Thorny by Lelia Eye

Author:Lelia Eye [Eye, Lelia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780993797705
Publisher: One Good Sonnet Publishing
Published: 2014-08-31T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11: Fleece as White as Snow

In the early morning, before Elle woke up, I went out among the roses.

Every day, I would pick a rose for her and place it at the foot of the stairs to her tower before she descended for breakfast, so this was nothing new. What was new, however, was the way I felt. For some reason, overnight, all my confidence (and much of my sense of balance) had left me. I felt on edge and clumsy, unsure of what to do with myself. Should I pick two roses today? But no, three would make too many flowers for one head, wouldn’t it?

And then I had problems finding a rose I liked. While I usually didn’t have to worry about the rose matching Elle’s dress—I suspected that was thanks to the Invis, though I guess Elle sometimes rejected the outfits they chose—that was not what had me in a panic. Rather, I kept coming across roses I had given her before.

Then I had a flash of inspiration. There were trellises by the chicken coops!

I hurried to the chickens, and amid their shrieks (despite the earliness of the morning, some had already come out to greet the day), I managed to extract a pink-tipped white rose from its fellows.

Picking roses was never an easy process for me. The flower’s stem, of course, was covered with spines, and while my tongue was tough, it wasn’t so tough that it was invulnerable to a thorn. Yet this was something I wanted to do; I felt it important that I pluck the rose myself rather than having the Invis do it, even if I had to bite through the stem. My tongue suddenly wasn’t something to save at all costs anymore.

With a bleeding tongue and a thumping heart, I rushed back to the castle to place the rose at the foot of the stairs that led up to Elle’s tower. I wasn’t certain why, but I feared she had already made her way down. I was just plain antsy.

But when I went to the dining room, Elle wasn’t there yet, so I stood in front of the room and waited. I was there for a while, though, and I had to shift positions more than once, as my cape kept tangling itself in my feet.

At last, Elle appeared (had I really feared she wouldn’t?), the rose in her hair perfectly matching her dress.

“Thank you,” I muttered to the Invis, hoping they would know what I meant. Then, I gave a slight bow, managing to avoid entangling myself in my cape, and I said: “After you, milady.”

Her answering laughter was light, like a brief tinkle of yuletide bells. “Yes, milord,” she said, entering the room with mock haughtiness.

The Invis had already pushed out my chair far enough for me to jump into it, but Elle pulled it out further and with a gesture said, “Milord.”

If I had been human, my face would have turned bright red. As it was, I felt my ears go back in embarrassment.

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