Page 5 of Turret
“Explain.” His sternness had returned, demanding answers, and still Melina hesitated.
“It’s just that…I couldn’t find the princess’s herbs.”
A tense silence followed her admission, broken first by my gasp, then Quinn’s growl. “What do you mean? The tower has always ensured there are enough herbs to tend to the princess.”
“That’s just it…those herbs have disappeared.”
He gaped at her for a moment. “Impossible. Therehasto be some. I won’t rest until the princess has been tended to.” And without another word he wrenched the door open and stomped through, slamming it behind him.
At his departure Melina wearily sank into the abandoned seat beside me. “Are there really no herbs to be found?” I asked quietly.
She rubbed her temples with a sigh. “I looked everywhere—in the herbal garden and apothecary, the supply stored within pantry, and I even searched the entire tower to see if the garden had simply moved to another location…yet there aren’t any to be found. It’s as if they’ve disappeared entirely.”
Worry prickled my heart. The tower always provided us with everything we needed. Was Quinn right that the magic was beginning to fade? What could have caused such a thing, and what were the implications if it continued?
I sat with my silent handmaiden and my escalating anxiety, occasionally receiving subtle but reassuring pulses from the tower when I rested my hand on the wall, but they felt fainter than normal, which only tightened the worry cinching my heart. I closed my eyes when the fever’s heat caused them to water, laying my head against the pillow, but I was too anxious to get any rest.
Quinn returned nearly an hour later; I could tell by his stern expression that the news would be discouraging. “It’s as Melina said: there are no herbs to be found, nor could I locate the apothecary anywhere I looked.” He strode over and rested the back of his hand against my brow, his fingers cool to the touch. His frown deepened. “Perhaps a cold cloth for the princess will help alleviate her fever until we figure out what to do.”
Melina immediately stood. “A cold cloth, of course.” She bustled to the washbasin while Quinn turned back to me, his fingers lingering on my brow and his eyes swirling with worry.
“Are you going to be alright?”
Even at my assuring nod he didn’t pull his touch away; instead his hand moved from my brow to stroke first my cheek, then my hair in a way that wasn’t at all nursing, nor was his soft look at all the one I was used to from my guard.
My breath caught, but before I could fully wonder what Quinn was doing, his eyes widened and he hastily yanked his hand away as if he’d been burned, leaving me strangely longing for his touch, one that hadn’t just been comforting but something…more, causing a feeling to stir within me which I’d never felt before.
This stirring was small, almost indiscernible, but I had little time to explore it with my worry waiting in the wings to take its place. “What’s happening to the tower?” I asked, my voice tired. “Do you believe the magic is truly fading?”
Quinn was silent a long moment before he bit his lip, a falter in his usual stoic expression that revealed just how dire he viewed the situation. “It will require further investigation, but there’s no mistake: for the first time in three years, something is shifting.”
Hope filled his eyes, as if this change had been what he’d been waiting for ever since our imprisonment. My stomach clenched even as my ever-present fear encased my heart, almost more acute than what I’d felt when I’d first become trapped. I tightened my hold around the wooden acorn Quinn had carved for me, finding solace in holding it.
Despite the beauty of his stories of the woods he’d shared and the curiosity they’d caused me to feel, in the end they were just that: stories, ones that did nothing to change the fact that the world outside my tower was a dark, frightening place, filled with heartache and loneliness and nothing to offer me.
My gaze flickered to the mirror hanging on the opposite wall before I hastily yanked it away; I didn’t want the reminder that I had more than one reason to be afraid. If the tower’s magic was truly fading, what would be left to protect me?
Chapter 3
From my position near the fire, I warily eyed Quinn and Melina’s whispered discussion on the other side of my bedroom; from the tension in their posture they appeared to be arguing. I was quite certain they’d have taken such a discussion elsewhere if Quinn wasn’t determined to keep me in his sight, but considering they were well-versed in keeping their voices lowered, I was left without any clue as to what they were discussing.
Well…not entirely. This morning Melina had informed me that the herb garden had mysteriously reappeared, and she’d wasted no time in procuring me a remedy that a good night’s rest now left entirely unnecessary. Despite this fortunate albeit puzzling turn of events, her movements had been agitated, leaving me to wonder whether there was more to the story; by Quinn’s tense posture midst their hushed conversation, I had no doubt it likely had something to do with the tower.
I waited for a pause before interjecting. “It’s fortunate that curiosity isn’t fatal, else I’d fear my hours are numbered. The only remedy to such a condition is to learn what you’re discussing. I hope you’re as faithful about administering it to me as you are my other remedies.” I sent each a pointed look.
Melina looked exasperated, but Quinn’s lips twitched in a rare show of amusement. “She’s right,” he said. “We should inform the princess. Her being trapped in a changing, unpredictable tower means she deserves to know.”
Melina frowned in clear disapproval, but Quinn wasn’t asking her permission. He approached to stand near my chair and cleared his throat at my expectant look.
“As you know, the tower has thankfully recreated the herbal garden.”
Through the stones against my feet, I sensed the tower’s emotions concerning the matter, one that took me a moment to decipher as some sort of…apology? As if it hadn’t meant to lose such an important room in the first place.
“However,” Quinn continued, “it appears that others have been taken in its stead.”
Even with the warmth of the nearby hearth and the layers of blankets around my shoulders and over my lap, apprehension caused me to shiver. “Rooms? Which are missing?”
He hesitated, but before he could speak, Melina interjected. “It’s mostly just various pieces of furniture taken from a room here and there, nothing to be concerned over.”
