Vines and Vices by Kate Sparkes

Author:Kate Sparkes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kate Sparkes

Jes rushed through her errand in the market before hurrying to the place Cas had rented. The cottage was smaller than the home Mav had bought but excessively well-maintained. Even this early in the spring some talented gardener had forced an abundance of flowers to bloom in the front garden, and the wooden fence had been freshly painted. Jes knocked on the front door as lightly and rapidly as her heart was beating in her chest.

It was several minutes and a few harder knocks before anyone answered.

“Garen!” Jes cried, overcome with relief when the soldier answered the door. If Garen was here, surely Cas was, too. “Thank goodness. I need to speak to Balthazar.”

The guard eyed her with a mixture of suspicion and concern. “Is everything all right, my lady?”

“Oh, yes. I just... need to speak with him.”

“He’s gone. Isn’t he having tea with you and your mother?”

“He is.” Her mind went blank. “He’s there now?”

“He said he needed to make a few stops on his way, but that was his eventual destination, yes.” Garen stepped aside, holding the door open. “Would you like to come in and sit for a moment? You look tired.”

Jes forced a smile. “No, thank you. I thought he’d like to walk together. Do you know where he was planning to stop along the way?”

Garen shook his head. “He’ll reach your home soon enough, I’m sure.”

“Thank you.”

Jes waited until the door was closed before she took off running, cutting behind houses and through gardens, trying desperately not to dirty her dress or slippers but unwilling to leave Cas alone with Mav and her questions for even a moment.

When she reached home, she took a moment to calm her breathing and run her fingers through her hair before she stepped into the kitchen and set her shopping basket beside the basin. “There’s bread here, Nell.”

The servant girl looked up from her work at one end of the long, wooden table where she was putting the finishing touches on a plate of sandwiches. “We got plenty, but thanks.”

“But Mother said you needed—”

Jes’s question ended as Mav entered the kitchen from the dining room, and Jes’s breath left her. Mav wore an understated charcoal-grey gown and jacket, perfectly appropriate for afternoon tea, but around her neck hung a gold pendant depicting the spreading boughs and roots of a mighty oak tree.

A piece of the giants’ treasure Jes had left under her bed.

White spots appeared in front of Jes’s eyes.

Don’t run. If you run now, you have nothing.

“Nell, is everything ready?” Mav asked.

“Yes’m.”

“Good. Take the food to the table, then see to the parlour. It still looks a bit dusty, and I won’t have it with royalty visiting.”

“Yes’m.” Nell picked up the plates and hurried out, as though relieved to escape the tension that hung thick in the air.

“Well?”

Jes stood frozen and silent, unsure of what she could say that wouldn’t make everything worse.

Mav stepped closer, her gaze locked on Jes’s. “Is there anything you want to tell me?”

Jes opened her mouth, but couldn’t speak.

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