Page 28 of Locked
"No need, dearheart, I don't have any. This isn't my fault. It's likely yours from staring at that tablet screen for too long… you're still posting regularly on your blog, I noticed."
"Only short posts, Mother. I don't want to lose any readers."
"Who cares? I honestly don't see what business it is of any of them what you're doing up in this tower. It's likelymen, entertaining some fantasy of whisking you away to safety or to live with them and cook their dinner and cleantheirhomes. Be some little kitchen witch like that woman who gave birth to you…" she sneered openly at the thought.
"I'm not a kitchen witch, though…" I said quietly. "I'm a green witch. Like you, Mother." Not that it mattered. There was no real distinction, other than where our magic was strongest.
"Yes, I know that," she snapped.
I had the good sense to wince. I was still supposed to have a headache.
"Stop wincing. You're making me feel bad for you and this is likely your fault," she said, still wagging her finger at me.
"I'm sorry, Mother…" I said slowly.
"Well, do better, Rapunzel. Those people who comment on your blog. They're just waiting for an opportunity to see you naked. They don't care about you. They want a visual for their nighttime fantasies, nothing more. They're going to leave you like all your other friends have done. Mark my words, by the time you're tired of this blog, you'll have me and Basil, just like always. But if you wait too long, you might not even have him…" She glanced down at my cat, who winced at the words.
"What?" I asked, bewildered by her words. She wasn't taking Basil from me. She just wasn't.
"He's getting old, darling. If you wait too long, he's going to betooold. Frail. We'll have to put him down."
Put him down??? Like hell I was going to allow that. Basil was my first true friend.
"He's fine," I assured her. "And I don't spend all that much time on my blog. It only takes me about ten minutes to make posts. I don't even reply to or even read all the comments that are left there. It's just like a diary for me."
"One that everyone can read," she added, nodding her head once like I was to blame for that or something. Like it was my fault the internet existed.
If she didn't have me locked up in this tower, no one would find me very interesting at all, and I wouldn't be having this problem in the first place!
But I didn't say any of that. I wasn't stupid. I just needed to get the perisage from her and then everything would be fine.
I wasn't letting her get into my head about my guys either. There was no way she knew anything about how I'd been cultivating more than just herbs in this tower. Manipulation was just the way she got things done. She made things out to be more than they were in order to get her way.
Besides, the only thing I was doing was video chatting. It wasn't as if I was sneaking them in. Even if wehadtalked about it, we both knew it wasn't going to happen.
It just wasn't possible. It was a nice fantasy, but it would never happen.
And I definitely wasn't going to run off and leave the tower. Not when I'd probably be dead before I got down to the ground level. Squashed under tons of rubble when the arcane bomb went off.
So. There.
I had nothing to be ashamed of.
"Before I forget, I have your perisage here," she said, pulling out a handful of the clippings from one of her many pockets. "I don't know if you can propagate from that, I didn't have time to do proper cuttings."
She knew damn well and far enough in advance that I wanted to add it to my garden, but now here she was, handing me a bunch of snapped twigs and wilted leaves. She probably thought I wouldn't be able to use it for more than a tincture.
And she was right. I would be lucky to get one plant out of this sample.Ifpropagation wasn't something I excelled at.
I wasverygood at propagating from poor samples. I had to be
I would just have to disguise this in my garden so she didn't know I was growing it. So she'd think her ploy had worked.
"That's fine, Mother, I only wanted some to dry for a tincture."
She smiled widely, her shoulders relaxing as if my words had calmed her down or something.
"Very good, dearheart. I fear I cannot stay long today, I have some other errands to run. But never you mind, dear. I'm sure you'll feel better soon!"
