes believe.
"That's fine," he said, nodding and turning to leave. "You might bump into Cosmo, but don't bother with Daniel and the other one."
Other one?
I debated mining Owen for another slip of the tongue but it was almost unfair, so instead I hurried up the steps.
Bryony's palace was still poorly staffed, and there were fewer guards stationed about than ever before, but that suited me nicely. What magic I'd sensed from outside now dripped from the walls and blossomed up from the floors inside, as if the new floral tiles might suddenly burst to life as I stepped over them. It was beautiful and itshould'vebeen eerie, except there was a familiar sweetness to it that made my heart drum.
It can't be.
I didn'twantit to be true. There were trails of heady sinuous power to follow, many leading up the stairs, but Owen's caution had to do with what I might see outside of the palace. I followed the threads as they twisted together and spun through the halls to the back of the building.
The greenhouse.
The greenhouse had been not only transformed but resurrected. I gaped in horror and awe at lively plants that pulsed with magic, begging me to make use of them, following the vines of ivy up the walls to where they twined around open window panes, delicate fingers pointing to the artfully colored roof that made the space glow.
What has she done? What has shedone?
"Martin."
I turned my head, and there was Cresswell. "Stark. Where is she?"
He shrugged and nodded his head behind me, missing some of the cautious formality I expected he used with the others. "In the orchard with a couple of them."
I paced over the mossy tile, even that pounding with life, to the narrow hidden door behind the young hemlock.
Trim me, use me, burn the world with me, it begged.
"Was she…expecting you?" Cresswell asked, and there must've been something in my expression that warned him because he stepped between me and the door as I marched forward.
I tried to wipe it all away and replace it with a soft smirk. "No, but do you really think she'd mind?"
Bryony was terrible at minding her smile around me. Just thinking of it made me ache, made my chest twinge uncomfortably for using the fact. But I needed to know what was happening. This wasn't a normal amount of magic. Not even for the south.
Cresswell huffed and glared at me, but he stepped out of the way and opened the door for me, pointing the way.
He didn't need to.