Page 27 of Cruel As A Tree

"Well, I don't like my options being taken away," Charlotte said.

"I can set up portals to anywhere in the Mundane or Magic realm that you wish, within reason," I said. It was an enormous offer, one that I knew Charlotte would not understand. To set up separate remote groves to places that weren't already inhabited by other Forest Lords and Ladies took a massive amount of effort for me to support.

"How about you teach Lillian here how to set up those portals instead," Charlotte said, narrowing her eyes as the corners of her lips crept upwards.

"I cannot teach her how to set up Order portals," I said. "But if she decides to become a Forest Lady, I will teach her how to grow her groves." I hesitated, not wanting Lillian to go the other route available to her, but part of the choice was having options. "She can also go learn how to cast temporary portals from the Sirens."

"Mom just let him fix the wall," Lillian said. "It's been weeks. You told me the other day that you'd never met such a respectful man. It's been weeks. He proved himself the moment he helped me get back home. Let's just trust him to do things his way, okay?"

Warmth flooded me, a strong feeling of pride that the woman I chose for my mate saw me that way. She trusted me with her home, with her family.

"Alright," Charlotte said, gesturing at the wall. "No half measures though. Let me see everything you can do to make this place better."

That was the only invitation I needed.

I let myself flow into the space and change it.

This place didn't breathe the way trees did. But it remembered. Quietly.

So I asked it to dream a new dream with me.

Chapter

Fourteen

LILLIAN

Istared at the beautiful surface of the wall, living wood that had replaced the ugly hole that my mother had hidden behind. It wasn't just the hole, though; the entire wall had changed, the straight lines softening and deepening, changing to the smooth ruby brown color of living wood, like we had stepped inside the hollow of a living tree. The floor was now warm under my bare feet, and I looked down to see a surface that was now a living braid of moss-veined wood that gave way slightly under my feet, spongy but pleasant to stand on, like it would take an impact and soften it for the joints. The ceiling now arched above me. Gone were the dim hallway lights, and the roof, and now there was a vaulted ceiling with branches that spanned overhead. It wasn't open to the sky; instead, there were huge leaves, translucent and hard, almost as if they had been fossilized or someone had made their idea of leaves out of blown glass.

The frames on the wall had small flowers sprouting around all of them, and the scent of jasmine filled the air.

"What have you done?" my mom gasped. "What is this?"

"If there is anything you wish changed, I will change it," Lorthion said. I looked back and forth between them. He was in the form he usually wore at my house, exceptionally humanoid, with practical clothing. He still had his long ears and a small crown of antlers, but his body was fully clothed in a basic linen shirt and pants. They were tight enough to show off the smooth curves of his strong body. When I saw him lying on the ground in the kitchen, his upper body in the sink cabinet, his shirt pulled up just enough to expose the lower lines of his abdomen, it had awoken another part of me I didn't know about. Now I wanted an entire scenario where he pretended to fix a sink, and I just got out of the shower, and oh no, who is this hot plumber in my kitchen? It was one of the many, many scenarios that had run through my head.

At this point, after enough dinners and hangouts with my family, I was certain I wanted him, all of him, and that he was worth whatever I would change into, because if being with him meant I changed into a creature that was more like him, I was so down.

He was a wonderful man.

I glanced back at my mom, seeing the stress on her face as she stared down the hallway to her newly altered bedroom door.

I put my hand out and placed it on her shoulder, immediately understanding. "Mom, he had hot running water in the treehouse he made me. Don't worry. Your bathroom is going to be even better than before."

I shot Lorthion a look, hoping that I was speaking the truth, and he gave me a broad smile and a strong nod.

My mom bolted down the hallway, darting into her bedroom. "Mary in a manger!" she shouted from the other room.

I felt the tension melt from my shoulder. That was a happy shout.

She came out of the bedroom, her bible clutched against her chest and tears in her eyes. "There are roses around it."

I knew what she was talking about. She had a small personal altar in her bedroom where she liked to do her nightly study and where she kept her bible. She had helped me set up one for myself when I was younger, but after I read through the whole book, I didn't feel connected to the whole thing, and she never pushed me. She always had a bible available if I wanted it, and was happy whenever I went to service with her, but it was never something she pushed on me when I pulled away from it. She was the kind of person who focused on the teachings of love and ignored the stories of hate. She always told me the stories of hate were the ones that were written by men who wanted to control others rather than write down the real messages.

She walked up to Lorthion and threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly. "I love it."

I went over to look into Anne's room.

All of her toys were still in there; it was just the structure of the room and the furniture that changed. The room was three times the size it was before, with a high vaulted ceiling, and her small twin-sized bed had morphed into a jungle gym. Her bed was up high at the top, a vaulted nest that was protected by a rail of intricately woven branches. There was a ladder, a wall with knobs that stuck out to make it look like a climbing wall, a bunch of vines that traversed the ceiling like a net that could be crawled across. There were flowers all over the room, and her bookshelf now had carvings of small creatures.

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