Page 376 of Kingdoms of Night

Dew met them at the cross path near a stone marked with directional runes. “Good eve, friends.” Her wide mouth stretched in a smile and she came up beside Viridi, her head barely reaching his elbow. Dew was the smallest dryad elf, but it never slowed her down. She could climb and run faster than most.

As they continued on, Viridi told Dew what had happened as well.

“You know how I feel about your father,” Dew said, “but he’s right about you. You aren’t weak-minded by any means, Viridi. You can put everything to rights once you’re ready. I believe in you.”

Her trust warmed his heart, but it didn’t chase away his worries. Dew was too much of an optimist. She had the audacity to hope that Father had learned from his mistakes. He didn’t know how she had forgiven him.

Viridi tried to push away the memories of when human intruders had come close to the island, but they flooded his mind anyway. The humans hadn’t even seen their island through the wards, but the king had been afraid of the fire flickering on their decks, of their lanterns and loud voices. And when Father felt fear, he turned it into rage. He had forced Viridi and the royal guards to wade into the ocean and strike down the intruders with tree magic. Viridi recalled the way pine needles had swarmed the ship like wasps, and how tree roots from the jeweltrees, controlled by Viridi himself, had wrapped around the hull and cracked it like a nut. He would never forget the screams from the sailors as they drowned.

Dew gave him a sad smile, and Felix sighed heavily, as if they had a sense of the pressure on Viridi’s shoulders.

Felix led them around a turn in the path. A mouse scurried across the ivy-strewn ground. “If that attack during the first part of his reign hadn’t happened, I wonder if the king would have been … more mild in nature.”

A ship of pirates had sailed their small dhow through the wards with no problem. They’d had a witch aboard who knew ward magic. The pirates had come ashore during the day while all the dryad elves were asleep in their trees—Viridi too had been fully asleep in one of the many jeweltrees. He’d only been a youngling at the time. The pirates had cut down two of the largest jeweltrees before Viridi woke. The cold fear he’d felt when they’d cut off the trees’ life force … he shuddered. Viridi had awoken the royal guards, five of the strongest dryad elves, and they’d driven the pirates from the island, killing their captain even with the witch throwing spell after spell at them, her mouth twisting in a tongue Viridi didn’t understand. Her magic had been a sickly sort of yellow and it had stunk like rot. But then they had gone, forced away, sailing over the waves. For a full cycle of the moon, the witch’s magic had hung around the jeweltrees like a fog of poison.

Could that be what is wrong with the jeweltrees?

“The king should have traveled before he had the weight of all the tribes’ future on his shoulders,” Dew said. “He might have learned to think beyond this island.” She’d gone pale around the mouth, twisting a length of ivy around her fingers, a nervous habit. She was fascinating, so different from the rest of their people. She had the same look—pointed ears, skin that shimmered slightly green in the light—but her personality was like that of an outsider. She had traveled a few times with her sister when she was alive, seen more of the world than most dryad elves, considering hardly any of them ever left the island.

It was difficult to leave. They had to get to know a tree before the tree would house them. Viridi had heard it was exhausting.

“You’re right, Dew. I wish he would have. And me too. Expanding our circles of thought would surely be a positive move. I hate that Father and so many of our people fear it.”

“They think everyone out there is a pirate or a witch determined to cut down the jeweltrees.”

Felix murmured agreement.

Dew beamed at Viridi, then dashed into the star-shadowed forest, no doubt to climb. Dew was an adult, but she acted like a child at times. Braver than even the royal guards, she was an enigma and he adored her.

The last time Dew had traveled, it had ended in tragedy. Her sister had brought back a human lover, a willing and curious fellow. But Father hadn’t liked the man’s ideas about opening the island to visitors. Accusing them of plotting against him, Father had sentenced Dew’s sister and her partner to death. One did not tangle with Father and live to tell the tale.

Felix veered closer to Viridi. “Do you think the trouble with the jeweltrees could be related to the fire prophecy?”

Parents told their children the prophecy before they rested in their trees every morning. Council members and leaders recited it at meetings, and as a reminder before important events. The ancient words never left a dryad elf’s memory.

A fire ends the dryad’s reign. Watch for the fire, oh Thorned One.

Viridi dragged his hand over a jeweltree as they walked. The tree’s energy shimmered into his palm and a pale green light danced across his knuckles.

Please, the tree said into his mind.

So puzzling.

“I don’t know how it would be related,” he said to Felix, picking up his friend’s question again, “but I suppose it’s possible. I feel like there is something I’m meant to do to set them straight, but they’re so wild and strong. I truly don’t know.”

“But that isn’t all that’s on your mind, is it?” Felix asked, tilting his head. “It’s not just your fated role and the jeweltrees. If you don’t want to talk about it, I’ll leave you be.”

A shiver of anticipation traveled across Viridi’s heart. He didn’t try to hide his smile. “I have no idea what is approaching us, figuratively or literally, but there’s a sensation in me that is undeniable.”

“If it makes you smile like that, I’m all for it. It’s been too long since you’ve been happy.”

Viridi ran a hand over a cluster of pine needles as they neared the feasting area. “I can’t imagine what turn of events would favor me.”

“Life can be wonderfully thrilling,” Felix said. “Especially when one has a potential mate…”

Viridi frowned. “Do you have a prospect? Have you felt the lure?”

“No. I thought maybe you had and that’s what this was all about.”

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