“Ever since the two Heads played together as children. Great. Yeah, I get it.” Jocasta answered. “But that day is done. I don’t know their Head, and he or she doesn’t know me. It’s a new day, and House Whispering Pines will stand on its own.”
Jerome laughed. “Don’t know their Head of House? You really have been gone too long.” He chuckled again, lacing his fingers over his considerable belly. “Solomon will be their Head of House. Surely you aren’t so out of touch that you don’t know who he is.”
She glared at the overweight lord. Perhaps she would reconsider Childress’s advice regarding this one as well.
“I know perfectly well who Solomon is,” she growled. “And I don’t care. Made up stories and a magic sword don’t make him anything special in my eyes. Besides, even if the stories are true, which I doubt, all the more reason for us to be strong.”
The shocked expressions of those gathered around the table told her what they all thought of Solomon. Well, whatever strange hold Towering Oaks once held on her House was done. She’d bring them into a new age, kicking and screaming the whole way if she had to.
She stood and, summoning Darius with a tilt of her head, left the room, the voices rising behind her.
♦ ♦ ♦
“Well?” she asked, when they were alone.
“It went well, from what I could tell,” Darius said. “They aren’t happy with what you had to say, but they know they don’t really have a choice. Your word is law.”
“And you? What do you think?”
“I’m excited. I think a lot of the rank and file will be. There will be opportunities for us that don’t exist right now.”
Jocasta took a seat and considered her new aide.
“It’s mercenary then? You like it because of what it can bring to you?”
Darius shrugged, but had the grace not to look embarrassed. “Of course. And most others will think that way, too. I am sorry if that’s not what you’re looking for, but I think you’d rather have me be honest.”
“I would. Besides, there’s nothing wrong with mercenary. Everyone has a job to do, and honor pays nothing.”
Darius crooked his head. “Even if it refers to an entire army? Like that of a great House?”
“Even then,” Jocasta grinned.
Chapter 8
The next visit wasn’t going to be nearly as pleasant as the last one. Solomon was well aware of this as he made his way through the Greenweald. If he was going to find Celia though, it was his next stop. The water spirit was the only one who knew where she had sent his love.
He still didn’t understand the reasoning behind the spirit taking Celia. She told him it was because she was jealous, but how would that have endeared Solomon to her? First, he thought Celia dead, killed by the evil spirit. Then, the spirit tells him that she’s alive, but lost somewhere else, somewhere the spirit itself put her. How would the weeks of grief and anguish, the exile he faced, and the knowledge that Celia was alive make him want to be with the spirit? It made no sense to him, and he didn’t think it ever would.
Sometimes he felt like he lived half his life that way. Not truly understanding what was going on around him, why people did the things they did.
Solomon had grown up in the Greenweald, yet apart from it at the same time. Even as a boy, he was different from the others. He could run faster, climb higher, throw harder, and keep going far longer than any of his playmates. His parents, from the little he could remember and what Jediah later told him, were ordinary Folk. Tall, thin, and handsome. Strong and quick compared to humans, but no more so than any others.
So why was he different? It was a question he’d asked himself time after time throughout his life and he never found an answer.
His playmates came and went, no more than anyone else’s. There was nothing out of the ordinary there. Sometimes children grew apart and then another came to join the group. Even though Solomon was better at almost everything, every game, the other kids never seemed to mind.
And Orlando was always there. Encouraging him and enjoying Solomon’s success, even as they grew older and both became scouts in the service of their House. Solomon’s rise through the ranks was noticed by all, and occasionally there was jealousy; adults unable to accept things that children easily did. For the most part, Solomon felt nothing but the love and support of those in his House.
The thought made him smile. The warm sunlight filtering through the leaves of the giant trees was perfect for walking. The Greenweald felt at peace, and he was glad to be in it.
But it seemed his destiny to leave it again, which was happening a lot lately. At least, this time it was by his own choice.
His thoughts were interrupted when he arrived at the pool. The same still water that he believed Celia drowned in, and where he finally fully recovered his memory.
He regarded it, mixed emotions roiling through him. He couldn’t stand here without rage seething in the pit of his stomach. Whatever had been done to Celia, she hadn’t deserved it. It was that, more even than the idea that she had been taken, that made his blood boil. The sheer injustice of it.
On top of the rage was simple sadness. So much time had passed, and while it was only weeks, he was proof that a lot could happen in that time. A lot could still
