Garden of Light: Beneath Devouring Eyes #1

Chapter 14 | Part 1

For several long seconds, Domi stood in the crimson evening light and gaped at the man who opened the greenhouse door.

A wave of silver hair swept across the lifeholder' forehead, and quicksilver-gray eyes lit up his ageless mahogany complexion. There were no missing teeth this time around, however.

Eyes devour him, Domi's new teacher was the bloody Dyer.

The Trueborn appeared as surprised to see him again as Domi was to find himself facing the throat-stainer.

"You... But... But you're..." the boy said.

The Dyer—no, Gardener—lifted a brow. "You sure took the disguise far, Pullatus. No stench of the street. Black laurel. You even got yourself an aedificans."

Domi crossed his arms. "It's not a disguise."

The Dyer snorted. "I know, Pullatus. I sense you messing with the promenia."

Domi frowned. "Well, that's good, because I can't." Recovering from his shock, he shifted his bag from one hand to the other. "So, are you going to let me in? It's cold out here."

The lifeholder stepped aside, sweeping his arm out to invite Domi to enter the greenhouse. "Welcome to my humble abode."

"Where will I be staying?" It was getting late, and he was tired. It had been a long day.

"Oh, perhaps under the olive trees?" The Gardener chuckled at Domi's dismayed expression. "I jest, young Erus." The boy smirked at the title. The old man still remembered whose son he was. "My insula is over here."

"Insula?" Domi scanned the dim greenhouse, lifting a brow when he spotted the shadowed cottage nestled in a pool of crimson evening sunlight.

"Not good enough for you anymore, Reges Heres Pullati?"

"I just thought all you Promethidae lived in big fancy domuses."

The lifeholder shrugged, reaching out to take Domi's bag. "Most do," he said as he led the way through raised planters, twisted bronze sculptures that sang with promenia, sprouts arranged in orderly patterns, and clusters of bizarre luminous plants. "I prefer simplicity. Come along. My other students live in the dormitory, so you may enjoy a room all to yourself."

Domi tore his eyes away from the shimmering bushes and hurried to catch up with the Dyer. No, the Gardener. He was so confused. "So, I'm curious..."

"A marvelous quality in a student."

"How are you here at the Collegium? I mean, I thought you lived in the slums."

"I live here and possess some side endeavors in the slums on the Praetor's behalf."

Eyes devour him, the man was a spy? He needed to tell his ma.

"And yes, I'm aware of the lift. And no, the Praetor is not." The Dyer smiled at Domi's dubious frown. "I possess a few of my own interests among your kind. Well, your former kind. Where do you think the Appraiser sends the more expensive snatched trinkets that never stay in his pawnshop more than a few hours? I ensure the ones that need to find their way back home to Cerasus's wealthier Pyrrhaei acquaintances do so—for a price. I also find buyers for the other items to build your ma the little pile of gold that covers the hefty bribes we all rely on. Among other things."

Domi shook his head as they stepped inside the cottage into a small kitchen filled with hanging bundles of herbs. There was something he still didn't understand. "You're a dyer, and yet you outrank me."

"Trueborn arrogance so soon, young Erus?"

"It just doesn't make any sense." He didn't understand how that could be. Mind you, he didn't understand his weird advancement in rank, either. But Domi outranked Serenitas and Arbita now, and so to counter Domi's erratic magic, the Dyer needed to rank above both women. Cerasus would not have assigned Domi to him otherwise.

But everyone hated dyers. They helped ordinary people fake being sorcerers. Fake the light that the Eternal Radiance placed in the Promethidae, and only the Promethidae. How did the old man rank higher than two sorcerers in good standing within the curia?

Domi followed the lifeholder back to a cramped bedchamber, which was more a closet than a room. It was still larger than the insula above the Black Flight where Domi grew up.

"As I said, curiosity is a wonderful trait. That does not mean, however, that I simply hand out answers." The Gardener put Domi's bag down on a cot-like book-strewn bed. "Knowledge is a student's reward for hard work."

"Valens says I'm not a student," Domi said in a glum voice. "Not yet."

"You are while you're with me. Speaking of which, choose one of these." He swept his hand over the bed to indicate the books. "You'll read it this week."

Domi blushed. "I can't read very well yet."

"Excellent, this will be good practice."

Domi began to look forward to Valens's return. He sighed. "Well, which one do you want me to read?"

"Doesn't matter, they're all paths to wisdom," the old man said. He studied the confused boy for a moment. "Now, I understand you were injured today because of partial dominance. It so happens, I'm blessed with the same impurity. Lifeholder, in my case, with a dash of worldholder. So we shall explore what we can do with your partial dominance tomorrow evening."

Domi frowned. "After my Ma's salutatio, you mean."

The Dyer—no, Gardener—did not deny it, but only offered a small smile. He was so different than he had been in the dye-house, and it was not just the intact teeth. Domi wasn't sure what to make of the strange man. "For now," the Gardener said, "go to bed. You need the extra rest."

"All right, A-Aedificanti."

The old man shook his head. "No need to address me that way, young Erus. Only Valens needs to do so." His lip quirked. "Not that he ever bothers."

Domi blinked. "You were Valens's aedificans?"

"Indeed, and I remain so, young Erus. The bond is lifelong." He smiled as Domi, speechless, stared. "I will let you get some rest."

Domi nodded, unable to imagine Valens deigning to let anyone teach him. He shook his head as the Lightbearer, with an absent wave over one shoulder, left. He was not sure how he felt about still being stuck with Valens instead of this weird man.

Domi flopped onto his back on the cot and frowned. This had been a strange day. With luck, tomorrow would be more normal.