Bound by Blood and Sand
Page 71

“As safe as we can be,” Gali said.
Shirrad nodded. “And now you’re with us, home. You saved our lives, and this…this is your home as much as it is mine, with everything you’ve done for us.”
“I can’t stay,” Jae said at last, pushing the bowl away from her. She glanced at Elan, who nodded a little bit.
“Why not? Where will you go?” Shirrad asked.
“To break the Curse,” Jae said. She looked at Gali, met her gaze for the first time since she’d come inside. “This isn’t freedom. It’s just…being left alone. You deserve the real thing. And I promised Tal I would make that happen.”
“And you really think you can,” Gali breathed.
Jae nodded. The knife was out there somewhere, binding the Curse. They just had to find it.
“I’d love to know if we can help,” Shirrad said, twisting her words to avoid a question, just like a Closest would.
Now it was Jae’s turn to stare, surprised. Everything really was different. Elan had changed so much, Tal was gone, and Shirrad…Shirrad was eating with the Closest, speaking like them, and willing to help them. Maybe Tal’s sacrifice had given the world that, too.
“No,” Jae said. “I have to do it alone—”
“Not alone,” Elan said.
She looked at him. She’d need his help to find the knife, so he was right. “Not alone. But we need to leave—”
“Soon,” he said, interrupting again. “In a day or two, after we’ve had a chance to rest.”
She frowned, wanting to get started as soon as possible. His expression didn’t waver under her sharp look, and he was probably right. He was the one who’d made her stop and rest in the desert, who’d forced her to eat and drink when she’d been too haunted to care. So she nodded, letting him make this decision, too.
“Of course,” Shirrad said. “You can stay as long as you like. Here, you eat. I’ll go draw you both baths—we have plenty of water for it now. There’s so much water. You’ll feel better when you’re clean.”
Elan smiled and thanked her, and Jae picked at her food. Then she followed Gali to Lady Shirrad’s bathing chamber, washed the mud and sand off. By the time she’d finished, Elan had trimmed his beard and hair. He looked more like when he’d first come to Aredann, now that he was better groomed, but with the beard he looked older, and he was leaner, sharper, not so careless. When he saw Jae looking at him, he smiled, and it looked more genuine than it ever had in those first few days.
Shirrad offered them a set of rooms that the Avowed had once used, and Jae accepted, because she couldn’t stand the thought of her mat in the Closest’s quarters without Tal on the next mat over. She dried and dressed but didn’t head straight up to sleep.
Instead she wandered down a long, dusty hall and into the garden. Elan followed her a minute later, looking around.
The cactus was in bloom now, and for the first time Jae could remember, lush grass blanketed the whole yard, even where it shouldn’t have, growing up between the orange rocks of the path. Bright flowers bloomed around the fountain, and the bushes were deep green and overgrown.
“I like the garden like this,” Elan said. “It reminds me of you.”
“I didn’t do this,” Jae said. “I never got the grass to grow.”
“Yes, you did,” he said. “Look at it, all of this. It’s wild, and beautiful, and you’re the only one who could do this.”
She frowned, but maybe he was right. This was her garden, not Shirrad’s; it wasn’t beautifully trimmed, laid out carefully, well kept so it could compete with what they had in the central cities. Instead it was wild, growing how it wanted to, lush and alive. Hers.
There was only one thing wrong: the fountain. It was still dormant, though that was less obvious now that the plants were growing around it. There was water in the trough, though, deposited there by rain. A good start.
She walked over to it, grass tickling her bare, callused feet, and laid her hands inside, one matching up with where she felt the palm print, though she couldn’t see it under the water.
“Maybe…,” she murmured, and shut her eyes, used other-vision to examine the fountain. There was plenty of water around the estate now, and no reason it shouldn’t have flowed in, but—there it was. An old clog, ancient mud that was more like rock now. All Jae needed was a moment’s concentration. She reached out toward the clog, pushed, broke it down until water swept the remnants away and flowed freely.
A minute later, water burbled out of the top of the fountain, then cascaded down. Cool to the touch, beautiful, surrounded by flowers. She cupped her palms under it and drank.
The fountain had been Janna’s gift. The water was Tal’s. Jae looked back at Elan, caught his eye, and he nodded his approval. They’d been given all this, and with it, a chance.
With Elan’s help, Jae was going to break the Curse. That would be their gift.
She held out her hand, and Elan took it, held it gently, and led her back inside, the fountain still flowing behind them.