Page 7 of Whispers of the Dryad

“Hey, man,” I said, finding Rowan near the lake.“Where’s your honey?”

Rowan had been dating Clea, a water sprite and a part of the group of druses and sprites who spent time together.“She’s having a girls’ day or something,” Rowan said with a shrug.“I don’t know what it’s all about.”He sat back on the sand, kicking out his legs, and leaned back on one elbow.When I sat next to him, he raised his eyebrows.“To what do I owe the honor?”

I snorted.“Don’t act like I never spend time with you.”

“You don’t,” Rowan pointed out.“Not since the fifties or some bullshit like that.”

I scoffed at that, but it was true.I’d been wallowing in self-pity for a long time and spent most of it asleep in my tree unless there was a reason to wake up.“I just wanted to chill and hang out,” I finally said.“Cool.”Rowan looked out over the lake.Clea and some of the other sprites played in the water on the other side.“How are things going with you?”I asked.“Yeah, good,” Rowan said, nodding.“Normal, you know?”

I laughed.“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know… we like each other, we’re exclusive, we fuck… normal.”

“It sounds like a killer relationship,” I mocked.“What about yours?”Rowan asked.“Isn’t it pretty much the same?”

“Sure, except for the life-threatening bullshit on her part and the deadline on mine,” I pointed out.“Right, right…” Rowan eyed me sidelong.“She’s leaving soon, huh?”

“Yep.”

“You don’t seem thrilled about that.”

“Am I supposed to be?”

“I thought you’d be happy to finally be free of this shit with those guys after her, caring for her, all that lark.”

I shrugged.“I don’t mind having her around.”

Rowan sat up, his mouth open.“What?”

“You like her, I knew it!”

“You already knew that.”

“I didn’t know it was serious.”

“Did you think it was a game?”I asked.Rowan closed his mouth and considered it.“I just thought it was a fun fling, a good fuck along with all the other drama.I didn’t think you cared so much about her.”

I looked at Rowan.“What gives it away?”I asked.“Everyone keeps telling me I care a lot about her, but I can’t tell how they all know.”

Rowan shrugged.“I don’t know, it’s in the way you talk about her.She changed from being a nuisance to being someone you talk about with… I don’t know, reverence, I guess.Like she really does mean a hell of a lot to you, and the stuff you used to get irritated by, like looking after her and protecting her, doesn’t bug you anymore.”

I shook my head.“It doesn’t.”

“Because you want to do it.Because you care.”

I groaned.“I hear you.”

Rowan eyed me dubiously while I stared at the water, trying to ignore him.“So, things are looking good in paradise, huh?”Rowan asked after I ignored him for long enough that he knew I wouldn’t offer information without a question.“It’s not going to last,” I said.“No, I guess it can’t.”

Not unless you go with her?—”

“I’m not doing that,” I said, cutting Rowan off before he could even think about suggesting giving up my immortality again.“Come on, man.If she’s really that great, and you’re already looking for a way to get out of this shithole that you’re in, isn’t that the way to go?”

I glared at Rowan.“And risk getting my heart broken again?”

“The way I see it, you’re getting close to round two with the heartbreak thing, and neither of those were while you were actually mortal.I don’t think it’s that part that’s the issue.”

I pulled my lips back in a teeth-baring snarl, but Rowan wasn’t completely wrong.Damn it, he hardly ever was.“It’s not that simple,” I finally said when Rowan didn’t back down at my display of fury.“Of course it’s that simple.You just have to decide what’s more important.”

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