Page 100 of The Verdant Cage
That irritating question tries knocking at my consciousness again. It’s related to last night, to the weapons barn.
Again, I push it away.
“We’re ready,” Misia calls to the Guardians who’ve been waiting outside the door.
I’m helped to my feet and led into the dying lavender light of late afternoon. The tablet must be fully charged, not that it’ll be needed any longer, not once there’s an enormous hole in the Wall. What lie will Jarek spin for the villagers to allow him to destroy our protection and send my friends out as bait?
The Guardians guide me to the square. In front of Eden’s Gate sits the structure Eero and the other Carpenters have been building. It’s nearly fifty feet tall and twice as wide. It does indeed look like a mix between a wall and a cage.
It won’t keep out whatever lies in wait Beyond.
The trills and drums of the wedding march begin as soon as I step into view of the Minstrels. Every villager is in attendance and wearing red, as required.
I’m not nervous. I’m not scared.
I’mnumb.
The crowd parts for me, a few glancing at my shackles. Most keep their eyes trained on my face. The marriage lane ends at the stage. Gryphon is positioned on it, wearing his matrimonial reds. He’s breathtaking, just as he was at our first ceremony. He’s a Guardian carved of stone, caught between his family and his conscience, unable to fully serve either. Maybe today he’ll finally commit to the winning team.
Jarek’s.
I want to follow Gran’s advice to trust, but it’s impossible after everything I’ve experienced. Sojourner also stands on the stage, keeping separate from Jarek. Misia hurries to join her husband, inserting herself between him and Gryphon.
I continue my shuffling walk down the path, shackles biting at my skin. If I close my eyes, their metal clang almost sounds like the bells I wore last time I made this march. As I near the stage, I can see Meryl, Eero, and Oscar tied to the whipping posts beside it, facing away from the crowd. I suck air through my teeth. The backs of their shirts are shredded, the exposed skin swollen, black with blood and gore. Lozen guards them. Her face is puffy, her eyes shiny, like she’s been crying. I’m surprised they allow her this expression of emotion. Albert sits in his wheelchair on the opposite side of the stage, a sullen Marina standing beside him.
Sal’s nowhere to be seen. That, at least, is something.
My eyes rip back to Lozen, the question that’s been nagging at me suddenly at the forefront, impossible to avoid: who told Albert to shoot my mother? Because it wasn’t Jarek. He may have killed my father, but he loved my mother too much to hurt her. And murder isn’t something Albert would have done on his own. He was born a follower, his worship of Marina proof of that.
Was it Marina who commanded him? Possibly. She said she orchestrated my brother’s Harvest, after all. But I still feel something just out of reach, a trail I can’t muster the energy to follow. I stumble climbing the stairs. Jarek rushes forward to help, acting the solicitous father-in-law. I let him. What does it matter anymore? He guides me to stand next to Gryphon. Gryphon slips his arm around my waist—one of the few places I’m not cut, bruised, or stitched—but the touch barely registers.
“Thank you all for gathering to celebrate the union of my son, Gryphon Tzu of the Guardian House, and Rose Allgood, formerly of the Apothecaries,” Jarek intones. “Before we begin, I have some disturbing news to share. Nero Carter of the Farmer House?”
Nero strides onto the stage. He turns to address the villagers. He lacks Jarek’s ability to charm a crowd and launches clumsily into his message. “Rose Allgood is the traitor we’ve been searching for. We caught the girl last night with a massive cache of weapons that she must have discovered while trespassing after curfew. We believe our ancestors left them here for us to protect ourselves, and she was hoarding ’em.”
Ah, so that’s why they brought Nero to the ambush last night. Someone outside of the Guardian House to testify against me, and a Council Elder to boot. I don’t think they’ll need it. No one in the crowd moves, except a few whose eyes flash with something like venom. They’ve let themselves be led by a madman, allowed him to manufacture a tool out of their fear, one he uses against them right now, right under their noses. They’re in deep.
One by one, I hold their gazes until they look away.
I’ll be damned if I’ll let them forget that they know better.
“It was a disappointment,” Jarek says, reclaiming the stage from Nero. “But not a surprise. It’s in her blood.” He pauses long enough for the villagers to wonder what he means, then draws in a noisy breath. “We’ve recently discovered that Rose’s mother had been poisoning us.”
Gasps of disbelief and outrage burn through the crowd.
“Yes, that’s right!” he says. “Henrietta Allgood was the original traitor. We believe she may have even been the one who first discovered the weapons, later getting her children involved. That would explain why her own son murdered her, driven as he must have been to madness by her selfish crimes.” He shakes his head sadly. “The Record Keeper has much deliberating to do about how to proceed with the weapons that Rose’s family has collected. In the meanwhile, you must understand that I don’t believe it’s Rose’s fault that she strayed. She was born to it, after all. And she will soon be family.” He shoots me a magnanimous smile. “Which is why Misia and I will take over her behavioral correction. She’ll be invisible to the community for some time. Know that she’s in good hands.”
I risk a glance at Sojourner. She’s staring at the sky, her jawbone rigid.
“Now let us conduct the wedding we’ve all come here to witness, followed by a very special surprise.”
“Not without the Record Keeper.” It’s Gryphon standing next to me speaking. He’s staring at the crowd rather than his father.
“What did you say?” Jarek asks, his tone icy.
Gryphon keeps his arm around me as he raises his voice. “The Record Keeper must be present at every wedding. It’s the law.”
My heart skips. It’s true. But will Jarek care? Apparently he does.
