Indra and Rose hung over Maple’s bloodied, lifeless body. Kira knelt before her open abdomen, weeping. Aubin was hunched in the corner, holding a bleeding wound on his stomach, and books and papers were trashed around the room.
“Lily,” Rose croaked, and Indra looked up.
Upon seeing the single crystal in my hands, she gasped. “Oh, good girl! You saved one.”
“The queen?”
“She’s fine,” Kira told me before Indra could speak. She knew I would only trust her.
Without wasting any more precious seconds, I ran to the tree, ignoring everything in my body that hurt. I didn’t know if it was shock and grief or the black smoke or what, but all my muscles ached.
When I knelt to look at the twelve empty discs and the tips of the tree’s branches turning to ash, tears trickled down my cheeks. A tree was such a simple yet astoundingly beautiful thing. This one was linked to our queen, to our people, to our land. And it was dying.
“I’m sorry I failed you,” I told it, placing the crystal at its base. A beam of blue light shot from the golden disc and up to the trunk, and the earth shook again beneath me.
My gaze ran the length of the trunk, then to the leaves, but they still turned to black ash. The crystal wasn’t stopping whatever was causing it to die.
“You must bind your soul to the tree,” said Indra from behind me.
I turned to face her and noticed that Liam and two dozen other fae from the village had gathered inside the home. They looked from Maple to me at the base of the tree.
“We should evacuate the people to Earth!” Liam shouted at Indra, his eyes blazing with the dark sword at his hip.
She whipped her head in his direction. “Your royal lineage holds no power here, Halfling. You don’t make the rules. Lily must bind her soul to the tree. As a Seeker, she can keep it alive until you get the other crystals back.”
I was about to open my mouth and ask if my royal linage held any merit here when Liam looked at me and shook his head. “If it can be any Seeker, then let it be me,” he said, stepping forward.
The fae behind him gasped, apparently shocked that he would offer such a thing. I could see the respect in their gazes.
Indra’s lips thinned to a tight line. “It must be a Seeker of the Spring Court, as this tree is connected to Spring Court lands.”
Or it must be a royal of the Spring Court. But I didn’t want to argue that; my secret was my power for now. I held the cards.
“I’ll do it. I’ll bind my soul to the tree.” I bowed my head. “I would do anything for Faerie and my people.”
When I brought my head back up, I gazed upon nearly every person in the room. They all had one fist over their chests, heads bowed deeply in respect.
“Come on, child. We don’t have time.” Indra rushed me to the tree and ordered privacy. Maple’s body was carried outside with the other fae, but Liam refused to leave me.
“Are your brothers okay?” I asked him as I sat at the base of the tree, waiting for Indra.
He nodded. “They’re fine. My dad did this, didn’t he?” Dark threads of black glowed in his eyes, and I frowned. I could see by the way his face pinched in anger that he wanted revenge.
“We’ll figure it out,” I told him. “Why don’t you go lay the sword down at my house and come back? Take a break.”
He ran a shaky hand through his blond hair and shook his head fiercely. “No. I need to protect you. I don’t like this soul binding thing, what if—”
“We’re ready,” Indra called out, and Liam snapped his mouth shut. Aubin and Indra carried a smoking bundle of dried hinderleaves. Their sharp, earthy scent wafted through the air and danced over to me.
“What exactly does binding her soul to the tree do?” Liam asked.
Indra rolled her eyes, fanning the smoke at me as I took in small, measured breaths and tried not to cough. “The crystals keep the tree alive. The tree keeps Faerie alive. In place of the crystals, as a temporary solution, a Spring fae Seeker soul can keep the tree alive.”
Liam and I shared a look. A Spring fae Seeker or a Spring fae royal?
“Let’s do it,” I agreed. Anything to keep Faerie standing.
“Hang on, Lily. We don’t know if there are side effects. What if it weakens you? What if—”
“There is something you should know.” Indra kneeled to face me, setting the hinderleaf bundle on a stone plate. “Once you bind your soul to the tree, if the tree dies…then so do you.”
“Fuck that.” Liam stood, yanking on my arm, the sword glistening at his hip. His eyes blazed orange, and I knew the sword was affecting him too much.
The ground shook then, causing a new crack to rip right up the trunk.
“Liam.” I yanked my arm back. “I have to. Faerie needs me.”
He looked at me incredulously. “At what cost?”
“Any cost!” I shouted.
Liam gritted his teeth, making his jaw bulge. “Fine!” he screamed, and then tore out of the room. I worried that the sword was pulling him too far into the darkness, but I needed to deal with this first.
As he left, Rose slipped inside and approached us, sniffling. “Maple…she’s gone.”
Indra nodded, straightening her shoulders. “Give me your hand, Lily.”
I gulped, setting my hand in hers. She produced a piece of paper and slipped it in front of me, before slicing a knife across my hand.
I hissed at the sharp pain. Where the hell had that knife come from?
Blood droplets welled on my skin, and Indra took my palm and pressed it onto the fractured tree trunk. “Repeat the words on the page
