Page 34 of Those Fatal Flowers

“Let’s only worry about the bodies today,” Raidne says.“Once their stink is gone, I want to savor sifting through our treasure.”

“I might head to the beach early,” I say slowly, bracing myself for the coming backlash.

“You don’t want to go to the lake first?” Raidne’s voice is laced with concern. After the last hundred or so times our youth was restored, Pisinoe and I snuck away to the clandestine pool in the center of Scopuli’s forest to admire ourselves in the water’s glassy reflection and to anoint ourselves with it. Although a relatively new habit given our age, it’s already become somewhat of a tradition. Pisinoe’s face crumples so quickly that Raidne doesn’t have time to press me further before she displays a rare moment of kindness. “I’ll go with you, Pisinoe.”

Pisinoe tries to muster a smile, but we both know Raidne’s mood will last only so long. “Why the rush to go to the beach?”

Only some semblance of the truth will keep their curiosity at bay; they’ll be able to smell an outright lie. “She’s trying to tell me something.”

Pisinoe raises an eyebrow and turns to Raidne, whose back has straightened. Even after all these years, they aren’t sure what to believe about the lilies or my insistence that they’re messages from Proserpina.

“I can’t shake the feeling maybe there’s something she wants me to find. It sounds silly, I know, but I just…I want to look.”

What if, out there in the surf, there lies a clue to the man’s purpose?

“Of course,” Pisinoe murmurs, and she slides in to wrap her arms around me. It’s only inside her embrace that I realize I’m shaking. “We’ll join you later, after sunrise.”

“Thank you.” My voice quivers under the weight of both my appreciation for their understanding and the guilt ofwithholding the entire truth from them. The room falls silent as I collect a bladder of water and a pouch full of meat and nuts they assume are intended for me. I’m about to push my way outside when Raidne speaks.

“Thelxiope, wait—” she says, and I turn to meet her gaze. “If you don’t find anything…try not to read too much into it, all right? If Proserpina could reach you, I know that she would.”

Would she? The words sting for a reason Raidne doesn’t understand, but I force a nod to acknowledge that I heard her, then disappear into the early morning darkness.

The moon’s position in the sky tells me that I have two hours before dawn.

Nerves scratch at my stomach lining as I tumble over the cliff’s edge to descend to the beach. For now I ignore the battered pieces of wood and other detritus strewn about the sand. The tide is low, and the waves gently lap at the ever-shifting edge between the land and the sea. My path is hidden in the shadow of the escarpment, but I still feel exposed as I scramble down the strip of beach untouched by the waves. I’m a lone dot on a wide stretch of shore, an easy target for the what ifs.

What if Raidne and Pisinoe catch me? What if the man’s gone? What if he’s dead?

What if he’s dangerous?

All men are dangerous.

What if Proserpina never speaks?

I force my focus to the vertical cliff face to my left, an unscalable wall of gray granite. The grotto where I left the sailor appears, its maw a dare. The opening is evident only by its darkness, a somehow blacker void against the rest of thecliff’s shadows. I curse myself for forgetting a candle, and a metallic tang rises in the back of my throat—the taste, I realize with surprise, is fear. When was the last time I was afraid on Scopuli? I can’t recall. It’s been so long since I didn’t know exactly what my future held.

My right foot takes a reluctant step forward and my left follows suit.Right, left, right:The words guide me until I’m standing at the cave’s threshold, on the precipice between outside and in. Here, my feet lose their motivation. I waver, allowing shapes the time to slowly emerge from the unimaginable blackness: Small stalactites just a tad brighter than the nothingness behind them hang from the ceiling, and boulders are scattered along the ground. Pools of water, trapped here from the last high tide, circle the stones’ varying circumferences.

The rock where I left the man comes into focus. I crane my neck to try to find his broken frame, but it’s no use. I need to fully enter the cave to know for sure.

Right, left, right.As I peer around the stone, my mouth goes dry. He’s gone.

“Damnit.” I take a few more steps into the cliff’s cavity.

A swift force hits me bluntly in the back of the head, and I fall forward, my face barely missing the cave’s wall. Before I can call out in surprise, a large weight presses into my spine, cramping my wings, pushing me farther into the dirt. A rough hand grabs my hair at my crown, and something cool and metallic slides against my throat. It’s a blade. The irony isn’t lost on me.

This can’t be what she wants, can it?

A deep voice growls in my ear, but he speaks no words. The knife presses harder against my flesh, but it doesn’t yet slice.

I nearly laugh with relief, despite my current position. Iwas afraid that I’d lost him, but he was lying in wait the entire time, as much a predator as I. His attack caught me by surprise, but he’s woefully mistaken if he thinks he can keep me pinned here. I’m far too strong for him.

“Clever.” The sound of a woman’s voice coming from the winged creature beneath him must shock the sailor, because he lightens the pressure on the blade. “But how are you not enchanted?”

“What are you?” He ignores my question. Although his voice is cold, there’s a sliver of curiosity lurking beneath the ice.

“What, exactly, I can’t say, but I’m the one who saved you. You washed ashore yesterday. I hid you here to keep you safe.”

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