Page 88 of How to Woo the Undead

“Hello?” Hyacinth asked, stepping out into the sunset.

The woman’s once teasing smile fell. Not to a frown, but to a sad, heartbroken smile. “You are not Sabine.”

“No,” Hyacinth sighed, shaking her head. Stepping out further in her dress made of moss and flower petals, her wings stretching out behind her. As she approached the fence, the woman’s back illuminated with similar looking wings. Though, they were not bone, but frames with gray, thorny vines. Their stained window wings fluttered together, filling the air with little, glittering particles. “My name is Hyacinth.”

“It’s nice to meet you Hyacinth,” the fae woman from the other side of the fence murmured, eyes softening. “I am Persephone.”

“How could you tell I wasn’t her?” Hyacinth asked, wrapping her fingers around one of the bars in the fence. Persephone matched her pose, her long fingers curling around the black iron. It took Hyacinth a long time, studying the woman from the slight widow’s peak of her hair, the purple of her eyes, and even Persephone’s cupid’s bow. The more she stared, the more she felt a connection. “We are related.”

“Sabine was my sister,” Persephone chuckled the way someone who has lost a loved one laughs, more sad than joyous, but the memory was still pleasant. “Long ago.”

“I didn’t know she had siblings,” Hyacinth exhaled.

“Sabine was older. Our mother was what one would call a traditionalist. So afraid of her children becoming what she deemed were lesser beings, that she practically drove all of my sisters from our home with her iron fist. Sabine left first, but she wasn’t content to stay here, in the waking world, until she met that Hunter in the woods.” Persephone’s gaze fell to the ground where little rings of mismatched mushrooms popped up around them. “I felt her change. I felt it when she cut off connection to our realm.”

“When she became a grove witch,” Hyacinth added, lungs tight.

Persephone’s eyes rose to meet Hyacinth, a sparkle back in them as she gazed at the face of her dead sister. “They’re not born. Grove witches are made. I thought it was one of mother’s tales to frighten us from making homes in the human realm.”

“But Sabine chose to cut herself off. To claim this place as her home.” Hyacinth nodded. Her finger tapped against the metal of the fence between them. She could invite her in, ask her to join Hyacinth on this side of the fence. Remove the distance between two sisters so long apart, but something stopped her. There was a sensation that felt distinctly like Sebastian that told her no.Fine…I’ll just… meet her on the other side of the fence then.Hyacinth was the grove witch of these woods now, anyway. All of the Haunted Forest was her grove.

“Not just her home, but her tomb. Something you’ll come to realize, Hyacinth. A grove witch’s curse is that her power is infinite. You could rip that city apart, turn them all into fertilizer, rend that city into nothing but rubble. But you canneverleave. You’ve struck your claim here, and here you willstay. Sabine lived here in her isolation and loneliness, letting that heartache fester till it drove her mad. I tried many times to come to talk to her, but there was nothing I could do. Her power was here, as was her soul, and she could never escape. And had that dragon desecrated this place, she would have never survived. So long as that willow stands, so will you…until the day when this realm ends.”

Hyacinth’s lips curled up on her face. It was so soothing to take her hand and cup Persephone’s against that iron bar, squeezing as she spoke, “I know. This is my home. It’s always been my home. And I’ll be here, watching over it, just like Sebastian does.”

“Good.” Persephone let out another wounded chuckle. She speared a hand through the fence to brush Hyacinth’s dirty hair out of her face and cupped her cheek. Hyacinth pressed into Persephone’s palm, smiling brighter.She’s grieving her lost sister. The least I can do is give her this.

There was a sense of familiarity within Persephone.

But then Persephone let out a shaky breath. “Tell that sweet boy thank you for putting her out of her misery.”

“I will.” Hyacinth didn’t know why she welled up, but she licked her dry lips and nodded despite the few tears that trickled down her face. “Persephone, what about you? Are you a grove witch too?”

“Oh no,” Persephone chuckled, patting Hyacinth on the cheek. She shook her head, little wisps of inky smoke flying off her and into the sky. Her crow clacked his beak at one of them that escaped him. “No, I am something entirely…worse.”

“What is that?” Hyacinth giggled, beyond curious. She watched Persephone step away from the gate. She leaned on a gnarled wooden staff, the obsidian wisps dancing in and out of it.

Persephone grinned from pointed ear to pointed ear, her teeth razor sharp and glinting in the sunset. As the light died a little more behind the horizon, Hyacinth watched eyes open up all over Persephone. All throughout her wings, across the back of her hands, at the center of her chest, along her skirt, and dancing within her inky wisps. As the eyes closed up, Persephone winked at Hyacinth. “Now, that is a story for over a long, luxurious feast and lots, and lots, of wine.”

“I’d love that. I’ll make a picnic for us; we can have it in the woods. I can show you where I burned down the temple of those awful clerics…and you can tell me about Sabine and yourself.” Hyacinth lingered in front of the canopy of her willow’s branches.

Persephone bent backward at the waist, cackling from deep in the belly. “Nowthat’sthe spirit! You have to meet my granddaughter, Hazel. She’ll adore you! And we can have a girl’s night, braid each other’s hair, poison someone else’s tea, and talk about boys!”

Hyacinth snorted but made no comment, for she wasn’t sure if that was sarcasm or if the strange woman beyond the fence truly meant it. Persephone winked once more, and then was gone in a puff of inky smoke. Hyacinth couldn’t remove the smile from her lips even if she tried. So, she turned and ducked back into her willow. She found Austin stirring. Hyacinth tiptoed over to him, settling into his lap as he shrugged off his blanket of moss.

“Good morning,” he hummed.

“Evening,” she corrected with a grimace.

“Time is an illusion.” Austin shrugged.

“Now who sounds like Smith?” Hyacinth teased, cocking her head to the side. “How do you know time is an illusion? Can you see it?”

Austin beamed, wrapping his arms around her waist. He dragged her up his body till her belly was against his, and her knees pressed into the roots of her willow. “All I know is when I’m with you, time is irrelevant.”

Hyacinth brushed the fallen petals and leaves off the top of his head gently with the side of her hand. Then she draped her arms around his shoulders like a well loved scarf. His red gaze roamed her face, memorizing her. Those happy little moths returned to her belly and she had to admit she missed them. Hyacinth exhaled dreamily, “I love you.”

He squeezed her tight against his chest. “I love you too.”