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I empty the puzzle on the carpet and begin organising the pieces by colour. “I know we are meant to make the border first,” I say quietly. “But I like to make smaller pictures first, and then fit them all together at the end to make a larger image. The Silk Wardeness used to say this was because I wanted immediate satisfaction and was impatient. But that’s not true. It is because when I make the border first and simply fill it in, I don’t get to appreciate the smaller details as much.”
I sigh. The small details of Rome and I and our intimacy don’t create a greater picture. Accept it, Aster.
Tears sting the back of my eyes as I work on the puzzle in silence on the floor beside her bed until the fire turns a deep red and I know I have to leave her room.
Despite trying to be quiet, the next first-light Ana wakes to the sound of me clearing my throat. Or maybe it’s the steaming scent of honey that lifts her lids.
“Your Watcher allowed me to bring you oatmeal in bed,” I say, looking at the bowl on her nightstand. “They are worried, too, and I don’t think they know what to do.”
Thumbing a puzzle piece into place, I slide the second completed flower aside and get to work on the third. Jumbling and sorting the puzzle shapes together.
She groans. “You’re not going away.”
“You were nice to me,” I mumble. That is not something I will forget. I know you feel awful, Ana.
“I will never be a Sired Mother.”
She means, ‘I will never see him again.’ Her softly spoken words are choked with sorrow, but I ca
We can work on this together, just like the puzzle. I’m sure she is worried she will never have two boys and a girl. No other lord will take a Silk Girl who has been opened by another man. It just isn’t done.
I start to talk with a lie on my tongue, about how she may still be given a chance, but instead stop. “You have Meaningful Purpose, Ana,” I offer. And I will, too. “You have to appreciate the smaller pieces, like with this puzzle.” And maybe I can, too. “You have a bowl of oatmeal and honey, a swollen belly, this puzzle, and me. The whole picture comes later.”
“That one goes there,” she says by my ear, so I peer over my shoulder to see her eyes open and sca
“This one?” I point.
She nods once. I pick it up and fit it into place with a smile. Then I continue sorting.
Over the next two days, between meals, mineral baths, and Silk Girl checkups, Ana helps me co
By the first-light on day three, we have co