Roses in Winter by Penelope Daniels

Author:Penelope Daniels [Daniels, Penelope]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-03-19T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Hoarfrost had come in the night and settled on the trees leaving glittering ice crystals all across the mountainside. After dressing for the morning, Alina visited Gladstone in the stables, bringing him carrots and apples which she had requested from the fabrics.

After a small breakfast, Alina was back in the library, pouring over the pages of the journal, trying to remember certain words of the language she hadn’t spoken since childhood. It was difficult work and slow, and she knew Edward was anxious for what she might find.

Today he didn’t seem as desperate for answers as he had the day before. It was possible that he didn’t want to pressure her, trusting her to work as fast as she was able. He spent most of the morning away from her, using his time to clean up the study

The journal wasn’t written like instructions, with clear pages separating each topic. Instead it was mostly chronological, the writings describing Edward’s father’s daily thoughts and routines. Once or twice he mentioned meeting with a local woman beyond the boundaries of the military encampment, but he gave no details except that she had memories of some power that had been forgotten. Alina was sure this was what she was looking for, but every time she kept reading, hoping to find some answer, the journal cut off and he went back to discussing training or other mundane daily tasks. She tried to flip ahead and skim for words that might help her find what she was looking for, but the writing was cramped and it was difficult to find any single word.

From what Alina could remember of her grandmother’s stories, the land of her childhood was rich with superstition and folklore and there were those who still believed in the old traditions. Traditions that certainly included dark magic and curses.

By midday her vision felt strained and she closed her eyelids, rubbing them with her palms. Edward hadn’t come with her to the library this morning and she missed his company. She wasn’t sure when she started to feel that way, but she felt most content knowing that he was near.

Standing to stretch her tired joints, Alina moved to one of the tall windows, peering out into the front courtyard below. Fingers of fog still crept over the mountaintop, but the sun had already begun to chase them away. Looking down, she saw Edward. He was standing in the snow near the gates, crouching low to the ground with something in his hand. His fingers were outstretched and when she followed where they pointed, she saw a little red fox sitting just outside the iron bars. The small animal crept forward and ate something off the ground before retreating behind the gate again. Alina watched the scene for several minutes until the little fox stepped all the way up to Edward’s hand and sniffed his fingertips before taking whatever scrap he held there and retreating back into the woods. Thinking back to the evening in

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