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

Chapter Thirty-Nine

I woke up in the morning unable to move my legs. It also felt like someone had squeezed me into a tight tube. Next to me, I could detect the scent of tangerines, and I had the flavor of lipstick on my tongue. I licked my lips and realized that someone had painted them while I was dying of poisoning. Okay.

I opened my eyes to discover that a tiny person was sitting on the pillow beside me, eating a tinier purple lollipop. A half-eaten tangerine sat next to her. She had yellow hair like mine, a sharp little face, and slanted eyes that were a solid, shiny mint green frosted by the snow. Intricate designs of loops and curls were drawn all over her exquisite face. Her body was whiter than a sheet of paper, and the tiny hand that held the lollipop had curved claws. Her elbows were thorny, as were her shoulders. She smiled at me to reveal two rows of jagged teeth. With an excited gibbering, she flew away. Her wings looked like those of a luna moth.

"Wait—" I protested weakly. I'd wanted to study her some more.

"Oh goodness, Princess. The little scamp dolled you up while we were all out. You resemble one of the lunantisidhe, and it's a marvelous look on you." Ciaran's voice was full of familiar ardor and a tingle traveled down my spin in response. What was it doing so close to my ear?

I turned my head and found that I was nose to nose with him. His opal eyes were spinning and shifting, which gave me an idea of all the inappropriate thoughts he was having. Since he was so close, he stole a kiss.

"Why are you in bed with me, Ciaran?" I worried about my complete lack of shock from his kiss. If I wasn't trying to bean him with a lamp, that meant that I was getting far too used to this space invader.

"Shh, Matt, go back to sleep," Dominic said behind me. He laid a heavy arm over me and pulled me against his chest to cuddle me. I blinked, then I put my hand on his arm, intending to pinch him, but then another clipped voice paused my fingers.

"No, the worst has passed; we should all get up and get going." Luke's head popped up from behind Ciaran. His hair was mussed everywhere in a most magnificent state of bedhead. It erased the cautious air of civility he carried. Rumpled, he looked more dangerous, and it tempted me to poke at the hornet's nest.

What was I thinking??

I sat up too quickly, and the room spun. I saw I was on a humongous bed covered in pelts, and my entire court was in the room with me. Ciaran and Luke were sleeping on my left, Dominic and Adrian were on my right. The banmuinen, Erick, and Brin were camped out on mattresses on the floor.

And the reason I couldn't move my legs?

Luis.

He had sprawled across them in dog form, and he was heavy.

Jeanne leapfrogged over him and knocked me back down as she kissed me all over my face. Luis growled as she kicked him off of me in her zeal, and he sat with injured dignity on the floor.

"Oh! My Lady! We were all so worried!" she cried, as she planted more kisses on my face.

"Okay! I'm fine, I think!" I said. I pushed at her shoulders so she'd stop smothering me.

I looked behind Jeanne at Luis and pressed my lips together. It relieved me to see him, but I was angry at the same time.

"What is everyone doing here?" I asked aloud. "What are you doing here, Luis?" I added silently.

He refused to say. I was expecting to hear him say, "Because you are my prey" like he always did.

"Well, when the poison got to the critical point, you started to pull all of our life forces into yourself, the six of us especially, but your banmuinen and Brin were caught. You created new links to them. It was quite terrifying, even for an immortal like myself," Ciaran answered.