Page 73 of Whisper Woods

Jaw tensing irritably, I round my desk and snatch up the message lying neatly on my desk. My mother’s tidy scrawl doesn’t give any hint as to the reason for my audience.

“I will have to make my excuses. I cannot possibly leave Seff here while I visit.” Taking him with me is not a possibility either.

My parents have never been prejudiced against the Mundane. How could they be with Tavishers in the family? But on my last visit my father’s confusion had increased and I fear such an introduction, without some preparation on my mother’s behalf, would not go well.

Brydon rolls his eyes, but the act is in sharp contradiction to the tension in his shoulders, and the way his fist clenches his pencil so hard the thing almost snaps.

“I can entertain Seff. It will be great actually, considering I missed out on hanging out with him yesterday.AndI can get to know him without all the horny eyes between you two. I don’t know if you are aware, but it is rather a mood killer for the rest of us.” He smiles and it very nearly reaches his eyes. But I recognise the deflection for what it is. It’s remarkably similar to Seff’s tactics.

Brydon matches my narrow-eyed stare unflinchingly.

“Why do you want me to leave?” There is something going on here, and I cannot help but feel insulted that Brydon doesn’t trust me enough to tell me.

“Do you think I mean to hurt Seff?” He sounds hurt, and it’s so remarkably genuine, I almost soften.

“No. Of course not.” He relaxes at my reassurance. “But, Brydon, there is obviously something going on here you are not telling me.Thatmakes me wary.”

Brydon throws his pencil on his desk and scrubs his hands over his face. “I’m just stressed, my father visited yesterday and asked me to go through some other Tavishers’ notes. The translations in the book are draining me. Seriously, hanging out with Seff and asking him a million questions about the Mundane sounds like a relief. I managed to get his phone charged so he can show me some things.” He removes his hands from his face and lets me see the exhaustion there.

“And you will not relax until you visit your parents and find out what’s going on. You can message your mother all you like, you know she never responds. It’s early, if you leave now you could be home after lunch and have the entire afternoon to moon-eyes at each other.”

I pull a face at his ridiculousness, and he laughs, some of the tension between us easing. Running a hand through my hair, I remember that Brydon’s good sense is one of the reasons I hired him. I trust him. The sick sense of dread in my stomach is simply my loathing of leaving Seff affecting my natural instincts.

“Fine.Fine.” I decide on a long exhale. “I will be home as soon as I’m able. When he wakes, let him know I will be home as soon as I can.”

“Don’t worry, I will.” Brydon shoos me from the room with a laugh. “Now, get going. And tell your mother I said hi.”

I drain the last of my rivosh and give Brydon a clipped nod goodbye as I leave our study, determined to get this errand complete so I can return to the wolf in my bed as soon as possible.

***

My parents' home in the foothills of the Woods is not far in actual distance from the city. The time-consuming part lies in actually getting there. The beings that choose this region of Tathys do so in particular because it is so difficultto access. Indeed, for certain parts of the year, many parts of the region are inaccessible due to flooding—including my parents’ home. But on a regular day, the trails are concealed so skillfully they are practically non-existent, and the terrain is almost purposefully inhospitable.

And if you manage to survive the sudden cliff drops, concealed cave entrances and surprise bog pits, there are corion nests ready to snare any unwary visitors.

All in all, not a great way to travel at the best of times, but on a day when you are in a rush and distracted? You are liable to get yourself killed. Which is why I’m having to exert all of my mental energy on keeping myself safe and not wondering if Seff is still warm in my bed, and if not, what he is doing right now.

Even though it’s cool in the Woods today, I am still sweating from sheer exertion by the time I reach the edge of my parents' property. There are no gates or fences, only my mother’s wards guarding their boundary.

My mother is a floriatae—fae beings who draw their magic from the landscapes they are born in. While all beings are tied through the ishke that carries the magic from the Gods, the floriatae, it is said, are children of the land, the first of their kind born from the flowers and trees.

Her magic feels like a warm hug when I cross into their lands. My parents’ home sits upon the very crest of the hill. On the other side the Woods descend rapidly to the cliffs at the very borders of Carconnois. The coveted position gives them not only unimpeded views of the Woods and the river that once a year cuts off their property from the world in the summer, but also the sunrise over the sea.

Their home in the Woods is nothing like our family home in the city. The stout house, made of stone and moss, is part of the landscape—built into the rocks of the hillside.

Her gardens circle the home, in a pattern whose meaning is only discernible to my mother. Dragonkin breed true, even when they breed with other beings, meaning I had been born without any of my mothers blessings.

“Rafe, my darling boy! What a pleasure it is!” Maman’s head pokes up from behind a shrub she’d been tending to.

She practically buzzes with the pleasure of seeing me, and I feel a small niggleof guilt at not visiting more regularly. She brushes the dirt from her hands on her skirt and rushes between her haphazard garden beds to throw herself at me for a hug. Another needle of guilt drives home when I smell her familiar floral scent, the flowers threaded through her waist-length silver hair tickling my face. Her hair had once been midnight black, much like mine, but she has long since given up the glamour of hiding her greys.

Her arms are tight around me when I spy my father resting in a lounge chair in the shade, where he raises his glass to me in greeting and then settles back in his seat. My mother pulls back, her dark eyes searching mine excitedly, a happy flush on her dark brown skin as she clutches at my arms.

“My darling, you look utterly wretched. Come sit in the shade with your father and I’ll get you a cool drink.”

There is little point arguing with her, as I am in dire need of rest and refreshment so I let her lead me to the seats set out under the ancient willow tree. We settle together on the lounger, and she refills one of the glasses on the table between the chairs with a simple wave of her hand. Accepting the glass, I sip the refreshing, cool water while Bapa and I exchange benign greetings which quickly devolve into him telling me the way of the world.

“—Elianora needs to resolve this now. Even the beings in these remote parts have heard of the troubles in the city. Her father never would have let Heylor gain control like this. The being has always been trouble. He has never known how to get past his own ego for the good of the Council and for Tathys.”

---