Ahead of her, Thaddeus began whispering to Melanie, leaning on her for support. There was steel in that woman. She’d make a good sailor, if she didn’t have ambitions here. Which she obviously did.
“It will be okay,” Jocasta heard Melanie say. “You’re not alone.”
“You don’t understand. What I did.”
Jocasta cringed at the whining in Thaddeus’s voice. She didn’t know if it was remorse, fear, or pain that was causing it. While Willow may not have been seeking active revenge on him, she also hadn’t taken any steps to heal him.
“Enough crying,” Jocasta said, squaring her shoulders and pushing past them. “We’re almost there. Try to act like a man for once.”
She didn’t even bother glancing at them as she passed.
The sound of a horn being blown in warning split the air. They’d been seen from the sentries of Towering Oaks. That was a good sign. At least they still had sentries.
Jocasta quickened her pace, passing Darius and Willow as well and taking the lead.
When they neared the Towering Oaks compound, the door to the main tree opened and two men exited. Jocasta recognized the one as Orlando. The one who’d come to visit her at Whispering Pines and struck up what he thought of as a friendship with Darius. A bit of a fool, perhaps. But Shireen’s mate as well, and Jocasta knew that Shireen would suffer fools no more than she herself would, so there might be more to him.
She didn’t know the other man. He was tall, even for one of the Folk, and held himself with the air of one who was ready for anything, capable of stepping to any challenge. It was an appearance that she could recognize. She’d seen it often enough in the mirror.
“Solomon,” Willow said behind her, the relief evident in her voice.
“Oh, shit.” The voice was hushed and came from a few paces further back. Jocasta didn’t need to turn to know it was Thaddeus.
Well, this should be good.
She slowed down to let Willow walk past her. The healer let go of Darius’s hand and climbed the steps, folding Solomon into a tight hug. She stepped back and spoke in hushed tones. Jocasta couldn’t hear what was said, but saw Solomon’s eyes flicker to Thaddeus a few times, and once or twice to Darius as well.
Then he looked directly at her.
There was something there. Something that she recognized.
Solomon was a handsome man, even with the scar running down the side of his face and the black eyepatch. It wasn’t that, though. The world was full of handsome men and Jocasta had had her share of them. This was something else …
He smiled at her, an easy, soft expression that came with no malice, no mockery. It was the simple smile of someone that knew his own worth and wasn’t overly worried about what anyone else thought.
Her own smile was more of a grimace in response. What was going on here?
He and Orlando came down from the steps. Orlando moved to Darius while Solomon came directly to her, hand held out in greeting.
“Jocasta,” he said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, although I wish it was under better circumstances. I’m Solomon.”
She took his hand and shook it, finding herself unexpectedly pleased by his simple use of names, rather than honorifics.
“Nice to meet you, too,” she said. Then, she remembered where they were and why they were there. “Whispering Pines isn’t going to crawl, you know.”
Her protest sounded ridiculous and out of place. A stupid thing to say.
“Good to know,” Solomon replied. “Nor should it. We’ll work together to solve what’s going on. It’s not only here, you know. I need help with another place, too, but we can talk about that.”
A politician’s answer, yet, somehow, it didn’t feel that way coming from him. From Solomon, it felt like nothing more than the simple truth.
He smiled at her and moved away. She followed his progress as he passed Darius with a nod and stepped to Thaddeus.
The mage had stopped, his eyes downcast. For her part, Melanie glared at Solomon, and although she didn’t say anything, she never looked away from him either.
Yes, there was steel in that one.
“Thaddeus,” Solomon said. His voice was quiet, almost serene. There was none of the menace in it that Jocasta, and apparently Thaddeus, had been expecting.
“Solomon,” Thaddeus muttered.
“Willow’s vouched for you. Don’t make her regret it.”
“Things have changed,” Thaddeus said, finally lifting his eyes to meet Solomon’s. “And so have I.”
“Good. We can use your skills, I think. After it all, we can talk about what comes next.”
Thaddeus nodded. Solomon returned it, then started back toward the main tree. He stopped and looked back at Thaddeus.
“I’m glad you’re alive,” he said. “But you should know. Celia is back as well. I’m not sure what your reception with her will be.”
Jocasta narrowed her eyes. So, Celia had returned, and with her, the number one threat to her position as Head of House Whispering Pines.
Somehow, that thought didn’t really bother her anymore.
“Let’s go in,” Solomon was saying. “We’ll set up in a conference room, compare notes and figure a way out of this mess.”
He led the way into the massive tree.
Chapter 74
Like almost everything else about the Towering Oaks compound, Darius decided, the room Solomon led them to was utilitarian. A large table, grown from the floor itself, with chairs around it dominated the room. It was a room made to hold several people at once, to discuss serious matters, and that was it.
A perfect place for what they needed to talk about, even if too austere for Darius’s
