Everyone held their breath as I looked at the paper, hand shaking from adrenaline. “My people and I are one.” My voice shook as the tree trunk started to vibrate. “My lands and I are one.”
A searing bright light shot from my palm and into the trunk, causing Aubin and Rose to gasp. Indra was silent.
There was one more line. “The Tree of Life and I are one—” I groaned as pain sliced up my abdomen and into my chest. Bright light shot from my palm, and then I was blown backward.
“Oh, my gods!” Rose breathed, rushing to my aid.
I was flat on my back, looking up at the ceiling. When she pulled me upright, I saw that the tree had not only mended its trunk, but that its branches were chockful of flowers.
Aubin fell to his knees, tears filling his eyes. “It’s…never looked this healthy,” he breathed. Then he looked at me with furrowed eyebrows and a confused expression.
He was looking at me like he knew.
“Well done,” Indra chirped simply, and took the paper back.
“What was that light?” I asked Indra, staring at my hands as if it were the first time I’d seen it.
Indra waved me off, hooking her hand under my armpit. “Powerful blood magic. It was soul light, dear. All Seekers have it.”
This bitch would lie until she was blue in the face, but Aubin and Rose were giving each other a look that told me they knew what that light was. I wasn’t ready to let them know that I knew yet, though. I needed to check on Liam and his brothers and assemble the army. We were getting those fucking crystals back tonight, and news of my royalty would halt all of that with propriety and rules.
“Now, let’s hope you can get the rest of the crystals back before the creatures from the forest attack our people”—Indra booped my nose, and I planned a slow death for her in my head—“because the only one able to renew the land or fix the dome protections is the queen.”
Her curt manner and the way she dismissed me so easily grated on my nerves.
“Only the queen?” I gave her a slight grin. “Are you sure?”
Her eyes narrowed.
I cupped my bleeding palm to my chest. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to go check on our people.”
As I walked out of the room, I could feel Indra’s gaze burning a hole in the back of my head.
After I bound my soul to the tree, the creepy black smoke retreated, but the bubble of protection the queen had built twenty years ago was still gone. Something else had happened, though.
Normally, the other side of the river was completely black, but not now. A good five-foot stretch of the other side was covered in green grass and wildflowers, and the river…the entire river was clear.
Binding my soul to the tree had done something to the land. I just prayed it wasn’t temporary and that it would last. The creatures that had once lurked were gone, too. For now.
We’d need to do damage control and figure out what to do about the broken shield, but first, I wanted to find Liam.
I approached the encampment looking for him. “Hey, have you seen Liam?” I asked one of the guys. I was worried about his mental state after how mad he’d been with me at the Tree of Life and with having the sword so close to him. The second I found him, I was ripping that sword off of him and taking it for a while.
“He went into one of the huts.” The guy pointed to a straw hut, and I approached it, peeking my head inside.
Liam was standing alone, facing the wall and mumbling to himself. “If I tell her, she’ll leave me,” he was saying.
Oh, gods. He’d fully lost it.
“Liam?” I called out, approaching him.
His head jerked to the right. “I can’t. I can’t tell her.”
“Babe.” I tried a pet name, although it felt weird on my tongue, and we’d never used them. “It’s me.”
I laid a hand on his shoulder, but I recoiled when I felt a darkness enter my mind.
Liam spun, tears filling his eyes. The whites of his eyes were dark black, no color left, and it chilled me to the bone.
“Liam. Love.” I kept my voice low. “Take off the sword and lay it on the ground.”
He shook his head, tears spilling onto his cheeks. “You won’t love me if you know. I can’t tell you.”
I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about, but I wanted the spell that thing held over him broken.
“Liam.” I reached out and started to unbuckle his sword belt. “There is nothing about you that you could tell me that would make me not love you.”
He shook his head, more silent tears falling down his cheeks, as I slowly slipped the sword off. Dark thoughts raced through my mind as I grasped the hilt for two seconds before chucking it across the room. It hit the wall and slid to the ground with a clatter.
Once it was away from him, the color seemed to come back into his eyes, and I, for one, felt a whole hell of a lot better.
“See? You’re okay now.” I sighed in relief and moved to hug him, but he backed up to the wall, then grabbed the sides of his face.
“No. I’m unlovable.” The tears were gone, and now a vacant look was plastered on his face. He was lost somewhere, and I needed to bring him back.
“Stop it!” I shouted, taking his hand and holding the scars up to his eyes. “Is it about this? I don’t care! I don’t care what you’ve done. I fucking love you, Liam, and that’s that!”
His chest rose and fell as he gnawed at his bottom lip. “Lily…I have to tell you. We can’t have a relationship until you know…”
I frowned. “What are you talking about?”
The
