Grenville looked remarkably well when Olivia saw him again. That wasn’t saying a great deal. He was still lying in bed and very pale, but his eyes focused when he saw her, and he smiled. Joan was actually sitting in the chair by him rather than pacing. She still looked like she wanted to hit someone. A bouquet of pink roses lay in her lap, wrapped in several layers of white cloth. “I didn’t touch it bare-handed,” Joan said when she saw the direction of Olivia’s gaze, “and I don’t think anyone else did. It was still on the floor of the carriage. Have a look.” With most of her remaining magical strength, Olivia invoked her sight again and peered at the flowers. To her surprise, she saw nothing overtly sinister there—nothing like the light that had attacked Simon—but the roses didn’t look normal either. In the aether, they were gray shadows of themselves, bleached and drained of all vitality. When Olivia looked at them again in the normal world, the blossoms were already beginning to decay.
What do You think about Lessons After Dark (2012)?
