Goddess of the Rose (Goddess Summoning #4)(51)

"I still do not like it."

"And yet I am still insisting." Mikki had felt the weight of the women's staring eyes when she contradicted the Guardian. It was as if they were shocked that she stood up to him, and it made her wonder how the other, younger Empousas had handled disagreements with the intimidating Guardian. It doesn't matter, she told herself firmly, I'm Empousa now, and he needs to learn that I'm not some virginal infant he can bully.

"Huh," he'd snorted. But he'd gone to the gate, raised his hands and spoken words Mikki could not understand but the power of which rippled like warm water over her skin. The rose gate opened slowly, and only far enough for the bulk of the Guardian to pass through. She'd followed him, and the women, led by Gii, had followed the beast and their Empousa into the edges of the dark forest.

The forest was dark - and it should be. The trees were enormous, ancient oaks, so thick at the trunk that even the Guardian's wide reach couldn't have wrapped around one. The interlocking branches formed a canopy of lush green, through which very little sunlight managed to escape. But it seemed perfectly normal. Birds chirped. Squirrels scolded. Mikki even thought she caught sight of the rear end of a startled deer as it bounded away.

The women who scooped the leafy loam from the forest floor and into the baskets were unusually silent, and none of them wandered very far apart, but no boogeymen or monsters jumped out at them. And all the while the Guardian paced, his sharp eyes focused past the women and into the depths of the forest.

Gii's sweet voice interrupted Mikki's musings. "It is midday, Empousa," the Earth Elemental said after delicately wiping the sweat from her brow. She pointed to a line of women who were approaching from a different direction than the chain of fertilizer had arrived. "I see that women from the palace come bearing food."

"So late already?" Mikki hastily took her gaze from the Guardian's ever-vigilant form and smiled at the handmaiden.

"Yes, Empousa, and several of your rose workers must eat and then be allowed to change places with the Dream Weavers within the palace."

"Dream Weavers?"

"I forget that you are new to this realm and its ways, especially today, after watching you work so easily with" - Gii paused and her gaze slid to the open gate and the grim guard who stood beyond it - "the roses," she finished.

Mikki ignored her reference to the Guardian because she was not sure what to make of it. She was dying to ask questions about him and about the High Priestesses who had come before her - for instance, where were they now? Did the women retire? If so, couldn't one of them be called out of retirement temporarily to . . . well . . . train her properly?

But intuition told her that asking a bunch of personal questions about the Guardian and the previous Empousas would make her look even more inexperienced and insecure than she already was. She'd gained a measure of respect from the women today. She didn't want to lose ground. And there was something else, too. Something in the way the women averted their eyes from him and avoided standing too near him.

"May I, Empousa?" Gii was saying.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Gii. Yes, it is time we took a break. Then I'd like to hear more about these Dream Weavers." Which, she decided, should at least be a safe topic. As Gii sent a couple young women who were working close by to inform the other three Elementals that it was time to break and refresh with the midday meal, Mikki retreated to one of the many marble benches placed in lovely rose alcoves all around the gardens. She sat, realizing how tired her achy muscles were now that she'd stopped moving, and was sincerely grateful that Gii was so capable and able to quickly call the women to order. They broke into little groups, clustering around benches and fountains, and the soft sound of their conversation mixed with the ever-present scent of roses, creating an atmosphere that Mikki found soothing, despite her tired muscles and the general feeling of sickness that clung to her.

She breathed deeply, thinking how wonderful the gardens would be when they were healthy again. Letting her mind wander with her eyes, she imagined the beds and the rose wall in full, magnificent bloom. Her daydreamy interlude was interrupted when her gaze landed on the frowning Guardian as he ushered the last of the women back through the rose gate. He looked so damn serious and gloomy. Why? What was it about the forest that made him so uptight? Hell, maybe he was always uptight. No . . . she remembered the glint of humor in his eyes and the touch of his hand on her hair . . . clearly he wasn't always uptight. Still, she needed to have a frank talk with him. No mysteries, no evasions. If the forest was that dangerous, she needed to know the specifics.

The Guardian spoke a terse command and the wall closed seamlessly. Mikki yawned and stretched and tried not to be obvious about watching him. One of the palace servants approached him and offered him a basket of food. He ignored it, but he did accept a floppy skin, which he raised to his mouth and drank deeply from. He handed it back to the woman, and she hurried away. Then he paced over to a tree that grew near the rose wall and seemed to disappear within the shadow of its trunk.

Gii hurried up with a basket of her own, which was filled with tempting smells, and sat beside Mikki, placing the basket between them.

"Is the food not to your liking, Empousa?" she said when Mikki made no move to begin eating.

Mikki hastily looked away from the shadow under the tree. "No, everything is wonderful." She broke off a piece of bread from the long, thin loaf and added a slice of cheese to it. Nonchalantly, she said, "I was just wondering why he doesn't eat."