Garden of the Cursed by Katy Rose Pool

Author:Katy Rose Pool
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

THIRTEEN

For a moment Marlow was certain she had heard wrong. She froze completely, no longer concerned with the vines coiling around her body.

“What the hell do you mean?” she said at last. “You tell me where my mother is!”

The woman stared at Marlow, a rattled expression on her face. She recovered quickly, eyes narrowing. “Nice try. But I don’t like having my time wasted, so quit stalling. I can promise we’re not going to harm Cassandra, not if she cooperates.”

“I’m not stalling!” Marlow replied. “I haven’t seen my mother in over a year!”

The woman pursed her lips. “Maybe you don’t know where she is, but you know how to get in contact with her.”

It dawned on Marlow that this was not a ploy. That this woman, and by extension the Black Orchid, was just as in the dark about Cassandra’s whereabouts as she was.

“Hold on.” Marlow pulled against the vines. “Is this why you’ve been following me? Because you think I’ll lead you to my mother?”

The woman worked her jaw, clearly at a loss. “We thought if there was anyone in the city who’s still in contact with her, it would be you.”

“Well, I’m not,” Marlow said. “I’ve been trying to find her.”

“You expect me to believe that she’s been gone for an entire year and hasn’t spoken a word to her only daughter?”

A knot tightened in Marlow’s chest. She felt as if this woman had taken a knife to her soft, vulnerable underbelly without even trying.

“Cast a truth spell on me, see if I’m lying,” Marlow bit out. “But let me down first.”

The woman’s gaze flicked to the vines, like she’d forgotten they were there. She hesitated.

“Let me down,” Marlow insisted. “And we can talk about this.”

“Someone’s coming,” the woman said abruptly.

“Wait, don’t—”

“If we’re seen here together, it would be bad for me and even worse for you.” She stepped back, and the shadows swallowed her up. It was a spell, Marlow realized. Something that allowed the woman to disappear when she needed to.

“We are not done!” Marlow called out uselessly. She groaned, slumping over in the restraints of the vines. “Shit.”

Even if the Black Orchid didn’t know where Cassandra was, either, they knew something about what had happened that night. And they were still on her list of suspects for Adrius’s curse. But now that they realized Marlow didn’t know her mother’s whereabouts, she wasn’t sure she’d ever see the woman again.

“Minnow?” Adrius emerged from between two tree ferns. His brows knit as he took in the sight of her strung up by vines, her feet just barely touching the ground. “What are you doing? What happened?”

“Long story. I’d really rather get down before I get into it, if you don’t mind.” She strained against the vines. “There’s a knife in my garter. Can you get it and cut me down, please?”

“Why do you have a—you know what, never mind.” He paused. “It’s under your dress?”

For once there was nothing sly about his tone, but it still made Marlow bristle.

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