Goddess of the Rose (Goddess Summoning #4)(46)

"Gii, what's the problem? I just asked when was the last time the roses were fertilized. It's something that should be done regularly enough that . . ." Mikki's words trailed off as she realized that Gii was becoming more and more obviously upset.

"The Empousa cares for the roses," Gii blurted, without looking at Mikki.

"Are you telling me that for the entire time you've been without an Empousa no one's taken care of these roses?"

Gii finally lifted liquid eyes to Mikki. "It is the Empousa's sacred trust to care for the roses. Without their Empousa, Hecate bespelled them. They slept."

Just like the Guardian.

Mikki's mind whirred. Nausea rose in her throat again, and she was hardly able to concentrate on what else Gii was saying.

"There was nothing we could do for them. The roses wouldn't respond to us. They had stopped blooming." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "We believed they were dying."

"And none of you thought to mention this to me while we were frolicking around last night?" she cried, exasperated with herself for being so starry-eyed that she hadn't noticed how sick the seemingly beautiful gardens really were. And where the hell was her intuition last night? Today just getting near the beds made her feel like she was going to throw up her breakfast. Wait . . . maybe her intuition had been firmly intact. Last night she had just attributed it to nerves and lack of food, but she'd definitely been light-headed - her stomach had clenched and she'd felt sick. And then this morning she'd felt like she'd been beat up. It hadn't been because she was having a nervous breakdown or because she danced too much. Her body was reacting to the sickness in the roses.

Why hadn't Hecate warned her about the sorry state of her roses? Mikki frowned. What was it the goddess had said? You should know that this realm has long been without its Empousa. The roses will need your care . . .

Need her care? Mikki let her eyes sweep over the beds nearest to her, recognizing more Old Garden varieties, Eglantine and LaVille de Bruxelles. She narrowed her eyes at them. They looked sickly as hell, too! They definitely needed a lot more than a little of her care.

"We thought all would be well now that you are here. We even knew the moment you arrived because the roses suddenly began to bloom again."

"Gii, these roses aren't getting well. They're underdeveloped and anemic! And these pathetic things aren't normal blooms, they're . . . they're . . . they're more like final death throes than healthy blossoming."

Then, as if Hecate was still standing beside her, she heard the goddess's voice replay through her mind. The edges of the gardens are bound by a great wall of roses . . . The rose wall is what defines the boundaries between that world and ours . . . If the roses sicken, so, too, will this realm. A chill swept through Mikki, and she felt the warning in it pound with her blood.

She had to call the Guardian.

Chapter Sixteen

"G II, do the roses in the rest of the realm all look like these?" The handmaiden nodded and then, sounding childlike, she repeated, "We thought everything would be well now that you are here."

Mikki put on a smile she hoped didn't look too fake. "I think it will be, but it'll take some work. The first thing I want you to do is to gather all those women we were dancing with last night. Have them meet me at Hecate's Temple. And get the other three handmaidens, too."

"Yes, Empousa." Gii curtseyed and then hesitated before she turned away. "You do not come with me?"

"No, go on. I'll be at the temple soon. I have something I need to take care of here first."

Gii flashed a relieved look at her before hurrying away. Mikki waited until the girl disappeared around the corner of the path that curved between two more beds of sick roses. Then she straightened her shoulders and walked purposefully back to the wide marble stairs that led to her balcony. Was she doing the right thing? She thought so. No, she knew so. When she'd realized how sick the roses were - all the roses were - she felt the unmistakable chill of danger deep within her.

Mikki climbed up two of the steps, stopped, reconsidered, and climbed up one more. There. That should make her tall enough.

She closed her eyes. Just as she had called Gii to her earlier, she called him. She thought about the strength of his body . . . the power in his voice . . . the care with which he had directed dinner be made ready for her . . . the slippers and the rosebud that floated in the crystal goblet . . .

"Guardian," she said softly, "come to me."

The air seemed to thicken and press with an angry hum against her skin.

"Why have you summoned me?"

For the length of one breath Mikki pressed her eyes more tightly closed. These are my gardens now. He is a security guard. Think of him as nothing scarier than a difficult employee. She opened her eyes.

He was standing only a few feet from her. How could any living creature be so massive? She'd been smart to move up that additional step. In the revealing light of morning he looked less manlike than he had the night before. He was dressed the same, in the short, military-looking tunic and leather breastplate, but the clothes seemed to extenuate the bestiality of his cloven-hoofed legs and horned head rather than dress him up as civilized . . . controllable. Mikki's mouth went dry, and she had to swallow twice before she could find her voice.

"I called you because Hecate told me that was what I should do if I thought the realm was in danger." She had to fight to make herself speak, and the result was that her voice was unintentionally loud and angry. When the Guardian's black eyes widened in surprise, she decided that her new (albeit unintentional) firmness might be a good thing.