I take my metal canister of tea off the shelf. It is my own mixture of dried lavender blossoms and lemon balm, harvested from my garden and hung in the storeroom to dry. Weed helped me hang these stalks, I think. His hands touched these tender leaves, just as they touch me.

foxgloveIN THEoleanderRIGHT DOSEmoonseedEVERYTHINGbelladonnaIS A POISONlove.

They are trying to take you back from me now, and they will—but only for a brief, little while—

If there is one thing I have learned, from loving Jessamine and even from the evil tasks you have made me do, it is that all forms of life are worthy of compassion.