Petals whispered, petals warned,
roots went cold where trust was torn.
A garden grew a thorny tongue,
and sang the song the shadows sung.
...
We just stood there, completely mortified.
What could possibly explain this raw, violent act of pure savagery that had consumed everyone?
Something was fundamentally wrong. This did not feel natural in the slightest. The air itself felt thick with a greasy, suffocating tension that clung to the back of my throat. Somewhere between the moment we went to bed and now, something horrific had happened to the people on this floor of the Tower. Perhaps this was the work of a beast.
No. That seemed like the most likely explanation, but I could not afford to settle on a wild guess without hard evidence.
First, I turned toward the towering knight beside me. Sir Briar. Maybe he actually knew what had happened.
"When did..." I hesitated, searching for the right question. "No. How exactly did things get to this point?"
