Page 13 of Whispers of the Dryad

“Right, right,” Rowan said.“So, I’m assuming it’s all good in paradise?”

“I don’t know,” I answered.Rowan frowned.“What do you mean?”

“Well… I don’t know if I want to do this.”

“Do what?”

“All of it,” I said with a sigh.“I want to be with her.”

Rowan blinked at me.“What?”I asked.“I never thought I’d hear you say something like that about a woman again.Gods, it’s been three centuries, Ash.You’ve never wanted to look at a woman twice, let alone be with one.Lorraine must really be something.”

I sighed.“Yeah, she is.”

“Don’t sound so dejected about it,” Rowan laughed.“I just don’t know if she really is that great,” I said.“I mean, I think she is.But I thought Ava was great too, and look how that turned out.I’m not so sure I can trust my judgment.”

Rowan shook his head.“The heart chooses who it wants to love, and it has nothing to do with judgment.You know it works that way, even for us.It’s the one thing we all have in common: the gods, us, and the humans.We fall in love the same way; we hurt the same way.”

I nodded.I didn’t know why it was like that.Why were we cursed to love the way the humans did if it hurt so fucking much?Maybe that was why the humans and the gods had this weird dance they always engaged in—love was the one thing they saw eye to eye on, and as long as there was one thing in common…

“I won’t give up my immortality for her,” I said.“No one asked you to,” Rowan said carefully.“Unless it’s what you had in mind.”

I shook my head.“I just said I wouldn’t.Which means the only other way is for her to stay here with me.”

Rowan frowned.“She can’t do that; you know how it works.She’ll never survive here long-term.”

“She’s doing okay now.”

“Because she’s bound to you, Ash,” Rowan said.“If she weren’t, the magic would tear her apart.You know that.”

Shit, he was right.I hadn’t known it outright, but it made sense.It was why the humans didn’t stay, so the gods had to go to them instead.“Fuck,” I cursed.“You’re really serious about this,” Rowan said.“I wish I wasn’t,” I said grimly.“I wish I was just back where I started, without all this bullshit and drama.”

“You were way worse off then,” Rowan pointed out.He was right.I’d been way worse off when I’d been miserable and depressed, and my heart had been broken.The thing was, I had to make a choice.I’d done the stupid thing where I’d fallen in love with a human again, and the only two options were giving up my immortality or losing her forever.

It was a pretty shit catch-22, and I wasn’t ready for shit like that.I wasn’t ready at all.

ChapterThirteen

Lorraine

“Lorraine?”Oscar’s voice echoed through the house.“Where are you?”

I curled deeper under the covers in my bed, hoping he wouldn’t find me.I knew it wasn’t going to work—I couldn’t hide from a monster in my bed.He would find me.“Are you home?”Oscar called again.“Come on, Lorraine, I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

I lifted the covers and peeked out into the room.My room was a mess—the laundry basket overflowed, and I hadn’t had a chance to sweep the floors or wipe down the surfaces.I’d been working my ass off just to make ends meet, and we never seemed to have enough money to get by.I refused to let Cat drop out of college and get a job to help me.If someone was going to have a good life despite the hell that had broken loose after my parents had died, it was her.She deserved it.The accident had been my fault.I was the one who had to pay the price.“Lorraine!”Oscar was getting pissed off that he couldn’t find me.“Where the fuck are you!?”The more upset he got, the more terrified I became of what would happen when he finally found me.I heard him stomp his way through the house, his footsteps sounding as angry as his voice.The front door creaked, and his footsteps left the house.I stayed under the covers for a short while longer until I knew the coast was clear.When I was sure Oscar had really left, I peeled the covers away.I glanced around.I wasn’t in the home I’d grown up in.I was in the cabin in the forest where Ash had helped me hide away.I frowned, trying to figure out what was going on.How had I gotten here?Why wasn’t I home?A shadow moved outside the cabin window, and I rolled off the bed and ducked beneath the windowsill.I glanced up, watching the shadow as it slowly crept around the house.Oscar was here, looking for me.He’d called and shouted, and when that hadn’t worked, he’d pretended to leave.Now, he snuck around silently, trying to catch me.He knew I was here.How did he know?Ash’s magic and the magic of the realm should have protected me, hidden me.“How the fuck those assholes could have fucked this up is beyond me,” Oscar grumbled.“How many places in this godforsaken place can she be?”

I swallowed hard and crawled across the floor toward the closet.I had to hide before Oscar came into the cabin again and found me here.I wanted to call out to Ash to help me, but that would give away my location.I had no way of fighting off Oscar when he found me.Was he alone, or did he have people with him?I didn’t know for sure.I didn’t know anything anymore.I’d thought I knew my boyfriend, but so much had changed since he’d sold me to pay off his debts.I didn’t know what to expect anymore.I didn’t know who that man was.The door crashed open again, and Oscar was suddenly in the room.He grabbed me by my hair and yanked me up.“Did you think you were going to get away?”he sneered, his face so close to mine his breath was hot in my face.“Think again, sweetheart.You’re mine, and I can do whatever I want with you.”He raised his hand and brought it down hard and fast.I jerked up in bed, gasping for air, struggling to get enough oxygen into my lungs.My cheek stung where Oscar might have hit me, although I’d woken up before that.I looked around, straining my ears for a sound.The light was bright outside, streaming into the window, and everything was peaceful and quiet.

I swallowed hard, my heart still racing.“Hello?”I called out in a small voice.Fear threatened to choke me.I expected Oscar to jump out from behind the door at any moment.“It was just a dream,” I told myself.“It was just a dream; he doesn’t know where you are.”

There was no way Oscar knew where I was.I’d just had a nightmare.I still had nightmares about Oscar, even though so much time had passed.I shook my head.It hadn’t been that much time, had it?Time was strange here, but it had only been a little more than a week.Maybe two weeks at the most.I’d only been here a short while, so it was no wonder the trauma of what he’d done to me was still fresh in my mind.I carefully got out of bed and tiptoed to the closet.I knew I was safe, but the dregs of the dream still clung to me.I got dressed quickly, keeping my eyes and ears open.Anything that creaked in the cabin made me jump, my heart racing again, and it took my breath away.I hated being this afraid.I had no reason to be so terrified of someone coming to get me—least of all Oscar.When the men had come to find me, they’d had magic, and someone had given away my location.I still didn’t know how that had worked or why it had happened, but Ash had fought for me.He’d saved me and killed them all.No one else knew where I was.Oscar wasn’t coming for me.When I was dressed, I walked to the kitchen and made coffee.My upgraded cabin was so much more like home now, with all the luxuries I was accustomed to.I still didn’t know how Ash had done it.It was so different from when I’d gotten here and the cabin had been nothing more than a medieval hunting cabin.Now it was modern, with everything I needed.The magic around here wasn’t something I would ever understand.It was crazy to think that it had become normal to me, who’d never believed in magic before.I guessed anything could happen, everyone could be taught something, and anyone could be proven wrong.If I wasn’t the poster child for that over the past couple of weeks, I didn’t know who was.I was waiting for the coffee machine to stop gurgling out my coffee when someone knocked on the door.I jumped, and my heartbeat in my throat again.The door slowly opened, and my body ran cold.Terror took over, and I couldn’t think straight.I should have fought my way to safety or fled, but I was frozen in place and I couldn’t move.If Oscar was here now to take me, it would be easy as fuck to just grab me and leave.I was pathetic.Philippa stepped around the door.“Oh, good, you’re up,” she said with a smile.When she saw me frozen in terror, she frowned.“Is everything okay?”

I swallowed hard and forced myself to move.The coffee had stopped.“I’m fine,” I said.Philippa narrowed her eyes at me.“You’re really pale.What’s going on?”

“I was just…” I swallowed again, feeling stupid.“I just thought you might be someone else.”

“Like who?”Philippa asked.I shook my head and waved her off.“It’s not important.”

Philippa looked like she wanted to argue with me, but she dropped it.“Coffee?”I offered.“Oh, yes please,” she said, her bright expression returning.“I’m starting to love coffee.It’s really bad for you, you know.”

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