Chapter Twenty-Three – Taran
Chapter Twenty-Three
Taran
We stopped a few times during the day, lingering more than we had to. We found a stream, and Thea washed her face, brushed her hair and pinned it in a bun atop her head. She finished the food she had in her backpack and told me it was weird for her to eat alone and not share her food with me. Humans did that. They shared food and drinks – it was a social thing. They bonded through the pleasure of consuming things.
“Do you eat?” she asked innocently.
“Eat like humans eat? No.”
“Then how...?”
“I feed off the light of the sun and absorb the rain for hydration.”
“Oh, so you don’t feed through your roots?”
“I can, but it’s not my preferred option. I use my roots to travel or ground myself.”
“What does that mean?”
“The leshy live long lives. Too long sometimes. Once or twice in our lives, we will get tired. So tired, that a shallow sleep of a few hours or days won’t do, so then we find an isolated place, away from our communities, where we bury our roots deep in the ground and fall into a slumber. When we do that, it’s easy to confuse us with regular trees. One would have to look closely and know the signs that differentiate a leshy from a tree.”
“That is fascinating. And for how long do you sleep like that?”
“Months. Years. However long it takes for our will to live and experience the world to return.”
“Incredible.” She thought for a moment while picking at her last energy bar. “It sounds amazing to be able to escape like that. I wish I could do that.”
I smiled. “If you could, you would wake up old and achy. Time doesn’t stop for anyone, not even for the leshy. We just take longer to become decrepit.”
She laughed. “What an elegant way to put it.”
She packed up her things but didn’t get up. This was our last stop before the resort. With one hour left on our journey, neither of us wanted to rush. A soft breeze was blowing, and she closed her eyes and tilted her head. The wind ruffled the leaves on my head and the hair around her loose bun. As I sat beside her in my close-to-human form and stared at her perfect profile, I felt a deep sense of sadness grip me. The peace I felt with Thea now... I would never feel it again. This was the end.
“Thea...”
“Don’t Taran.”
She didn’t want to talk about it anymore. Her choice – what she would do once she reached the resort. There were people waiting – her family, Sinclair and his family, plus his brainwashed followers. Would Kyla be there? Would Markus? He must’ve managed to get out of the branch box at some point. He hadn’t come after Thea again, so he probably went back to his Master.
“Don’t ruin this moment,” she added in a whisper.
“I wouldn’t think of it.”
She reached for my hand, and her fingers wrapped around mine.
“Thank you,” she said. “Not just for doing your job and protecting me. For everything.”
I reached over and caught her chin between my spindly fingers. She opened her eyes, and I lost myself once more in her green depths. Her eyes were going to haunt my dreams for the rest of my sad, pathetic life. Because I couldn’t imagine being happy without her. I couldn’t imagine ever feeling not empty and alone.
But then again... It wouldn’t be the first time.
It was as if I was meant to find love and then lose it. When would I ever learn? Was there really a lesson to be learned?
“Just kiss me,” she said.
I nodded and did just that. If she wanted me to kiss her, I would. If she wanted me to fuck her, I would. And if she wanted me to deliver her to a literal villain...
Thea slipped her tongue between my lips and coaxed me to use one of my vines. My cock was hard, the seed throbbing at the base of it, sending jolts of pain through my mid-section. I wondered what was going to happen to the seed once Thea was gone. Would it get reabsorbed by my body? Would I be able to produce another seed later if I didn’t use this one? Sometimes, the anatomy of my own species was a mystery to me. We didn’t talk enough about mating. And we never talked about mating with partners that were not leshy.
We kissed for a long minute. It felt like Thea didn’t want to let go. When she finally did, she couldn’t look into my eyes. She shouldered her backpack and used her stick to get to her feet.
“Ready?” she asked.
“Let me carry you.”
“No. I can walk this last stretch on my own.”
We had plenty of time before sunset. Maybe she was trying to prolong it without being too obvious. I insisted she gave me the backpack, and after that, I offered her my arm for support. She could walk well enough if she didn’t push herself. She had a bit of a limp, but I guessed the people who were waiting for her expected something like that. That was the nature of the challenge, right? Three days spent crossing the woods, surviving, basically, dealing with all manner of danger to prove that she was worthy to become the bride of a narcissistic cult leader.
Thea was strong. No one deserved her. Not Soren Sinclair, and not her own family.
We reached the resort as the shadows started to lengthen. The Celestial Pines Sanctuary. It was a mountain resort surrounded by forest, hidden so well that one couldn’t find it unless one knew where it was. It was owned by Soren Sinclair, and he used it for more than relaxation. The wedding was to take place at the resort. A wedding dress was probably waiting for Thea.
We stopped at the tree line. I could hear people in the distance, talking and laughing. There was soft music in the background, and from what I could see, the place was decorated in white and light green, with flowerpots and flower arches everywhere. This was where Thea and I had to part ways. She would enter the resort on her own and never breathe a word about how she’d had a bodyguard these past three days. She’d cheated. So what? Everyone here was a liar, in one way or another.
“You should go,” she said.
“I can’t. I won’t.”
“Taran, you don’t have to see this. Your job here is done.”
“I know, but I can’t leave, Thea. Not yet.”
She chewed on her bottom lip. She didn’t want me to see her in a wedding dress, walking down the aisle, where another man was waiting for her.
“It will be hard for you to–”
“I know.”
“And you’ll make it hard for me to–”
“I’m sorry, but I’m staying. I’ll be right here, in case you need me.”
She shook her head. I caught her face between my hands and forced her gaze up.
“Before you say your vows, look at me one last time. I won’t move from this spot.”
“Why do you want to torture yourself like this?”
“It doesn’t matter. I will watch over you until the very end.”
She smiled. I wanted to kiss her, but it was too painful. I let her go. She took her backpack from me, placed it on her shoulders, then turned on her heel and walked away.
I watched her until she disappeared from view, swallowed by a small crowd of people who started screaming and squeaking when they saw her. They dragged her into one of the buildings, and she didn’t look back once. Maybe she didn’t want to give my position away. Maybe she didn’t care.
This was it. I would never again hold her in my branches. I should’ve left, but I’d promised to stay. I wanted to see what happened next, even if it was going to break me.