The Glass Queen (The Forest of Good and Evil #2) - Gena Showalter Page 0,13

then climbed into the ice-cold tub to wash. I’d added the rose petals I’d collected while pruning, and now their sweet scent enveloped me.

When I was as clean as I could get, I dressed in a fresh sackcloth. I owned four, and I kept them washed and mended as much as possible. With no mirror, I had to plait my hair sight unseen, a task I’d perfected over the years. Last, I scrubbed my teeth with a paste I made with nearby herbs. That done, I headed out to start my first chore.

Dryads floated in and out of the Temple, mostly pretending I wasn’t there. While I’d moved in 1095 days ago, they still resented my presence. If they hadn’t feared my father and what he’d do to the royal gardens if ever they angered him, they would have kicked me out a long time ago.

In the beginning, I’d tried to win them over. I’d picked them a bouquet of fresh flowers—and earned their wrath for daring to sever plant heads. I’d given them a bowl of flower petals that had fallen to the ground without my help...and earned their wrath for daring to use dead flowers as a gift. Can’t win.

My ears twitched when two dryads spoke to each other somewhere behind me. They only ever whispered, just as rumor claimed, their voices reminiscent of a gentle wind.

“We’ll have a special guest later today,” one said. “A witch.”

Ohhh, a witch. We rarely received visits from the magically inclined. Hopefully I could talk the witch into a blessing in exchange for a new book about her coven’s history.

“Do you know what she wants?” the other asked.

“I don’t. But she sent word to say we were to roll out the red carpet.”

“Why would she think we have carpet? And why would she want carpet out here?”

I whispered, “What time will she arrive?” To mask my excitement and encourage a response, I didn’t glance over my shoulder; I just trimmed another dead leaf from a branch.

The two went quiet, shuffled apart and floated from the room, leaving me to expel a breath.

I didn’t encounter any other dryads as I finished up, which wasn’t much of a surprise. They preferred to spend their mornings outside, gardening, and their afternoons preparing and enjoying lunch. I wasn’t invited to such a sacred time. After they’d eaten their fill, however, they always handed me a bowl of vegetables and herbs on their return inside.

“Thank you,” I called when I accepted today’s offering.

For the first time, a dryad stopped to respond. She had freckled white skin, hair the color of summer leaves, and she wore a gown made of flower petals, her feet bare. “Tomorrow is All Trees Day,” she told me with a quiet voice. “Last night you tracked mud throughout the Temple, so you must clean the floors before we receive our daily visitors. Then you must clean the floors again, after our visitors leave.”

All Trees Day. A holiday observed at every Temple scattered throughout the kingdoms, when citizens came to pay their respects, and dryads blessed any surrounding foliage to give back to nature.

“I’ll get it done, don’t you worry,” I told her. I would work nonstop. I didn’t like my job most days, but I always gave it my best.

Once I’d scarfed down the carrot, cucumber, mushrooms, and sprig of rosemary, I gathered the necessary supplies to clean the cobblestone on the bottom floor of the Temple.

I knelt and dunked a rag into the bucket of hot, soapy water. Withering roses! Old and new cuts stung.

With a wince, I dropped the sopping wet rag on the stone and got to scrubbing. No matter how good or bad I felt, I performed this task at least once every day. Today wasn’t just a good day, though; today was a great one. My heartbeat steady, something that had been happening more and more lately. I guess the older I got the stronger I got.

I worked as quickly as possible while still doing my best, ready for the day’s visitors to come and go so I could do it all over again and finally return to my room to read. I had recently acquired a book about mechanical triggers.

I already had ideas for my crossbow. The shedding of the outer layers to reveal a hidden dagger, when it ran out of arrows. It would be menacing from far away and close up. I just needed to figure out a way to keep the detachable pieces sturdy