Chapter Thirty-Four

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I dashed more tears from my eyes and looked at the empty gateway where Luis had stood.

"Luis!" I stumbled forward in the snow and fell back onto my knees. A thousand apologies flitted rapidly through my mind as my heart sped up. 

"Madeline, you cannot go after him. The snow is too deep!"

My eyes were wild as he helped me to my feet. Tears blurred my surroundings, and I tore my hands from his grasp. "He's out there alone! I have to explain that you were comforting me. I have to explain!"

"What is there to explain? Look!"

He held up something, and I gasped. It was a green jewel the color of peridot with streaks of copper within the gem. Another gem. More tears fell. 

"What does that even mean?" I turned away from him and the stone. I didn't want to see it. "Luis is my best friend! If I lose even him, then..." I gazed out across the snowfield where Luis had run. 

"Then what, Madeline? This jewel is a symbol of your rightness. It means, Madeline..." The husky sound of his voice made me glance up, and his expression stilled my sobbing, "That you are everything I hoped for. That you will be the one that saves us, and that you are the one who'll be my family..." His light green eyes glowed with conviction.

"If I lose even Luis, it means I can lose all of you even more easily. I have to get him back!"

"What you need," Luke said as he lifted me off the ground and held me like a princess, "Is to get home and stop blaming yourself. You did nothing wrong as I am your husband, same as he is. If the dog is not back by morning, we will search for him until we need to leave for the trial."

"Stop calling him a dog, and put me down." I glared at him, but there was no heat behind my expression. I sniffled and hit his arm.

"I will not. You have been kneeling in the snow, and you require extra warmth, or you may get hypothermia. Carrying you is efficient." That was his excuse, but the kiss he landed on my forehead revealed a whisper of the passion we'd shared a moment before. "And you would never lose me. Never." An oath shivered between us as he made the promise.

His promise stilled my protests. The sense of belonging wrapped me up like a hug, but then I thought of Luis alone and lost in this strange world.

"I need to find him." I flung my arms and legs and tried to starfish out of his hold. "It's cold outside, and he's going to get lost!"

"He is from a realm more dangerous than this snow-covered countryside, Madeline." He held on tightly to me, despite my struggles.

I wiped hair from my face. It was a mess, and was dragging a bit on the ground. "What do you mean, 'a realm more dangerous'?"

"He is of the dark Fae, Madeline. A Phouka lives in the betwixt, which lies between it all." Luke adjusted us to pull my hair forward and place it in front of us. 

I winced as he pulled it a little, but the activity and the news helped to still my inner flogging for a moment as curiosity took over. "Between what all?"

"All. On one side is everything, and on the other is the underworld. The dark Fae serve the Emperor of Tears, but the Phouka rebelled and claimed to be solitary."

Oh. I knew Luis was a Phouka, but I had forgotten they were dark Fae - not that it mattered. "I don't care about that. Let me go find him." 

He started walking with me firmly held in his arms. "Stop struggling, or I shall put you over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes." He looked down at me with a brow creased with worry. "You are frightening me, Madeline. Please let me help you. It is dark outside, and it would be difficult to find him right now. I swear, in the morning, we'll go looking."

I surrendered, knowing he was right but no happier about it. He took me back to the mansion and deposited me in his study.

Adrian came in. "What's up?" he asked. "I thought Luis went out to find you guys. He didn't come back with you?"

I leaned forward and buried my face in my hands. Then I shook my head.

"So, where is he?" Adrian asked as he stepped forward and put his hand on my shoulder. "What are you still doing in your coat?"

"I just got here, and he's gone. He ran off."

"What! Why?"

"He's angry at me." My stomach churned as nausea overcame me. I unloosened my muffler and took off my gloves.

Adrian kneeled by my chair and touched my hand. "Why, Matt?"

"Because I kissed her," Luke said.

Adrian sprung up and faced Luke. "Didn't we agree no one would kiss Matt until we figured things out?"

"He meant only to kiss my forehead, Adrian. It's my fault he kissed my lips." 

Luke showed the green stone to Adrian, who took it from him.

"What's this about?"  Adrian asked as he studied the stone.

Luke sighed. "These are the stones Madeline must put in the crown at the third trial. She collects them when she kisses her consort with love in her heart. If he reciprocates, a gem forms on the consort's tongue, and he must give it to her."

"So you and Luke..."

"I don't know!  I was crying over my mother's grave! I just wanted to be comforted." 

"There are all sorts of love, Madeline. It does not have to be romantic..." Luke's smile was sad, and I felt worse.

"I have another stone..." I may as well confess it all.

"With who?" Adrian asked. Luke also looked interested in the answer.

"With Dominic. I have it in my jewelry box."

Adrian blew out a stream of air. "Dominic too?"

I cringed. "Yes. Dominic too. Except Dominic kissed me."

"But you got a stone from him." Adrian sat in a chair and propped his elbow on the desk to rest his head on his hand. 

I wanted to die, as I nodded.

"Does Luis know?"

"He knows." I dragged my messy hair from my face. To my surprise, Adrian took my hand.

"You must be going nuts with everything going on. I don't blame you for being confused. Luis has always been crazy when it comes to you. Even though I don't like the guy, I'll  help you find him." His worry trickled through the link along with a thread of relief.  What was he relieved about? 

"Thanks, Adrian," I said instead of asking him why. 

"I had another reason to come in here. Ciaran wants to help you with your magic because he believes he'd be the most qualified to train you in what you can do. Are you up to it?" Adrian smiled at me, "You're a tangled knot of confusion and hair."

I doubted that my hair, or my confusion would ever be unsnarled again. "I am. Where is Ciaran? I'll get out of my coat and go see him."

"He's in Brin's music room," Adrian said, then he left the room, giving me one backward glance before he did.

Luke was staring straight ahead as a muscle ticked in his jaw. "Stay for a moment, Madeline."

I swallowed as I remained seated. "Okay."

"Because I know that to win, you must fall in love with all of us. Nevertheless, I am struggling."

"I am too, Luke. This link makes every experience more intense, and I feel every emotion like a real sensation. It's crazy but, even though I know Luis is furious, I want to kiss you again." I twisted my fingers in my lap.

His mouth dropped open as he regarded me with shock. He rose slightly from his chair. "Do you?"

I put up a hand. "Yes, but don't. I need to think about things."

He was already out of his chair, embracing me. "I will not kiss you, but I must hold you, if only for a moment. I dearly hope, when the time comes, that you choose me as the royal consort."

I pushed away from him gently, then left the study with my head spinning.

I eventually made it to Brin's music room which we'd set up nicely for him. He had a humongous fluffy mattress on the ground and several blankets. Someone had also set up a table with a couple of chairs.

Ciaran rose to greet me. "I heard about the little to do with Luis. I'm sorry the Puppy got angry. You look awful and puffy."

"Stop calling Luis a puppy, Ciaran. And appreciate the compliment, jerk." I shook my head.

"I call it as I see it, Princess. And stop blaming yourself. Neither occurrences were your fault."

"What do you mean neither... oh. So you know about Dominic too." I cringed.

He nodded. "Even if they were, I have told the puppy repeatedly that he will have to learn to share."

Sharing. I didn't want to even talk about that. "Let's just focus on what I came here for; why don't we?" I glanced blearily at the door as Rielte and Noc walked in.

Ciaran chuckled. "Very well, Princess. We determined, through your connection to me, that you are half Edentree, which should be impossible."

"Why is that?"

He coughed. "Well... Edentrees are not supposed to have the ability to produce progeny. However, the Straif is a clever man and must have circumvented this. The Sidhe are very close in species to us, having been created by our seeds. His magic encompasses both light and dark, and he likely used both. Using dark magic is a sin among the trees."

"You sound like you like him."

"Ha! You caught that, did you, Princess? I do. I'm his only friend, much to the irritation of Duir."

"In any case, your death magic is part of the Straif's realm. He rules the betwixt and exists as a gateway to the underworld."

"That's where Luis is from, I'm told."

"Ah yes... hmmm... that's true. And very interesting." Ciaran mused over this.

"Why?"

"Hmm?" he returned his focus to me. "Well, it's interesting because we all thought all the Phouka went extinct during the tree war. But that's not important now. Let's get to training you so you know how to connect to the roots and use your Edentree gifts."

I narrowed my eyes as he dangled an interesting tidbit only to snatch it away. But I already knew that Ciaran liked to keep information to himself so I'd coax it out of him later.

Ciaran held my hand, and for the next hour, we practiced how to engage and disconnect from the network. It was so difficult at first not to be overwhelmed. Ciaran helped to control the flow little by little. He taught me to visualize a hook that I released when I needed to let go.

"Good, excellent, Princess." Ciaran said, "Now, the next lesson involves master Brin, master Rielte, and master Noc. You'll be learning how to draw in and release their life force for your use in magic. It's best to complete the process to make them part of your court. "

"Do we have to?"

"No, but it will both cement their status in this land and make it easier to include them in your network for the next trials."

"We'd be honored, Mistress, to be of use," Brin said with a bow.

Ciaran held up three pretty bracelets of crystal beads and string. I agonized for a few moments before I took them. After I did the small ritual with the three, my seal appeared on their foreheads, and a small glimmer appeared around us. I didn't get any additional petals, but I'd never seen three happier men than these. They kept stroking their seal and their bracelets and looking at me with adoration.

"Okay, what now," I sighed.

"You will work on pulling and releasing with Brin since he's the strongest of the three. Then you will do so with me." I noticed that Brin did look a bit stronger. He'd filled out some since yesterday, and I marvelled at it.  But when Ciaran told me that he would be practicing with me, my questions fell to the ground. 

"Buh... with you?"

He grinned. "Yes, with me. What fun, eh?"

I wasn't sure if I could call it fun - all consuming madness, yes, but fun? No.

 I scuffed my feet over to Brin as I was sure this was a bad idea. Then I held his hands as Ciaran instructed. After that,  Ciaran told me to breathe in, but not with my lungs. Instead, I was to breathe in with my mind and focus my intent on drawing in Brin's life force as though it was a string and I was a spool. Finally, I was to think of breathing out and unspool his life force from me.

The first time I did it, I made Brin crumple to the floor with a cry. "Release! Release, Madeline," Ciaran said calmly. I released, and Brin groaned. He got up unsteadily on his four feet.

"I don't think I can do this. I'm going to hurt him." I put my hand on Brin's shoulder as I checked if he was okay. He nodded with a weak smile.

"Do you recall what it felt like to take too much?" Ciaran asked.

I could recall feeling like an overstuffed pig, then I nodded. 

"Then, only take half as much as that. You can do it." He addressed Brin. "Are you up to it, Master Brin?"

"That was rough, but yes, I'm willing to try one more time." He put his hands in mine again.

I tried again, and managed to spool just a little of his force, and this time, a rush of spring meadow and horse, and bright, vast sky flowed into me. I held it but a minute, reveling in the sweetness before slowly unspooling it back into Brin. He groaned again, but the timbre was different. It was the sound one would make when stepping into a hot bath instead of the previous sound, which was more like he'd stepped on a nail. He slipped his hands from mine then leaned his forehead against the top of my head.

"Could we do that again?" Brin's voice had grown husky and breathless. His hand skated up my arm.

"No, you eager pony," Ciaran said with a laugh, then he gave me a thumbs up. "Good Madeline. Try the next one with Noc and then use what you take to raise a ghost."

"But there are no ghosts here." I said as Brin stepped back from me unsteadily.

"Hmm... untrue. There are types of ghosts and spirits here."

"But Valenia said the Fae are soulless."

"That's correct, but their magic still exists and either falls to the underworld or can form into spirits of sorts. It remains sentient. With practice every day, you should be able to see them."

So, Valenia had told the truth, but not all of it. Typical Fae. "Okay, I would like that. I miss them."

He laughed again. "Ah, Madeline, only you would miss ghosts. Such an odd and wonderful woman."

I had nothing to say to that, so I just focused on Noc. His force was the snow, pine, and chilly mountain air of a lofty peak. It caught my breath, and a plume of chilled air blew from me when I released it. I remembered to hold just a bit of it which broke away from the rest of him with a visible spark.

Noc made a sharp gasp of pleasure and squeezed my hands. The cold of his spirit reminded me of the kiss I shared with Luke and I had a strange urge to keep Noc's force in me and mix it with my own. It felt right somehow. He was like a frosty snowball of pure joy within me, and I needed that. I wanted that. The giant fell to his knees before me and his happiness thrummed within the piece of lifeforce I had trapped. I found myself reaching for his silvery hair with a delighted laugh  and he was bending at his waist to allow me.  Noc's hands stroked my hair as his body shuddered. 

"Now, try to call forth a spirit. Think of magic, not souls," Ciaran prompted, looking between Noc and I with a small crease in his forehead. He looked monumentally puzzled, and I felt a little awkward over what just happened. 

I thought of how magic felt within me and how it was a sparkle in my mind and the world. I thought of a particular ghost and wished to see him again. It was with an odd reluctance that I finally released Noc's spirit, however. I wanted to keep all that joy he possessed within me and create something from it. How could someone have had such a hard time, and still possess such joy? I needed that light in my life.

"Meow!" 

I was torn from my new appreciation for Noc and my face lit up as the ghost I most wanted to see was before me. It was Persimmon!


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