Page 114 of Bound to the Orc King

“We want to be part of this new idea of yours,” Rune says, his ears perking up.

“Why do two weeks feel like an eternity?” Shadow grins. “I’m ready for the other realms to know the magnificence that is me.”

Aldronn and I also take a day to go with Wranth and Naomi to Avalon. Stepping through the door is a weird moment of disorientation, like when your foot reaches for a step riser that isn’t there, and you stumble.

We emerge in a small clearing in the middle of a forest. The ruins of the stone house look the same as before, but unlike the memory I saw in Aldronn’s mind, there’s a sun in the sky.

Wranth crouches and places his palms on the ground. “I think some of the magic is back.”

Aldronn repeats his actions, nodding. “I think you’re right.”

“The trees are still dead.” Naomi walks up to an elm or oak or something like that—it’s hard to tell without leaves—and pats the brown bark.

“Maybe,” Wranth says. “We can ask Gerna to come and check. She has plant magic.”

“No, the witch speaks true.” King Severin floats down from overhead, his shadow wings so eerily silent even Aldronn and Wranth jolt with surprise. The shadow fae lands on the ground, his wings sucking back into his body. “Titania freed us and fixed some of the realm’s hurts, but she did not fix all. She unlocked the stasis gripping the realm, but it turned out the stasis was the only thing keeping the trees partially alive.”

His voice is so carefully controlled it takes the brush of his mind against mine for me to realize he vibrates with rage.

“I’ve seen the tapestries of what Avalon should look like, green and alive. Yet I fly over acre after acre of dead forest.” His hands clench, his lips curling in a snarl that shows his fangs. “What Oberon took from us… What he still takes…”

Aldronn’s eyes narrow. “You have plant magic.”

“Indeed, I do.” Severin tips his head. “As you have elf ancestors, I have a few who are orc. It feels horribly ironic when confronted with this.” His fingers dance over the bark of a dead tree. Then he crouches and brushes crumbled leaves away from a tiny curl of green. “Still, all is not lost.”

His hand hovers over it, and it grows several inches before coming to a halt.

“That’s amazing,” I say. “You can grow it all back.”

“No.” Severin shakes his head. “Everything in Avalon is too fragile. If I pour too much magic into the new plants, it will twistthem instead of aid them. My magic needs a thriving ecosystem to work to its full potential.”

“You can’t have Alarria.” Wranth’s voice goes cold, his hand chopping through the air like a sword as he points to the stone house. “Your people killed my parents and every other orc in Avalon. You don’t get to have your happy ending in the world we’ve kept safe.”

Oh, Wranth. My heart aches for the pain in his voice. I share a look with Naomi, who gives a sad nod that yes, all of that really happened.

“That was not me,” Severin protests. “And the shadow fae who did it were made to do so by the Dark God.”

Wranth growls, his fists balling, and Aldronn steps to his cousin’s side and sets a supportive hand on his shoulder. “It does not matter,” Aldronn says. “Such deep hurts cannot quickly be forgotten. There are other realms. Go to one of them. As King Wranth of the Avalon orcs says, Alarria will not be your home.”

Wranth turns and stomps for the door, Naomi hurrying after him. Aldronn pulls me along as well, but I can’t help but glance back one last time at Severin, his head bowed as he stares down at the tiny bit of green amongst all that dead brown.

Finally, the day comes for me to start picking up the pieces of my old life so I can braid them into my new happiness. Aldronn and I follow Naomi into the empty heart tree cottage set at the edge of the village.

Only it’s not completely empty. A crystal lies on the floor, the air above it swirling with distortion like heat waves radiating off sun-baked blacktop.

“Ferndale Falls, here I come,” I whisper and step out into the familiar forest of home, the rush of the waterfall audible.

“Ready?” Naomi holds out a hand. “I’ll take us straight to the bookshop.”

I shake my head and hurry past her. It’s only a few yards through heavy ferns before the narrow game trail opens up in front of the waterfall.

Aldronn steps close behind me and wraps me in his arms.

“This is the place Mom used to bring me.” I lean back into him. “This is the reason I love waterfalls.”

“You’re the reasonIlove waterfalls.” He projects an image of him between my thighs, eating me out at the falls in Alarria. We’ve been practicing our mental connection a lot this past week, both in bed and out, and when we’re close together, I can stay constantly tuned in to him.

“Still so dirty,”I tease.

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