Page 38 of Those Fatal Flowers

“Eons.”

“Were you born here?” The question makes me bristle, and I turn away from him.

“Fine, fine! No more questions!” he pleads, desperate to win back my favor.

“We’re not friends, Jaquob. Don’t make the mistake of believing that we are.”

His mouth snaps closed.

“There are others on this island, like me, and if I’m gone too long…well, they might come looking. And they won’t spare you like I have.”

He bites his lip, his dark eyes wandering back to the flames.

“Of course, Thelxiope. Thank you again.”

I don’t answer as I walk along the shore away from him. Only when I’m around the bend, out of sight, do I unfurl my wings. He’s decided not to fear me for now, but I don’t want to remind him that I look more eagle than woman with my wings spread to their full length. If he saw me in the skies, I’d lose the fragile trust we have built—instinct would take hold, and he would recoil, the way a mouse naturally avoids a cat, or a fish flees from the gaping jaws of a shark. Until I know what Proserpina wants with him, I need him to trust me.

I take to the heavens.

Every time that I fly, song builds in my stomach instinctively. It takes all my self-control to keep the notes buried deep in my body, away from my lips. The air tonight is still,and if I let it, my aria would carry across the distance to Jaquob’s ears. It would drive him mad, straight into the sea to try to find me. He would drown, like all the others, and then I’d never discover his use.

When my feet finally touch the ground again on Scopuli’s western cliffs, a stifled hum bursts from the back of my throat. It’s a small concession to my instincts, but until I know Jaquob’s purpose, it will have to be enough.

10

Now

With the challenge date officially set, the men watch me more closely. I catch them sharpening their knives, carrying larger loads, and practicing their shots, training for a test without knowing exactly what it is—everyone except for Thomas. If he prepares, he’s smart enough to do it privately—or, more likely, Agnes demanded it. But the knowledge of what’s to come paints his features with a new shade of arrogance, and Cora senses the change in him like a hound on the scent of a boar. When she glimpses Thomas emerging from the locked room where they’ve stored my treasure, she cuts her suggested Bible study short and calls him to us. Thomas barely looks at her as he shares the news that the Council has agreed to send a scouting party to Scopuli with me and my betrothed. His hungry gray eyes swallow me alone. When he excuses himself, Cora rushes after him, and though it makes me ill, I don’t try to stop her. Instead, I make myself scarce.

Elizabeth, Emme, and Wenefrid open their homes to me. I do my best to blend in, especially after my misstep at the first Bible study. But despite the notable differences in ourranks, they quickly grow accustomed to my presence. With their blessing, the others follow. Even Elyoner, who I was certain despised me after my defense of the serpent.

“Is there truly enough food for all of us on Scopuli?” she asks, her eyes wandering to little Virginia in her arms.

“More than enough,” I say, hiding my heartbreak behind a warm smile. The scouting party will never return here, and Elyoner and Virginia will never reap Scopuli’s bounty.

Relief softens her usually harsh features. “God is good to have brought you to us, Lady Thelia.”

It’s not her god who brought me here, but she’s right that they need help.

Young Rose, while showing me her needlework, clicks her tongue disapprovingly when Emme saunters past the Bailies’ front window with a sailor named William Berde.

“After what happened with Charles Florrie, she really should be more careful,” Rose whispers, so softly I wonder if she intended for me to hear it at all. “Master Berde won’t marry her, either.”

“Do you wish to marry?” I venture carefully, and when Rose looks to me, it’s as if she’s aged several decades. Deep purple bags collect beneath her bright blue eyes, and her usually plump lips are pressed into a thin straight line.

“My lady, I am already married. To Master Sampson.”

The air leaves my lungs as I remember the old man from Sunday’s church service. I try to catch my features as they fall, to keep my expression neutral, but Rose has seen the crack. “He’s just so much older than you, I didn’t realize…”

She smiles sadly. “It’s the way of things.”

These interactions reveal the truth of this place: Wenefrid, Elizabeth, and Cora aren’t the only women who feel restless, trapped. I begin to wonder…Could they become my allies?

On the night before the challenge, the near-full moonshines brightly over Roanoke. Despite Cora’s warning of dangers, I easily slip through the city’s eastern gate, courtesy of a passed-out Master Chapman, and make my way to the beach once more. Luna bathes the sea in the same luminous light as she does on Scopuli, but here, it makes everything appear harsher, more exposed. Is this how the world looks through Raidne’s eyes?

Notes rise into my throat at the thought of her, of Pisinoe. Instead of swallowing them down, I spill them onto the waves, losing myself in the thought of the white-capped crests carrying them all the way to Scopuli. A message for my sisters, just like those messages I whispered into the earth for Proserpina.

I will save us. I promise.

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