Page 54 of Fortress of Ambrose
Quell
I refuse to put Knox in a session room. Knox and I exit the service elevator near the kitchens to the second floor and make our way to my old room. But the window is busted, and there is a wretched smell inside. My fingers graze my old dusty bedsheet. There are still two beds in here, where Abby and I dished on all the House gossip, stressed over exams, and where Jordan kissed me for the first time. I lock the door and try the next room in the Belles Wing. It’s tolerable. Knox enters and gives the room a cursory glance.
“You’ve literally made history.”
I laugh.
“I’m serious.” Knox inspects the view from the window. She runs her hand along the dagger stand, desk, dresser, and ornate framed mirror. “It’s just regular furniture.” She chuckles, but tears rim her eyes. “All the people they hurt, the families they’ve destroyed, to keep their haves and have-nots separate. You’d think you’d at least have fancy furniture. A golden toilet, maybe?” She cackles again, so hard it’s contagious. I barrel over.
“Your toilet was much better,” I say when the mood settles.
“This was a bold move, Quell. Willam will come around. Since I found him half dead, discarded by Beaulah Perl’s Draguns, he’s only set foot outside of our houses for food. I always went to trade and deal.”
Bumps skitter up my arms as I remember the cracked column scar atWillam’s throat. Perhaps he isn’t the same Willam she knew before she was imprisoned. Because hehasleft the safe house. He’s at least been to a tattoo shop recently to cover his scar. But I keep my mouth shut. She wants me to be hopeful. And I want that, too.
“He won’t be easily won over. He can’t. Or he’d be a terrible protector. You understand?”
“I do.”
She pets my shoulder. “Your mother always believed you’d do great things.”
My gaze hits the floor. I believe that. But I’ve realized since binding with toushana, she also made me spend my whole life hiding.“You talk about her as if you knew her well.”
“You know what it’s like in our house. That shouldn’t surprise you. Willam knew her even better.”
I sit on the bed, resting my chin on my hands, trying to make sense of this mother who saw something in me. She feared for my life because of how different I am. It was her way of loving me, but it also taught me to erase myself. Something I had to fight to overcome.
“They used to play chess until the wee hours of the night. Your mother was very good. She was like a sister to him for the short time we had her. Sometimes Willam would sing outside your door to help you get to sleep. Did you know that?”
I knead my hands together until the color leaves my fingers.
She moves to the window. “Tell me about that rose garden.”
I join her, gazing out at the overgrown bushes.
“Your mother loved those roses. She talked about them at dinner once, and no one believed her. A rose that didn’t smell.”
I nod because I can’t find words.
“She said she ran away a lot when she was a teen, returning after a few days. But each time, she told me, your grandmother would plant black roses in her garden, hoping that wherever she was, if trouble found her, the roses would help her escape death.”
“If only it worked.”
Knox grabs my hand. “Rhea told us she wasn’t ever going back, joking about how many roses your grandmother would be planting. When you both left, the papers talked about Headmistress Marionne going on an indefinite sabbatical for mental health. Her fitness to lead was being questioned because she insisted on spendingmonthsuprooting her entire garden and replanting it. By hand. Alone. Your and your mother’s absence were mentioned in the article, so I knew you hadn’t returned home. Odd, don’t you think?”
I watch the garden, recalling the strange way the roses seem to know who I am, ruminating over the grandmother I thought I knew.Had I known her at all?I stare, speechless, into the bleakness beyond the window, a once-beautiful garden choked by weeds. My grandmother kept so many secrets. So did my mom. I didn’t know them at all. Toushana tremors in my bones, and the roses outside tilt in my direction.
A knock at the door makes my heart leap. It’s Willam.
“Everyone’s tucked away for the evening.” Willam strides inside. “Quell, I was short with you earlier, and I shouldn’t have been. I’m sorry.”
Questions claw at my skull. The Healer. Jordan. IneedWillam’s help. But now is not the time.
“Let’s talk once you’ve settled,” I say. “In an hour or so.”
Willam sighs, but agrees. He might need time to digest. He might actually care deeply about me and just be scared. But I can only give him so much time. Jordan’s life and my magic are on the line.
And two womendiedso that I could be here to fight for what I want.
