“Place your hand on the trunk here, it’s easier to hear it that way.” He moved away, giving her room to approach the small fir. Lana looked at him warily as if she was expecting some sort of trap but hesitantly placed her palm on the tree.
“Close your eyes,” Clay said softly. “Empty your mind. Think about the tree, its height, its roots stretching down into the earth beneath your feet, its branches spreading out above you. Open yourself up to it.” He waited, watching her intently. Lana was lovely but she was not for him. Once he presented her to the elders, this job would be done and he would likely never see her again. He couldn’t get attached.
* * *
Lana was having a difficult time keeping her mind clear. Clay’s presence was distracting. She wasn’t sure if he was just playing some sort of joke on her or not. It seemed preposterous that something like a tree could have a voice but her mind flashed back on that last night in the castle. It had seemed like the air was full of a sense of urgency, as if the walls themselves were warning her of her impending doom. Had they been?
She tried again to clear her mind and focus. Thinking about the tree, the feel of the bark under her palm, the whisper of the wind moving through the branches. She felt like she was floating and then suddenly it happened. She sensed it. Curiosity? Inquisitiveness?
Lana gasped and pulled her hand back quickly, backing up a step and clutching her hand to her breast. She stared at the tree and then accusingly at Clay. What kind of magic was this? Did he do this to her, somehow?
“Did you feel it?” he asked her, reaching out to fondly stroke the trunk of the tree. “It’s still young so everything is new to it. It has a mind like a child.”
“Is it magic?” she demanded, still feeling out of sorts.
He chuckled. “Not magic, it’s just something elves can do. We were born of nature and so we are close to nature.”
“But I’m not an elf,” she told him. Surely he knew this. She was a human.
“Are you sure?” he asked, a mischievous glint in his eye. “Humans are deaf to the words of nature. There may have been a time when they could hear it, but they’ve spent thousands of years cutting down trees, chiseling rock, diverting rivers, bending nature to their will rather than living in harmony. The earth itself has turned its back on them. No, only elves can hear the trees because the earth still loves us. You may not not have pure elf blood but you certainly don’t have pure human blood either. I can sense it, any elf could. Tell me, how do you like meat?”
Lana narrowed her eyes at him. How could he know about that? She chose not to answer.
“Elves cannot tolerate meat. Our systems don’t digest it properly,” he said. “See? You’re an elf.”
“My mother was a human, my father was a human, I’m a human,” she responded, lifting her chin and staring him down. There was no disputing this fact. If her mother or father had been elves or even had any elf blood, the entire kingdom would have known. The elves and humans had always been at odds, everyone knew this.
“I’m sure your mother was human. As for your father…” he trailed off, looking in the direction they’d come from, toward the castle. “Well, I’m sure the king is also human. We’ll leave it at that.”
Struck by what he was insinuating, Lana stiffened, offended to her toes. “How dare you suggest such a thing about my mother,” she said in a quiet voice. “You will never speak this way again. I forbid it.”
Clay narrowed his eyes, then gave her a mocking bow. “As you wish, princess,” he said coldly, back to using her title rather than her name. “Shall we?” With that, he began marching through the forest without a backward glance.
For a moment, Lana considered turning and fleeing from him. She wondered if he would try to catch her or if she even cared. Her mind was so twisted up with all he had told her, she couldn’t make sense of anything. Finally, knowing she really had no choice, she trailed after him but kept herself at a distance. She didn’t want to be near him right now. She needed time to think.
* * *
Clay could tell when they were getting close to civilization again. The trees were thinning out and the sounds of wild animals quietened. When he judged that they were maybe half a mile away, he stopped and waited for the princess to catch up. He couldn’t think of her as Lana right then, not so soon after she had used her royal tone with him.
There was no good reason for her to get so angry at him for being truthful. People deserved to know the truth, right? It’s not like a human taking an elven lover is a bad thing. Elves were clearly a superior race.
He knew he was being unfair but he didn’t really care. The girl was so temperamental, it was difficult to control his urge to tweak her nose whenever he could. He enjoyed watching her eyes flare in anger and the color come to her creamy, pale cheeks. But perhaps he had crossed a line with that comment about her mother. Humans were very proud, after all. He had to remember that.
Deciding to play nice for a while, he made sure that his tone was soft when he spoke to her.
“Lana,” he said, using her name rather than her title,
