29
Ilona
With every step further into the forest, my heart beat a little bit quicker. My fingers were going raw with how much I’d picked at the skin.
Larz and I had made all of our preparations: packed our things, I resigned from Bev’s Books effective immediately, left our homes empty and got our finances in order…
which Larz had an alarming amount of. The last thing we needed to do was warn Esta, the protector of the forest, of what may be coming.
Meeting Larz was an accident, I hadn’t gone seeking out the creatures of the woods, so doing just that was making my skin crawl. How was I supposed to approach her? Address her? Act around her? Would she know I was an outsider?
“Everything is going to be fine, baby.” Larz squeezed my hand gently. “I’ll do all the talking, just say hello. You don’t need to do anything special.”
I loved that we could feel each other’s emotions, even without the mind connection. After years of struggling to be heard and understood, it was nice to just feel and have her understand it.
“Thank you,” I sighed, leaning against her as we walked through the trees. “So, why haven’t I seen any creatures yet? Didn’t you say once I changed, I would be able to see them?”
“I’m guessing they’re all very well hidden because of the hunters. I’m sure those gunshots were heard far and wide.” Another thing I loved about Larz is how she explained things to me with care. She never talked to me like I was stupid for not understanding.
“Oh. Shouldn’t we be more…hidden?”
“We could go full scorpion, but it would take us a really long time to get where we are going,” she chuckled. “But, I’ve also not heard any hunters yet, so we should be safe. There are no trails out here.”
I sighed, leaning into her and feeling a bit better. I was curious about going full scorpion, but that would have to be a task for another day. But my curiosity about something else sat at the forefront of my mind.
“How do you have so much money? What do you do?” I didn’t mean for it to come out sounding so suspicious, but it was a strange subject.
“I’ve been around for a long time,” she started. “I’ve worked a lot of jobs, saved, invested well, stashed money and precious jewels away for a rainy day.” She kissed my temple, “We will be set for life, baby, don’t you worry.”
We walked hand in hand in comfortable silence for a while longer.
If I really concentrated, I could see the outline of different creatures along the forest floor, against the trees, in the leaves and tangled in the plants and water.
Most looked just like the animals of the woods, just a little…
extra. They moved with the natural flow of nature, flying with the wind, rippling with the water and swaying with the branches.
It was captivating to see, so beautiful that I almost didn’t feel worthy enough to be a part of their world.
“Here we are,” Larz let go of my hand and draped her arm around my shoulders.
I looked around us, nothing but a small stream and a giant tree sat in front of us.
Before I could ask where we were, Larz stepped forward, dipping her hands into the stream.
Carefully, she cupped her palms and carried a small pool of water over to the base of the tree.
After murmuring a few words into it, she poured it over the base of the tree and stepped back to my side.
The Earth rumbled gently under my feet. Wind whipped around me, sending my hair into a twirling tornado.
The sound of cracking wood filled my ears as the bark of the tree trunk in front of us shifted, rearranging and shrinking.
Before my eyes, the giant tree transformed into the most beautiful woman I’d ever laid my eyes on. Besides Larz, of course.
Her skin was the same, deep brown as the tree trunk. Her large, curling hair cascaded down her shoulders, matching the deep green of the leaves. Her eyes were a piercing blue, twirling and flowing like the stream that ran behind her.
“Larazeth,” The Goddess smiled, her voice was soft and inviting, curling around me like a warm hug. “And who is this beautiful creature?”
The Goddess turned towards me and all the air was sucked from my lungs. Beautiful? Me? My lips were moving before I could catch my breath, so my name came out as just a whisper.
“Ilona.”
The Goddess smiled, holding her hand out for me. I took it with shaking fingers. Her skin was soft and smooth.
“Ilona, what an exquisite name. I’m Esta.”
“Thank you. Nice to meet you, Esta.”
She sighed, looking at me with an expression I couldn’t quite read. Sorrow? Familiarity?
“You look so much like her…” She said it so softly, I almost didn’t hear.
“Like who?”
“You must be Sharlene’s grandbaby.”
Hearing my Nana’s name from a stranger’s mouth almost knocked the wind out of me. The world stopped spinning. I felt Larz’s arm tighten around my waist, holding me up.
“How did you know? How do you know her?”
“Sharlene was such a darling girl. She and one of my children, Marnez, were deeply in love. They came to me for help, to see if there was any way they could be together. I offered them my protection, but…” she choked back a sob, “Sharlene’s father caught them together and took her away.
Poor Marnez’s heart just couldn’t handle being without her. ”
A choked sob burst from my throat as I clutched onto Larz. All of the pieces started to fit together. Nana found not only herself here, but the love of her life. Our fates were intertwined. I was meant to come here and meet Larz and love like she wasn’t allowed to.
“But she was…they were happy?”
She smiled, “the happiest couple I had ever seen.”
Although I felt a deep shade a grief shadowing over my heart, I also felt a warmth blooming deep within. It was the closure I didn’t know I needed, like an entire wall of barriers had crumbled beneath my feet and I was free.
“Ilona is my mate.”
Esta’s eyes lit up, “Oh, how wonderful!” She stepped forward, placing her hands on each of our foreheads. “My blessings. Now, what can I do for you?”
Larz sighed, swallowing thickly before she spoke. “We were attacked by hunters back in the treehouse. We were able to take care of them, but there’s no telling if more will be on their way.”
“I see.” Esta tapped a finger on her smooth, curved chin. “Did they see you in your shifted form?”
“The only ones who saw us shifted are now dead.”
“I’m guessing this has to do with the girl with the smashed skull I found the other night?” She cocked a brow at us. Not angry, but curious.
“That was me,” I stepped forward. “Larz was hurt, I didn’t even think about it, I-”
“It’s alright, child, I’m just glad you’re both safe. The girl is now a wind spirit,” she twisted her hand in the air, “living in the blow of the trees. She is quite happy.”
I felt my shoulders loosen and drop. I hadn’t realized the guilt I had been feeling for killing Stellan. Although I didn’t regret it, it had weighed heavily on me since the day it happened. Knowing that she is free and happy somehow washed all of that away.
The Goddess pulled a robe of moss around her delicate shoulders, “I will go take care of the hunters at your treehouse. You two should get going before any more come.”
“I thought we might stay a while in case they do, to help in case there is any fight.”
Esta stepped forward, cupping Larz’s cheek in her hand, “Larazeth, you two are the last of your kind. It broke my heart when we lost the rest of you. Seeing them mangled past the point of self-healing,” her voice caught, choking back a sob, “I could not bear to see either of you lost and your entire kind gone forever. We can handle things here. You go, I’ll send for you when it is safe to return. ”
She pulled us both into a hug, her petite frame squeezing us with surprising strength.
I found myself melting into her. Her sweet, earthy scent drew me in like a hummingbird, desperate to soak in the sweet nectar of her aura.
I drowned in the motherly feeling. We said our final goodbyes and I carried that special warmth with me wherever we went.
Esta transformed again, this time into a large bird and flew overhead back towards the treehouse. Larz grabbed my hand, rubbing her thumbs over my skin.
“Are you ready to start our life together, my little stinger?”
I looked up at her hopeful face. The sky was illuminated with dazzling pinks and oranges, casting a warm hue over her skin. My chest squeezed with the love I felt for her. Nothing had ever felt more right than it did in this moment.
“I’m ready.”
Feeling a blanket of security around me, we shifted into our human-scorpion forms and disappeared between the trees with no plan, but everything as long as we had each other.