A Thousand Glass Flowers (The Chronicles of Eirie 3) (34 page)

‘T
he connected family will know.
It’s why the Caointeach
cries.
As I said, it is the way of it.’

She sighed and turned her head away, trying to banish the cruel memory of her brother’s demise.
How much more bitterness and grief shall there be in my life?

As she struggled with the morbid moment, a voice cut through the brooding atmosphere, chat
tering with vivacity
.

‘Sin
k me,’ it said. ‘Did you hear that cry?
It put the wind up
me,
I can tell you.
Aine knows what it will do to the babe.’

‘Gallivant.’
Jasper jumped up, a teacup wobbling precariously as he grabbed the shorter fellow in a fierce hug.

‘Jasper, how good it is to see
you
.’
Hazel and gold eyes sparkled as Jasper scrubbed the interloper’s tousled hair with gnarled hands.

‘Hob, what
are
you doing here?’

‘The Threadlady opened your packet to Phelim as he was away on business for the Squire and as soon as he returned we
took passage for the mainland.
But we’ve had
hell’s own time getting here.
Storms at sea, rain and all manner of miseries have dogged our footste
ps.’ He looked beyond the table.
‘And this infernal fog,
it goes for leagues all around.
You’d think the malingerers w
ere having fun at our expense. Finally Adelina
sent me on ahead
to let you know they’re coming. Oh, is that apricot preserve?
Can I have s
ome on that delectable toast?’
He reached in
front of Finnian for the food. ‘Excuse me. Hallo, I’m Gallivant the Hob.
Your
Phelim’s brother, aren’t you?
And let me guess.
This
vision is the babe’s aunt.
Adelina won’t believe the likeness between you and Isabella, which means she
’ll be reminded of dear Kholi.
Aine but I hope she doesn’t let it upset her, she has been settled for so long.’

‘Gallivant, Gallivant, stop.’ Jasper turned to his guests.
‘He’s a busy person, our friend here, a worrywart too but we l
ove him dearly, don’t we, Hob?
Now tell me, how far behind are they?’

‘Oh,’ the Hob chewed the toast and the answer was delivered sw
eetly coated with jam
and Lalita war
med to him, ‘about half a day.
They can’t make pace with Isabella, but Bottom and I were like greased lightning.’

‘Don’t tell me you brought th
at bad-tempered ass with you?’
As Jasper spoke, a wail as loud and unfortunate as
the Caointeach bellowed forth. ‘Need I ask,’ he goraned.
Did you give him to Folko?’

‘Yes.
His hea
d’s in a bucket of sweet oats.
That’s pleasure you can hear
I’m sure
.’

‘If that’s pleasure,’ Finnian’s voice startled Lalita who was amused by this bolt of
vivacity
that had dropped out of the blue, ‘then I’d hate to hear pain.’

Enigmat
ic eyes scrutinized the Færan. ‘So, Finnian.
I didn’t know your other brother, but sink me I can s
ee a look of Phelim about you.
I think Adelina is in fo
r more than one shock, Jasper.
Better have some rescuing tincture ready.’

‘She will cope I
am sure.
As she
has done a dozen times before.
Tell me, how many of you are there?’

‘All of us, five,’ t
he Hob replied.

‘Good, good. Sit, my boy, sit.
I must go and tell Margriet we are to have a house full.’

Lalita watched Jasper leave, his light step betraying his d
elight at the impending visit. She wondered if there was a measure of relief as well, that those he held dear were under his protection. For herself she hated that her brother’s child was in Isolde’s ambit.
She sat back in her chair gazing at the Other who buttered another piece of
toast and poured a cup of tea.
He was shortish, perhaps her own height, and he had a smooth face as though manhood was almost bu
t not quite at his fingertips.
Similar and yet so
un
like the
hateful Salah in another life.
When she looked into Gallivant’s eyes, she saw the aeons of time tha
t had coloured his personality.
He sparked with such a positive energy it seeped into her and she could feel a
slight
diminution in her ang
er and fear, the tide ebbing.

‘Isabella, my brother’s child – does she take kindly to strangers?’

‘She is a swe
etheart and takes to everyone.
Sometimes I think she is just a little pup who wants to lick everyone
and be petted in turn.’ His eyes grew serious.
‘It’s a good thing because she’ll learn soon enough of the sa
dnesses in her family history.
Better that she has such foundations of happiness now to help her deal with the hardness later.’

Lalita nodded her
head, remembering her own
childhood.
Apart from Kurdeesh.
And then a thought arose.
Unlike Finnian’s
life
. 
She cursed the moment
, her eyes flying to his face.  She read envy pure and simple – neither vicious nor cruel, merely heart-breaking envy and she found a little bit more of her disgust crumbled away.

Gallivant finished eating and wiped his hands on one of the damask napkins before bringing it delicately to h
is mouth and patting his lips.
‘They say that you have found the Cantrips.’

‘Who says?’
Finnian butted in, all fire and ice.

Gallivant’s face stilled
, less of the hapless buffoon. ‘Jasper.
It’s what he intimat
ed you would do when he wrote.
That being so, you did the world a favour.’

‘So everyone says. But at great cost.’
Bitterness tightened Finnian’s mouth
. ‘And for what purpose?
Yes the charms have been foun
d but they can’t be destroyed.
I think the word pointless comes to mind.’

‘Rubbish.
Fate has a way of turning things on its head.’

‘Fate,’ Finnian snorted.
‘Do you know how many times we have heard
that
word?’

‘Probably as many as Phelim and certainly as much as Adelina.’

Lalita held her breath, waiting for the expl
osion she was sure would come.
Silence stretched as if someone had grabbed it and pu
lled and then Finnian laughed.
The sound of it, the unexpected mellowness of it, shocked her to the core.

‘You’ve an answe
r for everything haven’t you?’
He clapped the Hob on the back
and received a grin in return.
‘I’ll wager you don’t feel like a walk a
fter the distance you’ve come?
I should like to talk with you.’

Gallivant shook his head.
‘I dare say my legs a
re shaped like a kettle spout.
Give me a day and some of Jasper’s liniments a
nd I shall take you up on it.’
Finnian held out his hand and Gallivant shook it and with a half-look in Lalita’s direction, he left the arbor in a sprinkle of wisteria petals.

‘How did you do it?
You are the first to get a smile from him in
days, let alone a civil word.’
Lalita touched the Hob on the arm.

‘He is a man who hurts.
All that blackness comes from pain, p
robably the pain of rejection.
For all his darkne
ss there is desperation there.
And quite severe desperation
at that.
I have seen it before and would no
t wish to mindfully add to it.
Are you in love with him?’

Lalita’s eyebrows rose and s
he coughed into her cup of tea. ‘Love? Indeed not.
He has done nothing to cause me to love him.’
Except save me from death by the Strigoi, protect me from Isolde, prevent me being raped by Kurdeesh.
And kiss me and love me as if there was no other in his life.
She shook her head at the voi
ce that persisted in her head.
‘You say he is desperate?
’

‘Indeed.
It is obvious.
’
Gallivant yawned, stret
ching his arms above his head.
‘Jasper implied in his note that
he is quite the valorous chap.
Should
get on well with his brother. Sink me but I’m tired.
Lady of the Desert, you’ll have to excuse me but I shall see you anon,’ he gave a quaint little bow and departed, forever seeming as though he must race to every appointment.

La
lita remained under the arbor.
As Finnian had laughed, Lalita found
her stomach turned upside down.
Now a slight queasiness hovered, delivering a faint flavour of half digested breakfast onto her tongue.
Love him?
She had thought she might before he had stolen the paperweights.
But now?

She imagined the afrit.

‘Well, Desert Flower, did he not have the same purpose – to retrieve the char
ms and deliver them to Jasper?
And without involving you in the inevitable danger?’

‘Yes but if he hadn’t stolen them, I wouldn’t have chased him and been caught by the Strigoi.
’

‘It was not his fault that you put yourself in such
an invidious position, Lalita.
You acted without thought.
’

‘Stop this!
I will not take the blame for my hurts.’

‘You will not but you should.
You should also remember that you would be
dead if it was not for Finnian.
Like I have always said, you are a Disaster Damsel.’

She put her hands to her ears and groaned
.
‘I shall not listen.  Go away.’

She jumped up and walked over the close clipped lawns to
the other side of the garden.
One of Jasper’s dogs, a lithe hound with the body of a gazelle, rosebud ears and a coat of whipped cream lay stretched out and as she sank beside him, he lifted his head with its pointed muzzle and his tail slapped the ground in a friendly thump.

‘I miss Phaeton, Dog.
He was not unlike you
– calm and elegant. And so loyal.
Huh, loyalty – such a commodity and so hard to come by.’

‘You think?’
Jasper had walked quietly over the grass, his footsteps cushioned
by the dense nap of the lawn.
‘My belief is that if you let people into your life, they will inevitably reward you with
friendship, love and loyalty.
But I think we are not talking of loyalty
at large here, are we, Lalita?
Do you use the term in relation to Finnian?’

Lalita buried her face in the dog’s smooth neck as Jasper folded his ascetic frame beside her.

‘Lalita, his has been the hardest life and he has had to make
the most burdensome decisions.
But then I am not telling you an
ything you don’t already know.
And to be honest,
you should feel some empathy.
Just remember that he has in
fact done nothing truly wrong.
He brought the charms
to
me.’

Lalita sat up straight, laying the dog’
s relaxed head across her lap.
‘Jasper, it’s not
what I am, this bitter person.
But so much
has happened in recent times.
I find I look through a window into a fog where there are shapes and I can’t decide if they wait t
o beleaguer me or befriend me.
I can trust no one.’

‘My dear,’ Jas
per picked up Lalita’s fingers.
‘Here in the Ymp Tree Orchard at m
y home, you can trust everyone.
Even Finnian.’

She lifted her eyes then and was struck by the
indigo blue gaze that met her.
She could think of nothing but reassurance, as if Jasper contrived to rebuild
her confidence block by block.
And despite her tilting stomach, she smiled.