A Life Earthbound (20 page)

She just shook her head. He would never understand the reason. How could he? He’d been raised to embrace love, and she’d been raised to conceal it.

“I have work to do,” she told him, pushing past him to head back to the castle, her hands clenched tightly around her basket and her pace swift.

He didn’t even watch her walk away. That image had been burned into his mind years ago.

She walked briskly
down the corridor with the basket still in her hands, needing to be alone.

She wished Liam would just accept her refusal and move on. She wanted him to be happy, and she knew that as long as he was fixated on her, he would never be satisfied. She couldn’t give him what he wanted, what he needed–it was impossible.

And whatever it was that had happened between them when they’d been teenagers was nothing more than a fluke. She wasn’t that girl anymore. She’d changed, grown and matured beyond silly hopes and dreams that could never come true. And yet, she knew that he remained ageless. He was still the same person he’d always been. Kind, carefree, charming…and she was just cold, detached and reserved.

Distracted and annoyed from dwelling on it, she almost didn’t see her mother and Thea leaving the garden room and almost ran into them.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she apologized, bowing her head slightly.

“Goodness, Rhiannon, watch where you’re going,” Serendipity chided. “You’ll mow us all down if you’re not careful.” Her eyes shot to the basket in Rhiannon’s hands. “And what are you doing pruning the roses without gloves? I know you are careless around anything with thorns.”

Rhiannon was used to her mother’s nagging. “I was careful, mother.”

Thea, watching the exchange, couldn’t hide the pity she felt. “She’s a grown girl, Serendipity, capable of taking care of herself.”

Serendipity continued to stare critically at her daughter. “Clearly not. Why is your face flushed, Rhiannon? Do you have a fever?”

She reached out to lay her hand on Rhiannon’s forehead, clucking as she did so. “Thea, I told you a rainy day was a bad idea. She went out in the rain without a coat and now she has a fever.”

“It’s barely raining outside,” Rhiannon argued, batting her mother’s hand away. “I’m perfectly fine.”

“If you’re fine, then why is your skin flushed and hot?” her mother demanded.

Thinking of Liam, Rhiannon clenched the basket in her hands tighter. “I was walking too fast, that’s all.”

Sighing impatiently, Serendipity turned to Thea. “Anyway, he says he should be free to come by in a couple of weeks. Perhaps we’ll get together and discuss the details then.”

“Perhaps,” Thea nodded as Serendipity turned and swept down the corridor, heading to the Muses’ tower. Turning to face Rhiannon, Thea smiled. “Can I speak with you for a moment?”

“Of course,” Rhiannon obliged, a bit confused but relieved her mother was out of her hair for now. She followed Thea into the garden room and set the basket of roses beside one of the lounge chairs. As she did, Bane loped toward her, grinning wolfishly. She took a seat and ran her hands over his fur, comforted by his presence.

“He’s missed you,” Thea said as she sat across from Rhiannon, tucking her legs underneath her.

Rhiannon looked up with a polite smile. “I’ve been so busy lately. Maybe when things quiet down I’ll be able to visit more often.”

“Mmm, yes,” Thea murmured, watching her Earth Dryad carefully, humbled by the girl’s seriousness and dedication to her work. She was, by far, the most talented Dryad on Euphora, and Thea had always been proud of her. But she had seen the sacrifices Rhiannon had made to become who she was. She’d virtually missed having a childhood and, under her parents’ instruction, devoted everything she had to being an Earth Dryad. Thea couldn’t have asked for more dedication than that.

But had it been worth it? She watched the girl now, and saw cool, reserved beauty, a sharp, intelligent mind, and an undoubtedly closed and protected heart. While she understood the desire to be cautious, she would never understand the deeply rooted need for it.

“How is your father doing, Rhiannon?” she asked, noting how the girl stiffened at the question.

Rhiannon knew if there was anyone on Euphora she could be honest with, it was Thea. Therefore she decided to divulge what little she knew.

“He’s been depressed, that much I can tell. He won’t speak to me about it, but that’s not unusual. We never discuss things like that, so I wouldn’t even know how to ask him…” Biting her lip worriedly, she felt her brow crease as she met Thea’s eyes. “I’m concerned, Thea, really concerned. But I don’t know what to do.”

“I don’t know if there’s much any of us can do at this point,” Thea sighed, tossing back her dark curls with a frown. “Rohan has always been an introverted soul. He doesn’t see the need to display his feelings, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t in there. It will just take the right person to bring him out of his shell and get him to talk about it.”

“Haven’t you talked to my mother about this? Surely she should at least be trying to reassure him that what happened with Brock meant nothing,” Rhiannon said then, a bit frostily. “After all, she’s in the wrong here and he’s hurt because of her actions. I have seen her do little to repent.”

“Your mother is, shall we say, shallow in her focus,” Thea replied, her lips curving. “She doesn’t see past the surface to what’s happening underneath. Your father forgave her with words and so she assumes all is fine. But he has yet to forgive her with his heart.”

“But she must see how much pain he is in!” Rhiannon shot back. Sensing the tension, Bane snuggled against her legs in an attempt to comfort.

“I don’t think anyone has noticed, except for you and me, Rhiannon,” Thea said softly, her dark eyes sympathetic. “The only reason I can see it is because I’ve been around long enough to see the cause and effect of such things and so I anticipated his silent suffering. And you can see it because you have always been in tune with him, in a way I don’t even think he realizes.”

“But I don’t know how to talk to him about this. He doesn’t let me in.”

Thea smiled knowingly. “Frustrating, isn’t it?”

Rhiannon’s eyes narrowed, wondering she meant.

“In any event, I fear you are the only one who can help him, my dear. If not, he may wallow inside himself for years to come and eventually wither away from it.”

The thought of losing him startled her, as she hadn’t considered that a possibility. “No, that won’t happen. He’s going to be fine.”

“Only with your help,” Thea insisted, watching her closely. “You’re all he has.”

With a solemn nod, Rhiannon glanced at Bane and stroked her hand through the fur on his head. His golden eyes looked up at her adoringly.

“I should really get back to work,” she said, rising to her feet.

“Oh, before you go,” Thea began, tilting her head up to watch Rhiannon with curious eyes. “Are you currently involved with anyone…romantically?”

Confused, Rhiannon lifted her basket off the floor and held it close. It bothered her that the question had brought Liam’s face to her mind. “No, not at all. Why?”

For a brief moment, Thea didn’t say anything. Rhiannon had the distinct feeling that Mother Earth knew more than what she was letting on. “Alright. You’ll see, in time.”

Understanding she was dismissed, Rhiannon bowed her head and left the room, shutting the door behind her.

Rhiannon busied herself in the kitchen.

Since she was thirteen, she’d been coming to the kitchen to help the fairies prepare meals, mostly in secret. At first it had been just a place to go to essentially hide away for a few hours, especially when things were too much for her to handle. She always knew she could come here and lose herself in what she considered a fun and safe hobby: cooking.

Not to mention over the years she’d developed an impressive herb and vegetable garden in the tiny greenhouse just off the side of the kitchen. Eventually, her secret had been unearthed, but her father and Thea had managed to convince her mother that it was important for her to have a hobby and at least her hobby was educational and productive. Serendipity had finally given in when she’d sampled one of Rhiannon’s tomatoes and deemed it ‘suitable.’

And, busying herself with creating new recipes and assisting the fairies in cooking gave her a sense of satisfaction she rarely felt elsewhere, other than with her Dryad work. Even though the fairies couldn’t speak to her, they knew her and appreciated her, which was more than she had ever received from her coolly detached parents. It was a comfort in itself to go to the kitchen and know that she was welcome there.

It was late in the afternoon, and the fairies were cleaning the castle, leaving the kitchen peaceful and quiet. It was a good sized and well lit space, with red brick walls covered with cabinets on three sides, and big bay windows and a small greenhouse attached to the fourth. The cabinets were a rich, golden birch wood while the counters were made of butcher block. The kitchen housed a fridge, freezer, double oven, a gas cook top and an oversized cooper farmhouse sink.

A large walk in pantry off to the side housed not only a sizeable wine cellar, but an entire stockpile of dry goods such as flour, sugar and all the staples one could need. Everything from the bread they ate to the coffee they drank was all made from scratch. Sometimes Rhiannon wondered if anyone realized the time and effort the fairies and she put into the dishes that were served to them. It seemed to her that if one day the fairies didn’t do their job and the food didn’t magically appear on the table, then most of the Council would simply starve with no clue how to feed themselves.

She, at least, had made sure to understand what most of the others quite simply forgot to even think about. It was simply her way.

Kneeling beside her tomato plants in the small greenhouse, she carefully pruned and enhanced the stalks, gently lifting leaves to examine her ripening creations. Lifting one of the plumper tomatoes in her hand, she closed her eyes and let her power course through her palm and into the tomato, assessing its maturity and vitamin content. Satisfied, she placed it in a basket at her side, and moved on to another plant.

She wore her gardening slacks, casual linen the color of khaki, and a short sleeved white blouse that she miraculously managed to keep dirt free. Her dark hair was piled on top of her head in a loose bun, with a few pieces escaping to fall near her face. She brushed at one of them impatiently with the back of her hand as she lifted branches and examined what had grown.