The Story of the Trees - Sword, Ring, and Crown Book One

Chapter Thirty-Four

I dashed more tears from my eyes and looked at the empty gateway where Luis had stood.

"Luis!" I stumbled forward in the snow and fell back onto my knees. A thousand apologies flitted rapidly through my mind as my heart sped up. 

"Madeline, you cannot go after him. The snow is too deep!"

My eyes were wild as he helped me to my feet. Tears blurred my surroundings, and I tore my hands from his grasp. "He's out there alone! I have to explain that you were comforting me. I have to explain!"

"What is there to explain? Look!"

He held up something, and I gasped. It was a green jewel the color of peridot with streaks of copper within the gem. Another gem. More tears fell. 

"What does that even mean?" I turned away from him and the stone. I didn't want to see it. "Luis is my best friend! If I lose even him, then..." I gazed out across the snowfield where Luis had run. 

"Then what, Madeline? This jewel is a symbol of your rightness. It means, Madeline..." The husky sound of his voice made me glance up, and his expression stilled my sobbing, "That you are everything I hoped for. That you will be the one that saves us, and that you are the one who'll be my family..." His light green eyes glowed with conviction.

"If I lose even Luis, it means I can lose all of you even more easily. I have to get him back!"

"What you need," Luke said as he lifted me off the ground and held me like a princess, "Is to get home and stop blaming yourself. You did nothing wrong as I am your husband, same as he is. If the dog is not back by morning, we will search for him until we need to leave for the trial."

"Stop calling him a dog, and put me down." I glared at him, but there was no heat behind my expression. I sniffled and hit his arm.

"I will not. You have been kneeling in the snow, and you require extra warmth, or you may get hypothermia. Carrying you is efficient." That was his excuse, but the kiss he landed on my forehead revealed a whisper of the passion we'd shared a moment before. "And you would never lose me. Never." An oath shivered between us as he made the promise.

His promise stilled my protests. The sense of belonging wrapped me up like a hug, but then I thought of Luis alone and lost in this strange world.

"I need to find him." I flung my arms and legs and tried to starfish out of his hold. "It's cold outside, and he's going to get lost!"

"He is from a realm more dangerous than this snow-covered countryside, Madeline." He held on tightly to me, despite my struggles.

I wiped hair from my face. It was a mess, and was dragging a bit on the ground. "What do you mean, 'a realm more dangerous'?"

"He is of the dark Fae, Madeline. A Phouka lives in the betwixt, which lies between it all." Luke adjusted us to pull my hair forward and place it in front of us. 

I winced as he pulled it a little, but the activity and the news helped to still my inner flogging for a moment as curiosity took over. "Between what all?"

"All. On one side is everything, and on the other is the underworld. The dark Fae serve the Emperor of Tears, but the Phouka rebelled and claimed to be solitary."

Oh. I knew Luis was a Phouka, but I had forgotten they were dark Fae - not that it mattered. "I don't care about that. Let me go find him." 

He started walking with me firmly held in his arms. "Stop struggling, or I shall put you over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes." He looked down at me with a brow creased with worry. "You are frightening me, Madeline. Please let me help you. It is dark outside, and it would be difficult to find him right now. I swear, in the morning, we'll go looking."