The Wind's Call (The Broken Lands #4) - T.A. White Page 0,118
fox tilted his head back to give Jason a look of disdain.
Jason jerked his thumb toward the outside. "Anyway, there’s something outside I thought you might want to see."
Eva hesitated. She should really help the rest get settled.
Fiona waved her away. "I have to corral this lot, but you’re free to go. I’ll catch up when I can."
Eva followed as Jason chattered at her. "Darius wants all of us to stick together. Most of us are either in this building or that one." He pointed to the one right next to theirs.
"Is that why you pulled me aside?" Eva asked.
"No, this is." Jason opened an arched wooden door embedded in a six-foot-high stone wall. He stepped aside and gestured for her to enter first.
She stepped into a small courtyard dotted with cobblestone paths threading through a surprisingly well-maintained garden. Whatever had happened to the residents had happened recently. There were no weeds choking the plants. Someone had carefully tended to them; it was obvious through the health gleaming in the greenness of the leaves and the vividness of the blossoms on the bushes.
Despite that, the whole courtyard left Eva feeling out of sorts. Like the entire world was out of step. Something was wrong, but she couldn't put her finger on what. It left her with a deep-seated feeling of unease.
It didn’t take long to figure out what unsettled her so. The place might look like an oasis at first glance, but the scene was more suited to a nightmare.
Wooded plants shaped like people were frozen mid-step along several of the gravel paths. Their bodies were made up of thousands of intertwined branches shaped so realistically she couldn’t believe they hadn’t been human being once.
Eva moved cautiously around them, careful not to get too close. Their expressions made her wary. Grief, tragedy, horror. Even rage.
Eva shivered. This wasn’t a good place. Peace was a distant concept.
"They're creepy, but kind of amazing, too." Jason folded his arms over his chest. "I wanted to see what you made of them."
She glanced back at him. "Why?"
He rubbed his chin, his expression slightly uncomfortable. "There's a bit of a bet going on as to their purpose."
She lifted an eyebrow. "And you thought I would know?"
He shrugged. "I figured you'd have a better chance than anyone, given how you've managed to attract so many of them to you."
"Them?"
"The mythologicals. They flock to you," he said simply.
It was an insult, but perhaps it was not intended to be one. Eva sensed he meant it as a compliment.
"What are the stakes of the bet?" she asked.
Interest crossed his face. "Winner gets bragging rights."
She waited. She'd lived among the Trateri long enough to know there had to be more to it than that.
He rolled his eyes before giving in. "And first choice of any Kyren we find."
Eva stiffened, anger flooding her veins.
He held up his hands before she could give voice to the fury lashing her. "I didn't say I agreed with it, but I thought you should know."
"You want to win this bet," she stated flatly.
"Yes, but not for the reasons you think," he replied.
She waited.
He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm an orphan. A lostling with no family line or a clan to claim me. There aren't a lot of opportunities for people like me. You have to be extremely talented at what you do, and even then, you have to fight to have what would been yours by right if you'd had a family and clan at your back."
He looked uncomfortable as he met her eyes. "I guess that's why I wasn't the nicest to you before."
"You mean you were an ass." Eva wasn't going to let him to pretend otherwise. He had tried to make her feel an inch tall simply because of her birth. Of anyone, he should know what that was like.
Regret fluttered across his face. "I was jealous. Hardwick thinks of you as a daughter. He’s grooming you to be his heir."
"Ollie is taking over his herd," Eva said automatically.
Jason shook his head. "Not according to the rumors I've heard."
Eva shrugged dismissively. "Rumors are rumors. At any point half a dozen of them are flying around. You can't trust them."
"I've seen the way the two of them act around you. He respects you. It's something I've always wanted."
And never managed to get, went unsaid.
"How does this bet play into that?" she asked.
He lifted one shoulder, his fingers tapping his leg. "Bragging rights."