Page 66 of Dryad’s Treasure

Keir answered, “They were going to do their best but were still far out. I don’t think there’s been enough time. That said, I’ll fly that direction. Maybe I can get to them in time. I just need a little head start to keep far enough ahead of Verona. Once she sees I have the eggs, she’ll follow me. At least, I hope.” Keir’s gaze traveled to Tabitha’s limp body.

“We’ll be okay,” I said. I wasn’t fooling anyone. There was no guarantee any of us would make it out of this alive. Gray’s magic pulsed within me. He had to feel my distress. I could tell he was closing in and my eyes slipped closed. Maybe Gray would get here in time. Could he catch Verona’s attention the way he had Axios? Maybe, maybe not. There were no guarantees, only fragile hopes and whispered prayers.

“Martin, I⁠—”

I cut Keir off. “We all knew the risks. Each and every one of us in this room.” Jima squeaked, nose in the air while standing on his rear feet, his agreement made clear.

“Martin’s right,” Henry agreed. “So let’s stop wastin’ time and get those eggs outta here.”

I couldn’t agree more. “My tree form should offer you some cover.” Going to the center of my courtyard, I focused on my dryad form and transformed. My roots sank deep into the ground, anchoring me as my branches stretched toward the sky. I’d barely peeked above the ground when I saw her—Verona.

She was massive. Verona’s wings spread across the soil. The small reception area that was above ground was completely obliterated. Verona viciously clawed at the ground, ripping huge chunks free as she dug deeper. I was so focused on Verona that it took me a moment to notice Lazarus’s limp, unmoving form crumpled on the ground a few feet away. His scarlet scales were pockmarked in sizzling browns and blacks, huge chunks having been disintegrated or ripped out.

The pounding stopped as Verona’s attention suddenly fixated on me. Her eyes narrowed and acid dripped from her mouth, falling to the ground and instantly killing anything below. Her wings spread and her muscles tensed. Panic filled me. In that instant, I knew we were out of time. There was no way Keir could get past her. Verona had a single-minded purpose, and there was no reasoning with that kind of blind obsession.

Quick as lightning, my mind spiraled. I saw Tabitha lying on the ground, unconscious and thoroughly spent. Jima tightly tucked himself against one side of her neck while Henry took up position on the opposite side. Keir was at my base, leaning against my trunk, wyvern eggs cradled to his chest as he awaited my signal to transform and fly away.

It was a signal I would never give.

I knew what I had to do. Answers to hated questions suddenly became so very clear. Why had Huxley saved me? Why had he taken my acorn and planted it in the middle of the compound? What use would a dryad have to him? To the council itself? I couldn’t leave, not for long periods of time. I couldn’t go on missions or investigations. I was relegated to little more than support staff. I’d rarely felt bitter. Instead, I’d found purpose and satisfaction in my role.

But had that really been why Huxley planted my seed? If there was one thing we’d learned regarding Tenzen Huxley, it was that he played the long game. Time meant next to nothing to him. Huxley had plans within plans. Was it truly a coincidence that the core buzzweed was located directly below my birth soil?

No. It wasn’t.

I was a magical being but had very little innate magic to compete with the pixie magic held within the buzzweeds. What could I do that no one else within the council could do? I feared I knew. I also feared I might be wrong.

Gray’s magic pulsed, his fears answering my own. In reply, I sent back my own form of sad apology. I had no idea what this would do to me, to us. All I knew was that I had to do something. I had to protect my family. I could only hope that Gray would understand why.

Verona’s tensed muscles sprang as she let loose a thunderous war cry, launching herself my direction. There was no more time to contemplate consequences or fixate on what could have been. There was only the desperate need to protect. With that thought in mind, I sent my taproot deep into the ground, deeper than it had ever gone before, straight for the core buzzweed.

The moment contact was made, I knew I was right. The sacrificed pixie’s magic was meant for me. It always had been. My final thoughts were of my adoptive family and mostly Gray. The desperate need to keep them safe and to expel the interloper attempting harm.

Agonizing pain shot up and through my root, expanding to the rest of my body. My branches grew, expanding and covering the ground. They raced toward Verona, tossing her back as if she were little more than a paper version of a wyvern. Raw power raced through me as my branches covered the whole of the compound.

On the horizon, barely within view, I saw a dancing ball of cool blue flames. My last thought was how beautiful Gray was, how mesmerizing his wisp form truly appeared. I desperately wished I could follow that dancing ball of light. I’d happily wander wherever Gray desired. Sorrow filled me as I was inevitably led to my death.

Twenty-Eight

Grayson

No, no, no. That word played on repeat, constantly echoing through my mind. Something was wrong. I could feel Martin’s worry and fear spike through his magic, growing with every passing second. That fear turned to abject horror before slipping into cold determination. And then, a pulse of something else. Regret. Sorrow. Apology. It was a bitter emotion and frightened me more than Martin’s fear.

I pushed myself faster, but there was only so fast I could go. The landscape below passed by in a blur. The closer I got to the Magical Usage Compound, the deeper I felt Martin’s toxic cocktail of emotions.

Cresting a hill, I faltered, unable to comprehend what I saw. Verona was there, poised mid-leap. The ground around her was torn to shreds and Lazarus’s unmoving body lay close by, covered by the dirt and debris Verona had managed to carve from the earth.

Martin’s branches filled in the gap leading to his courtyard. Those branches seemed different than before—larger and more expansive. And then they were moving. Racing out across the ground and toward Verona. I would have gasped had I been in my humanoid form. As I was, all I could manage was a brief flare. That flare brightened as I witnessed Verona being tossed aside, her body thrown into the distance.

Just as suddenly as Martin’s branches spread, they stopped. The expansive canopy was huge and covered more ground than I thought any dryad should be capable of. Apprehensively, I approached. My slow creep forward came to a sudden halt. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong.

That wrongness magnified when the magic I’d shared with Martin drifted out of the branch closest to me. It hovered in the air, bereft and alone until I pulled it back to me, welcoming it home and yet horrified by what its return might mean.

My own magic surrounded the wayward missing piece, sadly welcoming it home. My returning magic ignored its welcome, rushing toward the tiny piece of Martin’s magic resting inside me. Hovering, I focused inward. The rest of my magic chased my returning piece, surrounding Martin’s magic in a protective shell. I didn’t understand why until something else entered me—a foreign magic that bypassed my own, searching for Martin’s.

I’d never felt my magic so protective, so strong and determined. I’d never thought myself powerful, and yet at that moment, I pulled on every ounce of strength I could muster. It was instinctual, knowing that this foreign magic was not allowed to touch Martin’s.

I envisioned a hard, circular encasement. Absolutely no cracks were allowed. My magic formed a solid, impenetrable wall. Martin’s magical essence quivered within its center, keening with distress as the foreign magic came for it again and again.