For a moment, I actually considered it. He stood so still amid the storm, just like when I’d first laid eyes on him. Only now he didn’t look like a monster. Not even like a prince—not in those plain clothes, with his hair frothing on the wind. He looked like...
Just a man. A shepherd’s son. One I’d married. One I loved.
“Are you sure?” he shouted.
I nodded. Even though I absolutely fucking wasn’t sure. But the need to save Amryssa beat steadily inside me, a guiding star.
I couldn’t look at Kai another moment without collapsing, so I turned to face the fevered storm. The tree loomed, stealing my attention.
The buzz in my teeth spread into my skull.
The strangest part was, it was familiar. It felt like the dagger’s inhabitant, multiplied by a billion.
I took a step, then another. I glanced back once, but now Kai had his back to me. Vick stood at the clearing’s edge, Amryssa anchored at his side.
My breath hitched, but Kai would handle them. Already, Vick trembled in the face of the nightmare’s fury. Meanwhile, Amryssa strained toward the tree, soundless pleas coming from her mouth.
Kai set off toward them, straight-backed.
“I love you,” I murmured. The wind snatched the words, and I dared to imagine it would deliver them. Whirl them around,polish them to shining, then plant them in Kai’s ear, once I was gone.
Come, Zephyrine commanded, inside my head.
I turned to the tree and did as the goddess bade. One foot in front of the other.
Above me, the nightmare raged.You are nothing.
You’re wrong, I answered.
You are worthless.
Fuck you, went my reply.
I erected a wall inside my mind, piled the bricks of my love for Kai and Amryssa atop it, then mortared it over with curses and refusals. The nightmare couldn’t have me. Not right now.
When I reached the tree, I passed through some invisible barrier. All at once, the wind’s grip loosened and died.
Apparently, the storm had an eye, and I’d found it.
I pushed my tangled hair from my face and ran my fingers down the oak’s rough bark. Its trunk was massive, wider than my arms could span, and a jagged split ran down the middle. Purple light emanated from within.
It looked like the seam between closed doors. But...how to open it?
An offering, probably. Just like the Lady Marche had given.
Blood.
I plucked the magicless dagger Olivian had given me from my belt. The blade gleamed, reflecting the storm. I guided it across my palm.
Hot red agony raced up my arm. I gritted my teeth, then pressed my hand to the trunk’s crack, wincing at the sting.
Blood coursed into the seam, muddying its glow. The buzz in my head intensified, like a swarm of wasps trapped inside a box. The crack widened, the tree peeling apart, the curtain of wood parting to reveal...
I staggered. A woman slept inside, suspended in a translucent amethyst cocoon, like a butterfly awaiting transformation. Only she was more magnificent than any butterfly in existence. Brown-skinned and black-haired, wrapped in a delicate shroud of palmetto leaves, Zephyrine was awe-inspiring, her beauty almost violent.
I threw up a hand to shield my eyes. Looking at her was like staring into the sun.
You have something to offer me.
