The Battle of the Trees - Sword, Ring, and Crown Book Two

Chapter Twenty-Four

In the early morning hours, on the day that I definitely had to get to the trial or lose, I found myself mummified in a tourniquet of love. Dominic was a super-cuddler in the extreme. Adrian had been okay to sleep with, as he'd always given me my space, but Dominic had me wrapped in his arms and legs while my head was tucked under his chin. Unwilling to wake him, since we'd both had a pretty emotional time, I spent some time trying to process the past week and almost a half. After today, there were only four more days for me to win these trials, and try to fix things, if I even could anymore.

Since I was stuck, I took some time to categorize and examine myself, my feelings, and my powers, especially the roots. Had I always had the power to steal lifeforce? That was part of the puzzle I didn't understand. All I knew was that it was a failsafe that only happened if I was about to die. For certain people, I also swapped pieces of my lifeforce or soul with them. That part of me had morphed into these roots that were both a bane and a boon. Depending on my state of mind, they could suck down a person's entire life, or attach them to me as part of my... what.. tribe? I'd initially thought it was more of a fated lovers kind of thing. Sue me! I have a secret love for dumb romances, the cheesier the better. But, it felt like a subconscious desire to keep those I cared about close. Which meant, maybe I could learn how to pull away...

But, one good thing about the roots is that it seemed to give those attached to me powers. I figured it might be because they shared my lifeforce with me. The problem of my body deciding to make babies with whatever life force I collected... that was going to be inconvenient. And it didn't sound entirely like what Ciaran had explained in Brin's music room.

I thought it was a conscious choice, but that's not what happened here. I wasn't sure if that meant that the right conditions might cause the other roots to also form something with me. I mean... look what happened with Adrian and Luis. It didn't feel like the right elements were in place to have created children except for the fact that I'd trapped their lifeforce in me. But there hadn't been the exchange the way that Ciaran had said. I once again wondered if he'd somehow been the catalyst for the multiple births - inadvertently or not.

Was there a way to even check? I would ask the Leah if I saw her again.

Thinking of babies, I considered the new information I had about the Trees. They weren't one gender, which made sense since trees on earth could often pollinate themselves. The duality didn't surprise me. What did surprise me was that I was a half and it applied to me. While I didn't get some of their more awesome powers, like the ability to teleport across the realms while normal mortals like me had to use the portals or hitch a ride, I did get the shapeshifting ability. However, I was only able to change to the form my mother had forced me into - I couldn't do any sort of other shifting, at least, I didn't think so.

The trees themselves had the power to draw and push lifeforce. It was the way they procreated, and it seemed like it was the way that they lived as well. However, the only time they seemed to fully connect was whenever I sunk down into it with Ciaran's help. His astonishment and joy seemed to suggest they'd been without that complete connection. They were a ring that was broken, and I helped to mend the break. But they were all feuding, so it didn't feel the connection mended. They didn't want to accept and embrace it.

I considered some of my other powers. I could now bring spirits forward into Aleria, and I could still make and use skeletons. Spirits here were entirely made of magic and not souls. Ciaran had helped to hone my gifts, and initially, he'd had some ulterior motives until our bond and the upcoming baby changed things. He might still have them - I still wasn't sure if he didn't have a conscious role in making the babies. Dominic was probably right that I shouldn't trust him, but Ciaran was a powerful weakness of mine despite his frustrating elusiveness.