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They didn’t dare stop while on Father’s land. Too much of a risk of either Father’s men or Nolan finding them. Although, if Father’s men found them, they’d just be taken back. Nolan was the bigger threat. If Father’s men did find them, though, they’d be even more likely to come across Nolan on their return journey. So they rode. When they had put enough distance between themselves and Belanger castle, they stopped in a copse of ash trees surrounded by large bushes. They fell asleep in each other’s arms.
Adelaide awakened to pinkish light filtering through the trees, casting long shadows. Regulus was already up, digging through the sack he had brought. She stretched her sore neck while massaging her left shoulder. Regulus reached into the bag and tossed her a red apple.
“How’d you get food?”
“I wandered into the kitchen before I went to bed. Said I liked to have food in my room in case I wake up in the night. The cook seemed confused and concerned I took so much, but he’s the cook, I’m the guest and the lord, so he couldn’t tell me no.” He ducked his head and tied the bag to the back of Sieger’s saddle. “Hopefully enough to get us to Holgren and back.”
“Holgren? That’s a—”
“Royal forest. I know.”
She stood and brushed grass and leaves off herself. “What if we’re caught?”
“I guess we’ll figure that out if it happens?”
That didn’t sound like a plan, but she didn’t have any better ideas. So she mounted Zephyr and they continued on, toward a royal forest they didn’t have permission to enter and a magic tree that may or may not be sentient.
They rode for hours in silence, but Adelaide didn’t mind the comfortable quiet. The laughter and squeals of children carried through an overgrown hedge, and she wondered what hers and Regulus’ children would look like. They would almost certainly be tall.
“I want to learn Khast,” Regulus said abruptly.
She cocked her head. “You do?”
He looked over, his expression earnest. “I want you to teach me Khast. I don’t know if I’ll be any good, but...it’s important to you, so I want to learn.”
Adelaide could have laughed with joy, but she didn’t want him to think she was making fun of him. “I’d love to teach you, mareh piahre.”
“Mar-ay pea-aw-ruh.” Regulus said each syllable as if rolling it around his mouth, trying to get a feel for the sounds. “That’s what your mother called your father. What’s it mean?”
Adelaide gave him a teasing smile. “My love. My father likes to call my mother piahre cha mareh gehvam. Love of my life.”
“Pea-aw-ruh chaw mar-ay gay-vam.” Regulus sighed. “It sounds better when you say it.”
Adelaide chuckled. “We’ll work on it, sumdir.”
He wrinkled his nose. “Now you’re just being cruel.”
“Never, handsome.”
Regulus blushed. “All right, how do you say beautiful?”
“Khast doesn’t have a different word for beautiful and handsome.”
“So...you’re mar-ay soom-dear pea-aw-ruh? My beautiful love?”
His pronunciation sounded like someone trying to speak around a mouthful of marbles, but she grinned nonetheless. “Charmer.”
Toward evening, they arrived at the edge of a forest. Wooden signs nailed to tree trunks proclaimed HOLGREN ROYAL FOREST. ENTRY WITHOUT ROYAL WARRANT STRICTLY PROHIBITED in faded white paint. They looked around, but didn’t see anyone, so they continued inside.
Regulus paused. “Give me a minute to get my bearings. We don’t want to waste time wandering about.”
She reined in Zephyr. The fresh air smelled of moss and pine. A couple birds chirped somewhere nearby. Yellow edged in on the leaves of birch trees, announcing that summer was growing old.
A strange prickling ran across Adelaide’s skin from head to toe. Almost like a breeze, but the air remained calm. Something deep inside her made her look to the right. The forest looked the same over there, but a voice—more of a sensation than actual words—seemed to tell her to go that way. As if Etiros himself were prodding her deeper into the forest. The familiar warmth of magical energy shuddered through her, brushing over the empty places in her soul and calling to her. She had urged Zephyr forward before she even realized it.
“Regulus,” she called over her shoulder. “This way.”
“What? Hey, where are you going?” Regulus directed Sieger closer. “Do...you feel something?”
“Yes.” Her voice sounded detached. The pull increased. “I can feel it. Like a current sweeping me along.”
The external pull of magical energy grew until it felt like it would carry her away. Her breaths came sharper and quicker until Adelaide and Regulus broke through the trees and she saw it. The pull stopped, and her jaw went slack. It was...unbelievable.
Clouds obscured the sun, but even so, the leaves on the gigantic tree shimmered like shards of silvery glass. Some of the light bent as it reflected, sending bright spots of color into the forest. Its black branches stretched out over a meadow and trees a half dozen paces away that bent away from its shade. The trunk looked big enough to fit a bedroom inside, and its black bark was glassy, as if the tree had been carved out of obsidian. She had to look up, shielding her eyes against the glaring light on the leaves, to see the top. Who knew trees grew so enormous?
They rode forward, but their horses got skittish, so they dismounted and walked. “Do you hear that?” She moved toward the tree as if in a dream.
“Hear what?”
“The tree.” She couldn’t describe the sound. Soft, nearly inaudible. Somewhere between a deep thrumming and a soft, wordless singing. The sound moved through her, calming and frightening her all at once. She reached toward the shiny bark, then paused, her palm hovering inches away from the glossy surface broken by angular edges that caught the light.
Warmth flowed between her hand and the trunk, and she felt the tree. Its life. Its tremendous age. Somehow, she knew, almost as if she had gotten a glimpse of it in her mind, that this tree had been tall when the rest of the forest hadn’t yet begun to grow. It seemed to both call to her and warn her. She looked up at the glittering leaves above her. So high above the surrounding forest, they swayed in an unfelt breeze, flashing without a sound. A leaf separated from a branch and floated toward her, arcing back and forth like a falling feather. She caught it in her hand and its softness surprised her. No hard edges, despite looking like glass. She let it fall to the ground and looked back at the trunk.
A noise like a stifled groan behind her caught her attention and she spun around. “Reg—” She gaped at the empty space. Sieger and Zephyr shuffled and whinnied near the edge of the trees. But Regulus had disappeared.
“Regulus!”
“Don’t worry,” a quiet, shrill voice said. “He’s all right.”
Adelaide turned toward the voice as she drew a dagger and a throwing knife. Her eyes widened, and she stepped backward. A fairy shorter than the length of Adelaide’s hand flew less than a foot away from her face. A sleeveless dress of pale green embroidered with silver hugged the fairy’s pale skin. Short reddish hair stuck out in all directions around her delicate face. Her wings beat the air so fast Adelaide couldn’t make them out, other than to tell they shimmered with each movement.
“What?” Adelaide’s voice squeaked, and she cleared her throat. “Who are...where is Regulus?” She pointed her dagger at the fairy, but the fairy tittered, her laughter like tiny wind chimes.
“This isn’t about him,” the fairy said. “It’s about you.”
Adelaide shook her head. “What do you want?”
“To help you, of course.” The fairy smiled, showing pearly white teeth with sinister-looking points. Adelaide blanched.
“Where is Regulus?” She put as much force into her words as she could, even as she wondered how one fought a fairy.
“Oh, please. He’s hardly the important one here, my dear.” The fairy flitted side to side. “You’re the mage. You’re the interesting one.”
Her breath caught. “How do you know what I am?”
“I can feel it, dear. Just like you can feel the neumenet tree. And I know what happened to you. I sense that, too.” The fairy tilted her head and gave her a sympathetic look. “You were right to come here. The neumenet tree can help you. Reach out and take it.”
Adelaide lowered her weapons. “Take what?”
“The tree’s magic!” The fairy smiled again, and chills ran down Adelaide’s spine. “You know how to do it, because it’s been done to you.”
Adelaide stepped backward. She flashed back to the feeling of her magic, her energy, her very life being drawn out of her. Even now the sensation of the tree’s power only emphasized the abyss inside her where her magic had once been.
“No. Not like that.”
“I’m afraid this is the only way.”
“No. That’s...that’s sorcery. It’s taking what isn’t yours. It’s hurting.”
The fairy laughed again. “It’s only a tree.”
So were the trees around the sorcerer’s tower. The ones so drained of life they turned white as bones. Trees sapped of energy until they blackened as if they had been burned. The sorcerer took their energy, their magic. And it killed them.
“I’m not a sorcerer. Sorcery takes. It steals and destroys and kills to further your own power.” As she spoke, she became more certain. “That’s why it’s corrupted. It’s been twisted from something that helps others to something that helps only yourself at another’s expense. I won’t get my magic back by becoming like him. Now where’s Regulus?”
“Hm. Foolish girl.” The fairy waved and pointed. Adelaide followed the line of her finger.
Regulus stood where she had last seen him, but his eyes were wide over his gagged mouth. Rope-like vines bound his wrists together, and more vines wrapped around his arms, tying them to his sides. Several fairies hovered around him, holding the ends of the vines that bound his torso. Oh, Etiros, no!
Adelaide’s pulse quickened. She clutched her weapons tighter as her breathing became shallower. Not again. She couldn’t watch him be hurt again. Her mouth went dry. “Regulus.” Her voice cracked.
Regulus strained against the fairies, but somehow the tiny creatures held him without any struggle. He stilled and held her gaze, the message in his eyes clear. Run.
“There’s your man.” The fairy sounded bored. “Free him, if you want him back.”
