Midnight Wonders

4.1.2. A Rose in a Red Garden

"If you come any closer, the queen will notice you," Lavinia hissed, pushing Cora down behind a rosebush. Cora flinched as the thorns brushed against her. Tulla and Opellia graciously helped her untangle her dress from where the roses had caught it.

"This is too far away," Cora whispered, peering over the bushes. From where the four of them were huddled, she had a clear view of the center of the garden, where a stone table was set. Symphora sat at the table across from a man.

It wasn't Luc. That was the first thing Cora had noticed. He looked similar to Luc, but he clearly wasn't. The man seemed a little taller, with hair a little shorter and styled with more care, and he was better built. And he was dressed in the typical dress Cora had become familiar with in her time in Under-The-Green-Hill, a native here, it seemed. But why did he want to see Cora? Did he want to see Cora? Had he meant her?

"It's close enough to hear," Lavinia said.

Cora wanted to get closer. She wanted a better look at the man. Perhaps it was his similarity to Luc, but there was something familiar about him. Had she seen him before, when she'd still been able to escape? And he surely knew a way out of the Yew, if he willingly entered, didn't he?

"How long have you kept her here?" The man's voice was lower than Luc's, too, and much harder. A bit more commanding. Cora thought Luc would sometimes have to use a harsher tone when his students misbehaved, but she couldn't imagine it. He'd never spoken in such a way to her, or even around her.

"Are you asking me to measure time?" said Symphora. There was a stretch of silence, and she gave in. "She's still used to time outside. We've been using a day-glass. But I have someone change it so it runs longer each time."

So Cora had been right to be suspicious. Even so, the confirmation was like a punch in the gut. It hadn't been only a week, then. How had she not been able to notice? Time was such an unquantifiable thing when it was let alone.

"If she's used to outside then she's used to sleeping. People outside need sleep," he said.

He did want to see her, then. Why her? She...wanted to hear him say her name. To confirm that it was really her they were talking about? That was already obvious. She didn't know why. She just wanted to hear him say it.

"I'm letting her sleep," Symphora snapped. "How did you know she was here, anyway?"

"Really?" The man almost laughed. "Everyone knows she's here. Your labyrinth makes finding people and places almost impossible, but rumors carry anywhere."

Everyone? If knowledge of her presence here carried far enough that this stranger had come to find her, then could it carry as far as...Luc? Wherever he was?

But still, a question nagged at her. Several questions. Who was this man, and why was he here for her? Could he have bad intentions? Cora didn't even know Symphora's intentions, but would anyone with bad intentions not explain them, not listen to her opinions?

"Let me see her," said the man. "Please." There was something horribly desperate about it. Cora couldn't understand it.

"She doesn't know you," said Symphora. "Even if I told her there was a stranger here to see her, would she want to see you?"

"I don't care if she knows who I am," he said. "I just want to see her."

"She's certainly well, if that's what you're implying. As if I would treat any subject of mine with disrespect."

"How darling." His mouth twisted in a wry smile. Then the man leaned back in his chair and exhaled slowly. Cora could see him deflating from the sigh. After a moment, he said, "I understand that we are strangers, and it is odd to ask to see her. But I would like to. As a stranger."