CHAPTER SIXTEEN #2
She must have been clearing out those ridden by mothballs. A task I did not envy, but crumbling pages sounded far more appealing than another trial.
“I can take care of her,” Theia whispered to me, but I shook my head firmly.
Kassandre and I were not friends. Nor did we even like each other.
But she provided me a safe haven from Diana—from the kingdom.
She hadn’t been afraid of tarnishing her library by allowing me to spend my time there.
She permitted my occupying of a small corner, sometimes it being just the two of us in the late hours of the night, with my quiet tea-drinking and her shuffling of endless documents.
I couldn’t recall a time where we’d shared more than a handful of words. But I did remember the way Darion begged for what plagued his mind to stop. I couldn’t stomach the idea of Kassandre begging the same way.
“Please,” I requested in a hushed tone, “let this remain between us.” She knew just as well as most how competitors were forbidden from leaving the castle during the Starlight Trials. And how it was punishable by death.
Seconds dragged on, feeling more like hours than a handful of moments. The hustle of the night markets was muted by impenetrable stone. With only a few steps, she could run inside, and warn anyone in her path of who she’d seen.
Kassandre glanced at my leg. My healed leg. “You acted bravely during Strength.”
“I did what I had to.”
A wistful smile twisted her lips. Perhaps the first one she’d sported in my presence since meeting her, years ago. “Indeed.”
With a dip of her chin, she ran her hands over her already flawless hair, then turned to the entry she’d left propped open with a small stack of books.
The usual scent of sage and a touch of citronella wafted from inside.
Smoothly, she bent to retrieve them. “Should anyone inquire, they will hear only that this alley contains more than its fair share of shadows.” She straightened, and fixed a certain look my way that had my throat constricting. “And a flicker of light.”
We were moving before the heavy door could fully clang shut behind her.
A gift—that is what Kassandre had given us. And I would not waste it by trying to pick apart her words.
Theia, however, appeared unsettled. But that belonged to her. She could voice her concerns if she wanted once we arrived at our destination.
Memories of wandering down the same lantern-balmed streets with Gideon nagged at me constantly.
Almost every week, after endless hours of grueling training, he all but forced me to come with him despite the exhaustion weighing my feet down.
But he’d given me something to look forward to.
Rewarded me with treats and silly trinkets even though he knew Diana would confiscate them if she found them. Its why I made sure she never did.
I would prove to him that all our hours of training had been worthwhile. We would walk those streets again.
I loosened a breath as the sounds of people and instruments faded. Upping my pace into a jog, the threat of being discovered became near inexistant after we passed a gaggle of abandoned buildings that were eventually replaced with a lining of trees.
“We’re going to the Forest of Oblivion?” Theia asked, barely above a whisper.
“You’re free to turn back if you wish.”
She tip-toed carefully over a gnarled root. “I’m fine. It’s just that no one ever ventures beyond the first line of trees.”
With its close proximity to the Veil, countless tales as old as the rise of Aedreath spoke of those who ventured too far. Of those who’d seen and heard unspeakable things. Of those who returned marked by sudden, uncurable nightmares for the rest of their days.
Of those who never returned at all.
Some recounted that Dark Ones sat directly on the other side of the Veil, waiting to lure their prey by capturing them in a trance.
That if a person was to get close enough, those monsters could feast on their soul without having to touch them.
Or that one look alone was enough to stop someone’s heart dead in their chest.
In the worst cases, those trances could make people turn on each other. Blur the line between ally and foe. When the forest was stained crimson, they’d come back to their senses.
Only to wish they hadn’t.
“That’s the point.”
The wildlife in the Forest of Oblivion cared little about those stories. A doe bolted from where she’d been rummaging behind a crooked pine tree. Insects preened loudly from bushes all around us, while an owl declared the beginning of its hunt.
Once the oaks and pines had swallowed us entirely, and the lights of Aedreath were no longer traceable, I veered right, parting fallen branches and leaves like a curtain.
A small smile made its way onto my face.
Dancing on the cool breeze that followed close behind us, a towering wisteria tree swayed its hanging branches as if waving in greeting. I greedily filled my lungs with the sweet aroma of its purple flowers, mingling with the freshness of the pond that sat near its roots.
Maybe someone had found it before I did, spent as many hours as I had resting on the thick roots poking out from overgrown grass. Someone with enough magic to gift the tree with what made it so special. But since they never made an appearance, it was only natural to claim it as mine.
Its delicate purple petals glowed, softly but brightly enough to light our surroundings. The small pond reflected almost every flower above it, glittering purple with each ripple.
Theia spun in a slow circle. “What is this place?”
“Peace,” I replied, then added, a tad pointedly, “and a secret.”
“How can a place this beautiful be kept secret?” she asked, craning her neck to marvel at the glowing buds.
She reached up, gently brushing her fingers across the petals hanging above her head. Another breeze carried the branches closer, almost as if the tree relished her touch, her words. Almost as if it was alive.
And I treated it as such. Always approached it with respect and care. And in turn, it listened. Allowed me to soak its roots with tears, and taint the air with my burdens.
“It’s as you said. No one ever ventures beyond the first line of trees.”
Toeing the edge of the pond, I peered down at my reflection.
Bruise-rimmed eyes stared back, an unwelcome reminder of my lack of sleep.
“I stumbled upon it as a young girl. Almost fell right into the water.” A small laugh, nothing more than a whistle of air from my nostrils.
“I knew right away that I had to find a way to keep this for myself. Only myself. I spent weeks mending the surrounding forest in a way that would deter others from coming here. Just in case. I don’t have any earth magic, but no one else has found it yet.
” I shrugged. “So I suppose I did my job well.”
“A job well done, indeed. Do you think there are other places like this? Hidden further away?”
“Can’t say it isn’t likely. I never found myself wanting to look.
Not when I have this.” I knelt, plunging my hand wrist-deep into the pond.
Perfect. “Though I am thankful that no one else has really tried. There’s no business to carry out here.
No money to be made, no power to reap. People are afraid of what they do not know.
Little do they realize how this forest thrives on the absence of their greedy hands. ”
Fingers deftly racing to untie my right boot, I added, “I usually come here when my thoughts are a mess. The music here is the only thing that seems to clear them up.”
Theia retracted her arm from the petals, giving me a strange look. “What music?”
My fingers worked on my left boot now. “Don’t tell me you don’t hear it.”
No orchestra, singer, or musician could replicate it. It was another thing that led me to believe a beating heart hid somewhere amongst the thick roots.
Quiet, constant humming emanated from its trunk, becoming more potent the closer I stood. Higher in pitch when frost coated the grass, lower when sweat dampened my clothes. At certain times, if I held my breath, I could swear the flowers tinkled together like windchimes or tiny bells.
In rare moments, when the darkness in my heart threatened to swallow me whole, its melody changed into something entirely different.
Boots fully unlaced, I straightened, and noticed Theia had closed her eyes in concentration, frowning. “I can’t hear anything.”
“Touch it again,” I offered, jerking my chin towards the trunk of the tree. “It’s louder the closer you get. Maybe your magic will…” Searching for the right words, I chucked both boots off my feet, reveling in feeling of dirt and grass under my soles. “React to it. No harm in trying.”
Theia carefully approach the tree. Almost like she expected it to grant her permission. Then gently rested her palm flat onto the rough bark.
“I can feel traces of magic,” she admitted after a few beats. “Old magic.” Her head cocked to the side, lips pursing as if met with an unsolvable riddle. “But I still don’t hear anything.”
Branches continued to sway, and the humming carried on.
“Strange. It’s unmistakable. From where you’re standing, it should be almost as loud as how I’m talking to you right now.”
She shook her head again, and gently wove her way around the roots to join me by the pond. “Perhaps I’m just impractical to these kinds of things. I’m sure I’ll hear it eventually. Too used to the noise of the kingdom, I suppose.” Her nose crinkled as she asked, “Why’d you take your boots off?”
She was probably right. I was so young when I’d found this place—it must have taken me some time to hear it at first, too, and I just couldn’t remember.
“So that they can stay dry.”
Using my hands to lower myself in without splashing too much water around, I sunk until my head was fully submerged. Only when my lungs began to burn did I pop back up, sweeping my wet hair out of my face with a sigh of bliss. Warm, like always. Like a soothing balm.