Page 56

Chapter 56

Thevin

She grew a fucking forest.

It wasn’t very big—a little over an acre, but the fact that there now lay what looked like a cutout of Felgren in the grasslands of Hyrithia caused an understandable stir in the ranks of Runners and Wieldwryns .

“ She has more power than the Baron .”

“ She has more power than the damn Blightress !”

I leaned against the wall of the castle, listening in on the conversations without joining them.

“ What does this mean?”

“ I say it means we have a fighting chance.”

“ I say it means we’d better not piss her off.”

I huffed a quiet laugh.

“ Maybe she can return all the land taken from us. Maybe she’s truly the one who can fight the Blightress and win.”

“ If she did this in minutes, imagine what she could do in hours—days. She should be at the Blight Line right now, shoving it back. It’s time we show our strength.”

“ We don’t have all our forces.”

“ Just look at that! We don’t even need them!”

“ Thevin , what do you think? You know her best.”

I cut my stare from the line of trees to focus on the three Runners still gaping as I did at the miniature forest. “ I think I understand better why the Blightress has sought Saelyn since she was born.”

“ But do you feel like we have a real chance now?” Flynn asked with a light in his eyes.

I nodded, pulling myself off the wall, headed into the new forest. “ Hold onto hope!” I called behind me.

“ Defy the dark!” the Runners returned in a rowdy cheer.

It smelled like Felgren .

It felt like Felgren —the tallest trees that reached the base of the sky, the ferns and bushes—even small paths were woven through the underbrush as if the forest floor had been trailed countless times by countless feet.

When I’d heard what had grown on the other side of the castle wall, I’d known exactly who it had come from. My duty to take over some of Lanna’s tasks while she rested forced me to stay away, though I tempted myself a dozen times to forgo those responsibilities and see it for myself.

As the sun began its dip to the horizon, I had finally been able to excuse myself and the other Runners to race across the city ruins to see the forest which had grown from nothing.

When rumors were confirmed it was Saelyn , daughter of the Baron of Felgren , who had grown such a thing, even more whispers arose about the Dimming and how successful we’d be in our final push into the east.

Trekking deeper into the wood, I allowed myself to imagine this was Felgren and I was off to meet Sae at the little shelter we’d built beneath the grove of maple trees. I pictured one of the many summers we’d met there, sharing plans for the next day, laughing at something Pompeii had said or a new guessing game I’d learned, telling her nothing about my life shadowed by battles and war.

All I’d ever wanted, before I understood that I loved her, was to live my days in Felgren . But now, I could not distinguish if that was because Felgren was home or she was.

“ Looking for me?”

Her voice called somewhere to my right. I scanned the trees, finding her sitting beneath one, sketching shapes in the dirt with a narrow pointy stick.

I left the path, careful through the bushes and ferns, doing what I could to keep the new life undisturbed. I sat down across from her, bending my legs so they encompassed hers. Gesturing above us, I asked, “ This your work?”

Her laugh flew free and she tossed her stick, scooting closer, shifting her legs underneath mine. She grabbed the front of my shirt, pressing her cheek to my chest, and I folded my arms around her.

“ What’s everyone saying?”

“ Nothing much, just that we’re all saved now that we have you with us.”

Her head rose to see my face. “ I just wanted to show my mother what I could do. I didn’t actually know it would be this until…until I did it.”

I made a point to look around, nodding and admiring the thick trees and curling ivy. “ I could live here.”

She snorted, snuggling back into my shirt, saying, “ You could not.”

“ No , really,” I insisted. “ If you made it, I’ll cherish it. If you want to spend your days growing your own damn forest, I’ll build us a home in it. Right there,”— I gently turned her chin, pointing across the line of trees to a tiny clearing—“can’t you see it? A little cottage, just big enough for the two of us so we don’t have to host any guests.”

She laughed again, wrapping her arms around my neck as I continued. “ You and me, Sae . We’ll spend our days working the land, building a garden and a life. You’ll travel into the city on occasion to do your magical miracles, and I’ll fix up our home, dinner on the table when you return.”

“ Hmm , and what of the people who’d try to settle nearby?”

“ I’ll chase ‘em off with a broom.”

Her cackle of laughter shook her chest and with it, I couldn’t help myself, finding her lips with my own, stealing her kisses to save for the worst times yet to come.

“ You wouldn’t miss it?” she asked, trailing kisses over my cheek. “ The life of a Runner , I’ve discovered, is quite a thrilling one.”

“ No ,” I swept my hand across her hair, tilting her face. “ No , I wouldn’t miss any of it. I do what is asked of me because it is what I can do. It’s this life,”— I nodded to the clearing where I’d painted a future for us—“that I’d miss if it never comes to be. And it doesn’t have to be here. I would build a future with you wherever you want to take us. I am forever at your call. Where you go, I go.”

Tears glistened in her eyes and she nodded. “ I want this future, too. No matter what we have left to face, I will get us to that life.”

I pressed my forehead to hers. “ Promise ?”

“ Promise .”