My thumb caresses the emerald jewel around my neck, the familiar warmth of my goddess flowing through me. A sharp pain constricts my chest as my nose tickles, and it’s like Her familiar smell is swirling in the air around me; a mixture I’d once called a drop of starlight in darkness.
I recognize it straight away; the Moon Flower. It wraps around me, sending so much comfort and love that everything inside me wants to run and break away from Her. From this place.
But I remain seated at my desk and stare down at the tablet in front of me, focusing on the images of the plants we’re meant to be analyzing. Their familiar shapes and colors burn into my brain, releasing a memory I’d longed to forget.
The elderly dryad had been like a grandmother to me. Her knowledge had been vast, and every day I’d learned so much from her. I was like a sponge, thirsty for knowledge that she was all too happy to provide. Until I ruined it—for everyone.
“Serena, are you okay?” Dane asks as his hand rests on my arm.
I nod and turn back to Professor Ariella, shoving down the memory haunting me.
But I’m not okay. And haven’t been for a long time.
Not since…
I shake my head, willing everything to disappear. Lore’s warmth floods my system, and I sigh in relief as the tension filling my body lessens, but the sadness remains.
How can anyone possibly understand what I’m going through? Have gone through? I focus on the professor, and her dryad aura soothes me in a way I don’t expect.
Can I share everything with someone I barely know?
Chapter 11
As Professor Ariella wraps up her lesson, a mixture of fear and worry war inside me, and I don’t know which scares me the most. Talking to someone or having them reject me?
Dane pushes from his chair and waits for me to pack away my supplies. “Are you ready? The guys want to do a movie night after we study.”
I mull through my thoughts, but…
I shake my head and point to the plants around the room. “I’m actually going to stay and prune a few of the plants. But I’ll meet up with you and the guys later. We can figure out what we’re going to do over the weekend then.”
He opens his mouth as if to say something but shuts it and nods before leaving slowly, glancing over his shoulder on occasion until he exits the greenhouse. I sigh with relief as the door closes behind him, and I lean against the desk.
“It must be hard having to pretend to be someone else all the time,” Ariella says softly. “I’ve only been here for a few weeks, and it’s already weighing on me. But you? You’ve been doing this for years.” She shakes her head, and the sadness in her eyes makes me uncomfortable. If only she knew.
Rising from my chair, I move around the edge of the room, trailing my fingers across the plants. Their fragrances swirl together, mixing to create a unique and heady smell that can only be described as a lively greenhouse. I run my thumb over a moon flower, the petals blooming and blossoming as it absorbs some of my power.
“Do you know an elderly dryad named Melia?” I ask as I glance over my shoulder.
“Yes, she is the matriarch of the dryads. But how do you know her?” Ariella’s eyebrows pull together as her form begins to glow, and she sheds her human appearance. Seeing her natural presence washes away some of the weakness in my legs, her familiarity comforting.
My fingertips trail over the edges of the flower’s petals. “Years ago, Melia was my teacher. But she wasn’t just that. She turned into my confidant; she was like a grandmother to me.” My eyes prickle with tears as I picture her smiling face and weathered wooden skin. “She taught me everything I know about plants, about life itself. I’ve never met anyone else like her.”
I gaze at the glowing purple plant as I recall the memory of Melia teaching me about the moon flower. I’d thought the flower was beautiful. I’d wanted to pick it, to give it to my goddess—but Melia stopped me. God, I was so angry.
But then she explained the importance of the flower and why it needed to remain in the ground—it needed to be harvested at exactly the right time for the properties to be considered potent enough for life-saving ointments and salves.
“But, Melia…” Ariella interrupts my memory, “she wouldn’t take a non-dryad student…” She pauses, then gasps. “You are the one she taught within the woods? I had heard rumors of another student set away from the rest of us.”
I nod and turn around, a sad smiling pulling on my lips. “Unless there were others in the woods, then yeah, that was probably me.” Giving the moon flower one last caress, I sit on the desk and watch emotions flick across Ariella’s face. “My goddess asked Melia to be my guardian after… after She found me.”
Ariella’s eyes cloud over as she looks away; her hand clenches the edge of the table. “Melia is my grandmother.”
Now it’s my turn to be surprised. “How… How is she?” I ask and bite my lip. I look away as she answers, afraid of what I’ll see.
“She is doing well. Definitely stubborn and a hard ass like she always has been.” She laughs, and my lips twitch as I nod in agreement. “But ten years ago she came back to our community, and she looked… devastated. I’d never seen her look like that. It was as if she had lost a piece of her, and we never understood why.”
I close my eyes as a lump forms in my throat. Tears burn behind my eyelids. “Me… It was because of me.” Shivers roll over my skin as I look up and
