Thread of Gold

Ch. 16: dog with a sword

Anna could get lost in these gardens.

The frozen earth crunched under her boots. Birdsong echoed in the barren trees, a haunting, mournful sound. All around them, marble statues glittered against the overcast sky. She had heard stories about these gardens from Sophie; it was a popular place for canoodling during balls.

Her guardian had actually used that word. Canoodling.

"In fact," Sophie had said, "there's a very good chance that you were conceived in those gardens."

It was an image that Anna was trying to block out of her mind now, along with the image of kissing Ryne last night.

"Do you see that statue?" Camille asked.

"The angry-looking one?"

"Yes." Camille smiled. "That's Farilles. God of Travellers and New Beginnings."

Anna stopped to examine the statue. A part of her couldn't believe that she'd agreed to this; she had planned to stop only briefly in Camille's room — just long enough to check that her mind was healing — but Camille had begged her to take a walk in the garden.

"Penny's hiding in her room," she'd explained. "Ryne's busy. And Isaac's gone home for a few days. Please? I'm starved for company."

And Anna had agreed.

She didn't know why, but she had. So here she was. Walking with someone that was part of the Delaforts' inner circle.

Worse, Anna liked Camille.

There was something so unbearably sweet about how Camille babbled on about the different statues, pointing out each god or goddess. Parthas, God of Healing. Saega, Goddess of Changing Faces. Lestia, Goddess of Frost. Camille kept pausing as they walked, as if expecting Anna to stop her. As if she wasn't used to people listening.

They paused in front of Lucia, Goddess of Light. The statue's face was upturned to the sky, her expression serene. Sophie always said this was her favourite statue because they would stash their liquor beneath Lucia's skirts.

Anna' gaze darted to her feet, and she smirked. Yup. Still a sizeable gap.

"What about Nyxos?" Anna asked.

Camille paused. "What about him?"

"Where's his statue?"

"Oh." Camille fidgeted with her pearl gloves. "Arthur had it removed. It wouldn't do to have a statue of the God of Darkness, you understand."

She kept her voice calm. "Where did he put it?"

"Who knows?" Camille shrugged. "Probably in a crypt somewhere."

They started walking again. Camille was silent now, her brown eyes fixed straight ahead. Her hair looked white against the cloudy sky.

"I'm sorry," Camille said. "About Tristan. He isn't always like that. He just..." She shivered, pulling her fur shawl tighter around her neck. "Ryne is a sore point, for him. They were close once."

"What happened?"

"I don't know." Camille frowned. "The same thing that always happens, I suppose. People grow up. They drift apart."

They were coming up on the gates now, and Anna could see a red ruby winking in the iron. The eye of a raven, Sophie had once told her: the only thing left of her family's crest, after the Delaforts took over.

Anna touched the knife in her pocket, running her thumb over the raven. Camille leaned over to smell a flower. She'd coordinated her pink hair clips to her gown today, which was no surprise; Anna suspected that her underwear was probably pink, too.