Page 31 of Princess Takes Academy
Soon. I’ll see him. I’ll hold his bond once more and hear his thoughts and feel his heart touching mine.
I gave Mama another quick hug, grateful for once that Carys gave an impatient, extremely loud sigh that made her owl flutter her wings with anxiety. Evidently Winnifred was just as ready to fly away as me. Carys offered her elbow, which was rather strange, but I curled my hand around her arm.
:Be safe.:Mama didn’t cry, but her bond weighed heavily in my mind.:I love you.:
:Love you too, Mama.:
She hesitated, her bond vibrating with tension. I could feel her need to warn me, probably with an hour-long lecture. Mentally I braced, determined to let her say her piece just so I could go.
:Things may be different between you and Keras,: she finally said. :You’re older. He’s older. Your feelings might have changed.:
:Never.:
She gave me a mental hug in our bond, enveloping me in the scent of sweet fruit and jungle flowers.:I want your happiness above all. Go and be happy, butterfly.:
I stepped into the tree first, pulling Carys along with me as quickly as I dared. Scotland. How long would it take us to get there, even through the magical tree? A few steps? Ten? Would it be winter or summer there? Would Keras be glad to see me? Had he changed any at all? He’d be taller, certainly. Probably thicker too, stocky with muscle if he’d been learning how to fight.
It seemed to take forever. My inhale drawn out to infinity. Seconds that never ended. Everything snapped back into place and I looked around eagerly.
Though I couldn’t see much at all. It was too dark.
“Well, bollocks,” Carys snapped. “Where’d you take us, guttersnipe?”
“Me? I didn’t do anything. Where are we?”
“The hell if I know.”
Great. Just great. I’d trusted Carys to know how to work the tree, but maybe a few too many massive volumes had fallen on her in the library. Mehen had always said she was a few books short of a full stack.
“Carys?” A feminine voice called out, echoing with a deep, rich vibrato that was both sultry and melodic. “Is that you?”
“Meredith, thank goddess.”
“What the fuck are you doing down here? Come to steal my copy of Homer’sMargites?”
“I have a child with me so watch the language. There’s no way on Gaia’s green earth that you actually found a surviving copy ofMargitesin this deplorable heap of stones.”
“I ought to lock the door and leave you down here in complete darkness like the crazy old bat you are.”
I thought Carys had said she was going to meet a friend. This sounded almost as bad as her never-ending battle with the dragon. Or maybe all of Carys’friendssecretly hated her?
I strained to see anything in the darkness, but I couldn’t make out my hand in front of my face. I reached out hesitantly, trying to feel anything nearby. We should have exited from a tree, right? The ways were connected through Queen Shara’s grove. I couldn’t see anything, but this felt like inside. The air tasted stale and smelled vaguely of dust. It certainly didn’t smell like a forest or even a garden.
Something brushed against my fingertips. Fur. I froze, but I didn’t pull my hand away. A furry head, soft ears, whiskers. Its fur wasn’t very long—not like a bear. It didn’t feel like a lion’s mane either, but the hairs weren’t short like a horse’s.
The creature started to purr, and I relaxed a little more. I knew cats thanks to Mama’s ability to call jaguars. Though this beast’s head felt more like a normal housecat’s.
Light sparked, slowly growing from the size of a firefly to a glowing ball that illuminated more of the space. We were inside, though how… I turned and faced a gigantic mirror. Ten-feet tall and four-feet wide, set in a heavy, ornately-carved frame, it was big enough for even Rik to pass through as his rock troll. An old sheet hung from the upper corner.
The mirror’s surface shimmered like liquid water. Something swirled deep inside, like the hint of a tail or fin. But we hadn’t come through water. We’d stepped through a tree. It didn’t make sense. At all.
I reached out a finger to touch it, but Carys slapped my hand. I opened my mouth to yell at her, but the swirling thing in the mirror sparked with gold before it disappeared and the mirror’s surface hardened.
Gold. Scales. Like the crocodile that had nearly killed me and Keras.
It’s dead, I reminded myself as I carefully backed away. After Keras stabbed the beast in the eye, the crocodile hadn’t been seen since. Even Papa thought the crocodile was probably dead, and I’d killed the vizier who hurt my eyes. Well, my unicorn had killed him.I’m safe.
“Ignorant fool. Don’t touch anything you don’t understand.”
