Page 75 of Dark Fae's Destiny

“There you are…!” Joy cascades all through me to know this tree is not completely lost. For the old tree has put every ounce of its dying song into this new sproutlet; fierce, I feel the renewal of that surviving sapling roar through my ears now, deep into my heart as I approach it.

I kneel in my tawny Fae leathers, touching the sprout’s leaves. It shivers at my touch, singing brighter now that it knows I have come to claim it.

Giving me permission to dig it from the earth—and make this Livingtree once again mine.

I place my hands on my heart. Going into a light trance, I say a heartfelt prayer for the life of the tree, for the lives of those who will enjoy it, and for the lives of the Fae and the earth and all others who walk upon it.

The tree feels my prayer; I feel its song brighten more for me to take it. I reach down into the loose soil as I spread my auric power wide; my Dark Summer Fae wings roll from me in a beautiful spread as I kneel on both knees now in the late afternoon, to draw the new tree from the earth.

My bright rainbows cascade a deeper color, shimmering with gold and cobalt, finally balanced in my Light and Night. As an autumn breeze freshens the late afternoon air, I feel it bolster me, making my power flow into the little tree, helping it live.

All at once, the tree resonates with my power. Singing fills it as I give it my revelry; it grows seven hand-span in an instant, rushing up into a true sapling now.

It spreads out with long limbs and shining leaves, and shimmering white flowers all over it. Joy fills me, as I know this tree is to be mine.

Like its parent tree before it, it will come home with me and be a haven for my beloveds, as the old tree was in its time. I slide my hands deeper into the soil to feel where the nearly dead roots of the old tree have grown the new tree’s roots deep into the soil. With care, I untangle them, asking them to come unwound.

As I thank the old tree for its life—and allow it to sing its last.

I witness, as the old tree passes what’s left of its life force into the new sapling, giving the new tree its song. The new tree brightens a hundredfold; shooting up now, it grows into a strong young tree that stands a few feet above my head.

It fills out with leaves and flowers as the trunk thickens in an instant. The roots grow longer, deep into the soil. At last, I nod at Alleno, who stands ready with a tree-gathering cloth of the Summer Fae, a shimmering white wrap made especially for transplanting Livingtrees such as this.

As Alleno spreads his Fae-aura and sinks his hands into the soil all around us, clearing it away but leaving the tree’s roots intact, I lift the young tree up from beneath. It comes gladly, ready to be mine, though it still clings to some of its old soil and parent roots.

Alleno and I move it over, settling it upon the shimmering white cloth. The young tree sings for the new life it will have, as I feel the old tree breathe its last. As some final energy leaves the gargantuan behemoth, several limbs crack and fall, enormous roots tumbling with them to rest upon the forest floor.

But Alleno and I, and the young tree, are unharmed as we gather up the edges of the cloth, cinching them into a ball via a wide silver-gold ribbon threaded through the margins of the cloth. The tree is ready to travel; heaving it up on our auric wings, we fly back up to one of the highest, oldest roots.

To wait for Altenni, whom I can feel coming to us.

My enormous tawny barn owl sweeps in on silent wings as the first shadows of evening settle. With a soft hoot, she nuzzles me with her beak; preening my hair affectionately, she head bumps me, then has one for Alleno.

As she lets us tie the tree to a saddle I rarely use on her, she preens gore from between her massive talons with her beak. Though one of her bright eyes is gone now, it hasn’t hampered her one bit. Altenni went out hunting while we were looking for the new tree; she must have caught something large, like a deer or stag, her demeanor pleased as we load her up.

As the young tree is secured, Alleno and I vault up to Altenni’s broad back. We grab fistfuls of her tawny back-feathers as I click my tongue and she flares her wings.

Heaving up into the sky.

It’s not a long flight over the silver forest, back to the glade. As Altenni touches down, I hop off, patting her tawny feathers and glancing up at Alleno, still astride her back. “You good to get this tree over to the Altvie residence?”

“Of course.” Alleno flashes me a smile. “It’s only a five-mile flight. Altenni won’t tire of me and this tree that quickly and dump us.”

“You know Altenni would never dump you.” Still, I give my owl the eyeball and she hoots. She has, occasionally, dumped people I asked her to fly somewhere, if they weren’t with me.

“You headed back to the Palace of Light to rendezvous with Ariana’s parents?” Alleno asks me now before he takes off.

“Quinn’s place.” I shake my head. “Ariana’s parents are with her at the Altvie estate, helping get the inheritance paperwork signed with her so she can take over her family’s old home. The Summer Fae Council meetings are concluded for the next two weeks. So I’ll be at Ariana’s… after I go pick up Quinn at the Red Letter Hotel Florence.”

“End of an era.” Alleno chuckles now as he gazes down at me, smiling but also wistful. “Like your dead Livingtree, so many things are changing now.”

“And we have to change with it.” I nod, as I feel the truth of Alleno’s words.

He pauses, then lifts his chin at me. “Are you going to live full time at Ariana’s? Or are you going to take up a place in the Illanti Rustico? Bello is rebuilding his pizzeria, which he expects will be a hit with both the Vampires and Fae, not to mention the Dark Fae, now that the city is blended in its Light and Night. Apparently, he’ll have some luxurious apartments for sale on the upper floors.”

“Perhaps.” I cock my head now, knowing I’m once again a nomad, since I’ve been living in Quinn’s cathedral apartments at the Hotel, but knowing we’re both being moved out of there as of midnight tonight. “Ariana offered for Quinn and me to stay at her new manor. Though some part of me feels like I might want to keep an extra place in Florence… I don’t know.”

“You’re ready to settle down.” Alleno’s smile is softer now, kind, as his emerald eyes shine in the lowering sun. “I see it written throughout your aura, once-Prince of the Summer Fae. You used to be the consummate bachelor, always fucking around with whomever struck your fancy. Now, you’re a family man with Quinn and Ariana. And it couldn’t suit you better.”

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