She fell back into her nightmares, true rest eluding her. She woke again to Gendrin shouting for help. She wished he wouldn’t be so loud. Her side and neck hurt from being carried in such an awkward position.
Blearily, she peered up at the sky. The clouds had parted enough to reveal the sun cut in half by the horizon. Now the shadows really would come. The beast would devour her.
It couldn’t hurt any more than her leg.
When next she woke, many hands carried her. They were sloshing through water. Purple water. She was caught in a nightmare again, surely. The water splashed her too-hot skin. She gasped at the shock of it. They passed her up. She was with Gendrin again. She curled into his chest even though he smelled like he hadn’t bathed in days. Not that she was any better.
She was in a boat with many men in beautiful armor. An enormous white wall made of trees with elegant arches and gray-green foliage rose up before them. Everything shimmered suddenly, a taste like stardust on her tongue. She blinked, sure she was dreaming again. But then the gates opened and what lay beyond made her mouth fall open.
It was as Gendrin had described it. A city of trees grew out of the water. Trees untouched by the coming winter. Lights in the shape of stars grew all over the boughs. People crowded the edges of the platforms to get a good look at her. Fish pulsing with colors darted through the water—water that was purple where it splashed against the hull.
“This can’t be real,” she murmured.
Gendrin smoothed her hair from her face. “It’s real, Caelia. We’re taking you to the healers.”
She caught sight of something through the layers of trunks. Something white and opalescent, with gold edges. Then everything went dark.
✽✽✽
Caelia awoke fiercely thirsty. She felt groggy and heavy, as if she’d been drugged. The fever was gone. She looked down at her leg, at the bandages there. It ached dully but felt better. She’d been changed and bathed—even her nails had been cleaned. That might have embarrassed her once, but she was well past that now.
Beside the bed, a five-petaled flower gave off light like a fallen star, a cup of water beside it. Even as she reached for it with a bandaged hand, she looked around the room with a strange, star-shaped roof. The walls were even stranger, like mist frozen in place. Magic. Had to be. Lying on another bed in the corner was Gendrin. He’d found time to wash up and change into clean clothes.
At the sight of him sleeping, something softened inside her. He was beautiful, she realized. How had she ever thought differently?
She picked up the glass, her pasty tongue working over the roof of her mouth. In her haste, the cup bumped against the flower, sending ripples of color along the seams. She gasped.
Gendrin instantly sat up, his gaze locking with hers. “You’re awake.”
She gulped down the tepid water. Thirst satiated, she dropped back to the pillow as he sat beside her. “How long did I sleep?”
“A couple days. The healers thought you needed the rest.”
She remembered bits and pieces of the wonders she’d seen. “Was it real? Is this real?”
He seemed to understand what she meant. He slid his arms under her and carried her to the misty thing at the room’s edge. With a twist of his hand, he banished the swirling vapors. The breeze pushed her hair back from her face. She had a full view of an opalescent tree, larger than anything she’d ever seen.
The colors shifted, drawing her in. Magic sounded in her head—singing crystals and falling rain and drums. She could feel herself dancing, her skirt tightening and flaring around her legs, the emptiness inside her filled up to the brim.
Suddenly, she wasn’t afraid anymore. “Dayne.”
“What’s that?” Gendrin asked.
“My son’s name.”
Her father and brother’s names combined. A way to honor them. Remember them.
His gaze softened. “It’s a good name.”
The gentleness in his eyes undid her. Using her hand around his neck for leverage, she pulled herself up and pressed her mouth to his. His lips were soft, but his body stiffened.
Confused, she pulled back. His eyes were still closed. He sucked on his bottom lip, as if he was tasting her. He opened his eyes and looked down at her reverently, like he’d been waiting for this moment his entire life.
The forest take her, how was she supposed to keep from falling in love with this man?
“Caelia, you don’t know everything. I would never take advantage of—”
“I kissed you,” she said firmly. “And I want to do it again. You’re going to give me what I want, Gendrin.”
He rested his forehead against hers. “Caelia, you’re making it very hard to keep my distance.”
I know exactly how you feel. She slipped out of his arms, keeping the weight off her bad leg. She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Your protests are noted.”
She pulled his mouth down to hers. He let her. Their lips met. Once. Twice. His palms cradled her face. She slid her hands up his arms and back down again. To his broad shoulders, down his back.
She paused, thinking about going farther, but she hadn’t completely lost her senses. Though she wasn’t far from it—her head was swimming, and she felt light and floaty. She pulled back.
He wrapped her in his arms, holding her tight. “Ancestors, Caelia.”
She rested her head against Gendrin’s chest. He tucked his chin over her temple. They both looked out at the city, so beautiful in the fading light. Caelia basked in the possibilities before her. Possibilities she’d never thought she’d have again.
✽✽✽
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Stolen Enchantress
The Beast
Mud squelched between her toes as Larkin shoved the hoe into the ground, lifted a sodden lump of earth, and dropped seeds from her belt into the hole. Rain dripped from her damp wool hood, and her back clenched in one big cramp. But she didn’t let the ache or the rain slow her. Bane had promised to come for her after her work was done. They were to go fishing at the river. With any luck, her family would have fresh meat for the first time in days.
She dropped the last seed into the ground and straightened with a sigh, rolling the kinks from her neck.
“Sela, time to go.”
She pulled back her hood and turned to look for her little sister. Instead, she came face-to-face with Crazy Maisy, jagged lines of mud painted across her skin, her wet hair plastered over her face. Larkin jumped back, heart pounding. She forced her spine straight. Best not to show fear around the girl.
“The forest take you, Maisy!”
How long had she been stalking her? And what nasty tricks did she have in mind? Throwing rocks or insults? Making one of her gruesome predictions?
“Within the shadows of the trees,” Crazy Maisy recited in a singsong voice, “the beast doth live and the beast doth breathe.”
Gruesome predictions it is. Larkin cast an uneasy glance at the forest. She’d strayed too far from her home. The muddy fields were surrounded on three sides by the Forbidden Forest and the fourth side by the river Weiss. The wind picked up, and the forest’s enor-mous trees groaned, branches straining like arms eager for her to come close enough to strangle the breath from her body.