Chapter Twenty-Two – Thea
Chapter Twenty-Two
Thea
The chirping of birds woke me up, and I smiled to myself and stretched lazily, knowing I was protected by Taran’s body. I felt his leaves and vines on my skin, and a jolt of desire ignited a spark in my core. The things we’d done the night before... I wanted to do them again. I wanted us to stay here for the rest of the day, embraced, with his vines exploring me as he pleased. I knew it wasn’t possible, and that knowledge made my chest ache.
The longer I laid here, in his branches, the more I delayed the inevitable, the harder it would be to detach myself from him. So, I pushed myself to a standing position.
“My flower,” he murmured, pushing my hair out of my eyes with the tip of a branch.
I bit my lip to stop myself from clinging to him. He was half leshy, half human. He had branches instead of arms, and his head was covered in vines instead of hair, but he had the human face I’d gotten used to, and his chest was sculpted and taut.
“We should go,” I said. “We have a long day ahead.”
I started looking for my clothes so I wouldn’t have to see the disappointment in his eyes. I found them neatly folded at my feet. The secretions I’d been left with from last night had dried on my skin. It was a little uncomfortable, but at least I smelled good thanks to Taran’s sap being nothing like human sperm. I put on my bra and panties, then struggled a bit with my pants and sweater, given the tight space and the splint on my ankle.
“Thea, can we talk for a minute?”
“Sure.” I reached for my backpack. There were no more sandwiches, but I had a few energy bars left.
“Don’t do this.”
I stilled. “Do what?” I knew what he was referring to, of course, but I didn’t want to have this conversation. I kept avoiding his gaze.
“Don’t marry that man. After all you’ve learned about him and his weird cult, I can’t imagine you wouldn’t change your mind.”
“This isn’t about me, Taran. You know that.”
“It’s about saving your brother from whatever shame might fall upon him if his misdeeds get into the papers.”
“Yes.”
“Okay, but you see...” He hesitated, then reached out a branch to touch my chin. “Look at me.”
I sighed and lifted my gaze to look into his eyes.
“Your brother’s mistakes have nothing to do with you. I know you love him, and it sucks for him and your family, but it’s not on you to fix his problems. Sinclair is blackmailing your parents. That alone should be the biggest red flag.”
It wasn’t like I didn’t know all this! And I appreciated that Taran cared about me enough to try to stop me before I ruined my life, but right now, I was still in the woods, with a long hike ahead of me, and everything that had happened these past two days was too overwhelming for me to be able to think clearly.
I didn’t want to dismiss him, though. Because he was right.
“Thank you,” I said.
“For what?”
“For worrying about me. For making sure that I know what I’m getting into.”
He frowned. “Thea, please don’t be condescending.”
“I’m not. I’m not trying to be.” I reached out and cupped his face with my hands. “I just don’t have a solution right now. No, I don’t want to marry Soren. But do I feel guilty about it? Kind of. I made a promise, and now I can’t keep it. Matthew may have fucked up, but he’s my brother. And I love my parents. For all their sins, and all their entitlement... they’re not bad parents. They’re just... corrupted by the world they live in. Hell, I’m corrupted too!”
“No, you’re not.”
“Taran...”
“You’re my flower.” His voice was low and deliberate. “You’re my perfect little flower, and you are not corrupted. Your heart is pure.”
I chuckled and shook my head. “You’re sweet. Too sweet for your own good. I might want to eat you one day.”
He laughed. “I wouldn’t mind that at all.”
I leaned in and placed a kiss on his lips. I loved our banter. But he looked like a tree, he didn’t eat, didn’t sleep, and didn’t breathe, and I was Thea Everhart and I had somewhere to be. He was also my bodyguard. Not that there was anything illegal about what we were doing, but it wasn’t exactly kosher, either. My dad had hired him to protect me, not fuck me until I passed out.
“Will you think about it?” he asked.
“Trust me, it’s all I’m thinking about. I just don’t see a solution right now. No matter what happens, I have to get to the resort by nightfall, so we better get going. Now, Taran. Right now.”
I crawled out of the nest. Taran followed me. When I put weight on my injured ankle, pain shot through it, and I winced. It wasn’t as bad as yesterday, though. If I found a stick and I managed it, it was going to be fine. I wouldn’t even need to see a doctor, hopefully.
The sound of breaking twigs and branches startled me. It was so intense, it was as if all the trees in the forest were bending and breaking at the same time. I turned to see Taran destroying our nest.
“What are you doing?”
“We don’t need it anymore.”
“No, but... it was nice.”
He looked at me with immense sadness in his eyes, and I understood. It was ours, but it had done its job. There was no point in leaving it standing, so animals would find it and use it. They would’ve spoiled it then, and it wouldn’t have been ours anymore. The nest had only been intended for one night. We were never going to come back here. It couldn’t be our secret place.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“Me too.”
I watched him tear it to pieces, until there was nothing left. He threw the branches and leaves in all directions, then used his roots to walk over them and make them one with the earth. Our nest became part of the forest floor, and when Taran was done, the clearing looked just like before we’d decided to stop here for the night – empty and wild. Impersonal.
Something broke inside my chest. With the nest erased, it felt like Taran had erased what we’d experienced together. He must’ve felt I was hurting, because he came over to me and wrapped me in his vines, pressing me to his human chest. I rested my head where his heart should’ve been, and he placed his chin on top of my head.
“It’s okay, my flower.”
“I know.”
“Don’t be sad.”
“I know I shouldn’t be, but I am. It feels like... I’ve lost something. Like I’m losing something right now, and instead of snapping out of it and saving the only good thing I’ve ever had in my life, I’m throwing it all away.”
“You can stop. Right here, right now. You can decide to put a stop to this madness.”
I sighed, then pulled free of him. “And do what, Taran? Run away with you?”
He regarded me with curiosity, maybe trying to determine if I was being sarcastic. Maybe I was, maybe I wasn’t. He shook his head and chose not to say anything.
Which I took to mean that... no, we couldn’t run away together. He was just as aware as I was that whatever we had was doomed to fail. Maybe we shouldn’t have let it come this far. Did I regret it? Yes and no.
“How about you find me a stick?” I said. “Or make me one.”
“Why? You’re not thinking of walking, are you?”
“Taran, you can’t carry me the whole day.”
“Sure I can.”
I laughed. “Well, I won’t let you. I’m not entirely helpless. My ankle is better, and I can walk. If I’m too slow, you can carry me later.”
“At least let me take your backpack.”
With that, I didn’t argue. Taran made a show of snapping one of his branches and offering it to me like it was a gift. I chuckled and accepted it. And off we went, me leaning on the walking stick and on his arm when I needed it. It felt good to move again. We walked in silence for a while. Instead of thinking of what was to come, I emptied my mind and focused on the beauty surrounding me. I couldn’t say for certain that my phobia was cured, but I felt at ease, and I wasn’t as worried about getting dirt on myself. I wasn’t even wearing my gloves.
“Let me know when you get tired,” Taran said.
“I will.”
After another minute, he added, “You know, we didn’t have to spend the night in the woods. I can, in fact, move very fast. I could’ve gotten you to the resort last night.”
I stared at him with wide eyes and a smile on my lips. “What? How fast can you move?”
“Fast. Do you want me to show you? We can be at the resort in three hours tops.”
“No.” I didn’t know whether I wanted to laugh or cry. “No, it would look suspicious if I arrived too early. Remember, the fact that I have a bodyguard must remain a secret.”
“Right. Yes, okay.”
I elbowed him playfully. “So, if that wasn’t the reason you made us spend the night in the woods, what was it?”
He grinned. “I wanted you to myself.”
“You knew what was going to happen? That I’d want to jump your bones? Well... your branches.”
“No! No, of course not. I mean, I hoped... But that doesn’t matter.” He shook his head, a gesture he’d surely learned from me or from other humans he’d interacted with. “I just wanted to be with you for a while longer. Even if you asked me to stand at a distance, I would’ve, and I would’ve been happy.”
“Aww... Don’t.” I leaned into his side.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t be all sweet and mushy.”
He laughed. “I don’t think anyone has ever referred to a leshy as mushy.”
I looked up and found him staring at me. It was as if all he did was look at me all the time, watch my every move, pay attention to everything I did. I stopped, and he did too. I put my arm around his neck, and he pulled me into him.
“Carry me?” I asked.
“Always.”