Page 12 of The Verdant Cage
It made no sense. Whatever had happened to Dad was an accident, a freak animal attack. There were hundreds of acres of wilderness surrounding the Valley, and even the youngest among us knows not to wander too far into it. I studied the corpse, the pieces of my father lying in a bed of wildflowers at my feet, and I began floating away from myself as my mother continued to shriek her apologies to the sky.
Eventually, I heard leaves crunching. Footfalls sounded in the distance, but I paid them no mind. I didn’t even care if whatever killed my father came back for me next. Mom seemed to, though. She gasped and scrambled toward me, as if remembering for the first time that I was there. I didn’t fault her. No one knew how they’d react in the face of tragedy.
I, myself, felt nothing at all.
“Rose, you must be careful,” she hissed, grabbing my face, saying those words to me for the first of what would be hundreds, thousands, of times. “Promise me, baby,” she said fiercely, her hands slick with my father’s blood. “Promise me you’ll be good. That you’ll follow every rule. Learn from this, Rosie. Don’t draw attention to yourself. You and your brother’s lives depend on it.”
I’d meant to choke out a small assent between her sobs. To let her know I’d do whatever she asked. But the moment my mouth opened, so too did my heart, and I screamed instead.
That’s when the Guardians appeared.
.
I don’t remember who was in the party that searched the woods, or when we were told it was a wild mountain lion that’d mauled my father. I don’t think I ever fully forgave Mom for surely being the reason he diverted into the forest that day—picking flowers, as he was always wont to do for her.
It was only later that night, in the cottage, as Gran handed me a steaming mug of honeyed mint tea, that I began to feel the horror of it descend past my head and into my body. I dropped the mug and ran to the sink to throw up everything I’d eaten.
The teachings at home changed that day.
Mom, who’d always instilled in Jonas and me a healthy respect for the Valley’s systems and institutions, began to go at it with something like mania.Learn the rules like your own name.Never talk back. Draw no attention to yourself.
I came to believe that if I made one misstep, my family would suffer like my father had. It was on my shoulders to keep them safe, and the only way to do it was to follow the rules absolutely. That’s when I started twisting the skin between my pointer finger and thumb, a reminder not to let heretical words escape my lips. From that day forward, I’d stayed completely in line—right up until I was told I couldn’t care for my elderly patients.
I shake my head, returning to the now, to Misia’s kitchen. I realize with a start that she’s staring at me, expecting a response. What had she said to me?
We’re being hunted, Rose. You of all people should respect that, given what happened to your father.
“I’m sorry, but I’ve never seen one of the predators.” I shudder, and it isn’t faked. “Though you’re right, I’ve witnessed their handiwork.”
The creature that got my father ate the body he’d been bringing to the Guardians, too. Years went by without another attack, to the point that we’d hoped those two deaths had been an anomaly. But eight months ago, two more Guardians were killed. One I saw, her bones shattered, skin hanging off her in sheets. The body of the second had been placed directly into the Harvest basket, covered, so I don’t know what shape he’d been found in.
That’s when the curfew was rolled out and the whipping posts built. I’m wondering why the restrictions weren’t put in place at the time of the first animal attack—probably no one would have accepted them back then—when Misia lashes out at me.
“It must be nice to be so sheltered.” Her words drip with sarcasm.
“Sorry,” I say again.
I don’t know why I keep apologizing, but it seems to calm her. The deep line between her brows disappears. She finishes cinching her belt and slides her sword into an attached sheath. With her lean, muscled frame, short hair, and the triple line tattoo branding her upper cheek, she’s the picture of ferocity.
“No need to apologize. You haven’t seen the beasts because we’re doing our job,” she says. “Pray we keep it up.”
I think she’s turning to leave when she glances at me, her eyes glittering with the same malice I witnessed in Jarek yesterday. “By the way,” she says, “I was mistaken last night when I told Gryphon that your dress was wet and that’s why you couldn’t wear it to bed.Sorry,” she says, mocking my string of apologies.
She glides a wicked-looking blade into each of her wrist braces and steps outside into the overcast day.
7
I find my wedding dress wadded up beneath a pile of dirty rags in the laundry lean-to. It occurs to me that while Misia Tzu may be twice my age, she has the disposition of a child. One who’s dangerous and well-armed, but immature, nonetheless.
I grab my garment and shake it out, but it’s no use. It stinks like mildew. I add this latest seed of anger to the growing pile before pulling on the wrinkled gown. When I step outside onto the village’s cobblestone paths, I inhale deeply of the smoky air, noticing a sharp green edge to the scent. The Foresters must be burning recently cleared foliage.
My red dress stands out like a beacon in the misty, leaden day. Thankfully, those who work outdoors are already at their tasks: Farmers finishing their fall reaping, Guardians on patrol, Carpenters shoring up the Valley’s aging structures.
I hurry toward my old home, my plan to change my clothes as quickly as possible before visiting the Record Keeper cottage. My hard-soled shoes echo on the cobblestones, just as they did yesterday. Through a window, I spot the Baker’s daughter up to her elbows in flour. Before my conscious brain can counter the habit, I think to bring home a currant tart for Jonas, and an arrow of grief pierces my heart.
Only a handful of others join me on the narrow stone path winding through our thatch-roofed village, and all of them quickly glance away. I don’t think it’s the dress or even the odor.
They know I’m Jonas’s sister.
