Page 393 of Kingdoms of Night

The walls were simply the inside of the astounding tree, although vines grew from circular windows set into the wood. Bright blooms in deep red and rich purple decorated the lengths of green, and the windows didn’t seem to have been cut out but instead it looked as though the tree had bent this way and that to create the space for light to enter. Dryad magic? Perhaps.

In the center of the room, a labyrinth curled in a great circle, its lines made up of darker or lighter wood, the hues alternating like a chess board.

“One may walk the labyrinth to solve problems,” Viridi said. “Have you tried such a thing?”

“No, but I’ve seen them at various sacred places in my home kingdom of Wylfenden.”

“There is one in Khem as well.”

“Oh yes? Where? We only stopped at port. I didn’t get the chance to see much of anything beyond the docks.”

Viridi’s eyes narrowed like he was angry on her behalf. “On the northeast coast of Khem, where very few tend to travel. Or so I have heard. I have never left this island.”

“Why do you and your people remain here, isolated like this?” Isa asked.

Calva walked to a smooth trunk table and poured out what looked like a light wine into two wooden mugs.

Viridi accepted one of the mugs. “We prefer the quiet. We must maintain a place where the trees are respected and used properly. When trees are in pain, when people cut them down without first blessing the tree and asking for its aid, we feel that hurt. We are joined spiritually with every tree near us physically.” He ran a thorned fingertip—because she’d decided that was what they looked like, thorns—over the rim before taking a sip.

“Do trees choose to give up their lives sometimes?” Isa mimicked the way he’d touched the rim and then took a drink. The wine was cool and slightly sweet. Very good.

Viridi smiled at her as if he liked the fact that she had copied his gesture on the mug. “I have seen it happen, yes. A long time ago, we had a queen and she desired to see the distant shores, so she asked the trees to give up their lives so she could have a boat made of their timber.”

“No offense, but didn’t she feel badly asking for that just to travel about? I mean, I long to travel the world as well, but wouldn’t it be difficult if you feel the trees’ pain?”

“They feel no pain if proper spells are cast and sacrifices are made. Our queen thought it best to bring back humans for breeding.”

Isa didn’t know what to say to that except, “The humans were given a choice?”

“Of course. It was not accomplished in one venture to Khem, but in numerous trips to outlying villages, places where the queen spelled the folk to keep our secrets and maintain privacy.”

“Interesting.” He surely didn’t think she could be persuaded to have dryad elf children, did he? Her face flushed as she studied his handsome features and let her gaze wander down his lean, muscled body. Loving him certainly wouldn’t be terrible, but the children part … she wasn’t quite ready for that. She had Nico to think of.

She downed the rest of the wine, then wished she hadn’t because her head began to swim.

Beyond the labyrinth, a simple rectangular table sat below three of those amazing windows. Calva set out large, flat leaves like plates and arranged piles of red berries, a tangled vegetable of some sort, and what appeared to be potato mash.

Her dramatically pointed ears catching the window’s light, Calva bowed, then left the room.

Viridi pulled out a wicker chair for Isa and she sat, her stomach rumbling loudly. She laughed and he echoed the sound. Skies, she was glad she hadn’t angered him. She didn’t have the energy to try to constantly please someone even if it might mean her life.

“Enjoy,” he said as he began to eat with his fingers.

“Forgive my bluntness, but may I ask some questions?”

“Of course. Nothing you say can offend me. You have no knowledge of our customs and you have already proven you do at least try to learn as you go, in what I am guessing is a sign of kind respect.”

“Do you mean touching the rim of the wooden mug before drinking?”

“I do.”

He snapped a berry between his sharp elven teeth. Mountain elves had teeth like that too, or so she’d heard. It made many humans like her nervous, but Viridi had thus far been incredibly gracious and gentle. She would trust him unless he proved she shouldn’t. She was well and done with being a hateful, distrustful sort like the Brunes and Ursane. She wanted to be their complete opposite as much as possible.

After eating the entire plate of food in a way that she was fairly sure was ridiculously rude because her hunger just wouldn’t be controlled, she wiped her mouth like he had done, using yet another leaf, this one as soft as lamb’s wool.

“What does the ritual mean?” she asked, doing so again on her mug before taking a swallow.

“The gesture is meant to thank the tree that gave itself up to serve you.”

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