Page 3 of Bombshell

“The branches of the oak outside of my bedroom window shattering the glass would have alerted someone blind and deaf, Alnus.” His voice was deeper than any of my aunts’ and everything about him seemed sharp, almost angular.

The aunt’s bodies were smooth and curvaceous and they’d explained to me over the past couple of days about the differences between men and women—something I’d never stopped to consider before.

Dark blue eyes shifted down to where I was hiding behind Aunt Willow’s leaves and I watched as something flashed across the man’s face before his expression flattened again.

“Euphemia, come and greet your father,” Aunt Alnus called but I continued to hide until Aunt Willow gently ushered me forward until I was standing right in front of him.

He towered over me, looking down his long, large nose before a great sigh left him and he crouched down so that we were at eye level with each other.

I blinked with surprise as I took in the features on his face because Aunt Alnus told me I would not look like him, but evenI could see that the shape of my eyes and lips were the same as his.

He also had a smattering of freckles across his nose like me. Though, they were brown unlike my own green ones.

“I’ve been wondering what you would look like,” he said gently, reaching out to touch me but I flinched away from his hands. “You look almost human, just like me.”

One of my vines snaked out and pushed his hand away and I watched his mouth open in an O of surprise. “Though I don’t have any of those, I’m afraid. I see the little green nubs on your back when you were an infant have also grown.”

“You saw me as a baby?” I asked, completely surprised.

“Yes, but only briefly before your aunts came to take you away.”

There was a huff from behind me from Aunt Willow. “You didn’t fight me very much on it, Alexander.”

Alexander glowered at the woman, his blue eyes cooling as he glanced up at her from over my shoulder. “My wife had just died, Willow, so you’ll excuse me if I was struggling.”

“We dryads do not recognize marriage, Alexander, you knew that when you decided to court one of our kind,” Aunt Alnus cut in, her voice firm.

“But Elowyn did call herself my wife, so if she recognized the marriage, you should have too.”

The attention had gone from me so completely that no one noticed when I stepped away from the man in front of me and hid behind Aunt Willow’s legs.

“Elowyn did something that went against our laws and she paid the ultimate price for it,” Aunt Alnus’s words boomed through the clearing as the air sizzled with energy. All of the grandmother trees in the clearing began to creak, as if answering her call. Then, as if it had never existed, the energy disappeared and things were calm again as my aunt continued to speak. “But, I will be the first to admit that insisting the child live with us as one of us was somewhat short sighted. As you can see, she is not a true nymph.”

“And what makes you so sure that she will fit in with a coven?” Alexander asked, his gaze finding me again as he looked me up and down.

Alnus’s green eyes glanced over at me and she gestured for me to step forward again. “All you need to do is touch her and you will understand.”

Alexander held a hand out to me and I stared at it with distrust.

Then his expression softened and he offered me a smile—the first I’d ever seen him make since his arrival. “It’s all right, Euphemia, I won’t hurt you. Can I take your hand?”

I stared at his hand and then his face before nodding and slowly reaching out to put my much smaller hand in his.

Warmth began to spread from where our skin touched and it continued to heat up until I yanked my hand away with a yelp and turned to rush into Aunt Willow’s waiting arms.

“She has magic,” Alexander said, clearly surprised.

“She does,” Aunt Alnus confirmed, reaching out to put a hand on my shoulder. “And not strictly the type we as dryads carry. She is truly the first of her kind, just as you wished for when you came to seek out our sister.”

Alexander’s eyes began to glitter with excitement as he reached for me again, pulling me from Aunt Willow’s grasp without asking and perching me on one of his forearms.

I wanted to protest the sudden change, but the complaints died on my lips as I looked at his face.

Alexander looked at me as if I was the most important thing in the world to him.

No one had ever looked at me that way before.

“Will you come with me, Euphemia? Will you live with me from now on?”

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