Tharios takes off at a jog, and Arisanna hurries after him, holding her skirt up so she doesn’t trip over it. Mother would have a fit if she knew Arisanna was running through the corridors of Windhaven on her first day here. Or any day, really.
Tharios stops outside a large wooden door and puts his finger to his lips before silently pushing the door open a crack. “Don’t let him see you, or he’ll clam up.”
Arisanna frowns as she peers through the small opening beneath Tharios.
A forest grows inside the royal residence? Astounding. There are trees and stones and dirt. Even a creek.
Is Cerian in there?
Then she spots him hovering near the ceiling, suspended by vines that don’t behave as vines should, and her heart almost stops as he plummets to the forest floor.
Holding Back
Episode 30
It’snotthefirsttime Cerian’s been dropped from a great height, but he wasn’t expecting it from Mother. Reaching out with his plant magic, he calls for his own vines to catch him, and just before he hits the ground, one wraps around his waist and slows his descent, setting him lightly on his feet.
“Bravo, my elfling.” Mother claps, and Cerian eyes her warily.
A new vine flies toward him, but he scrambles away.
“Why was that your first impulse?” Mother calls out. “Why not use your magic?”
“Does it matter? It worked.”
“I’m just trying to understand why you’re holding back.”
Another vine snakes toward him, and he rolls away from it before finding his feet again. “I’m not holding back.”
Why does she keep insisting he is? What did Father tell her?
“All right,” Mother says. “Let’s talk about something else.”
Anything else.
“What was going through your head when you left your chamber this morning?”
Anything but that.
She sends a root toward his leg this time, but he snaps it with a competing root of his own.
“That was well done,” Mother says. “Now answer my question.”
He presses his lips into a thin line as Mother walks toward him. Her gaze is intense, her chin lowered. What would it have been like to face her on the battlefield?
Terrifying.
A vine snaps at him, one at first and then another. He backs away, staying just out of reach. Roots nip at his toes along with the vines.
She’s not attacking him, though.
Whistling wind. She’s backing him into the corner so he can’t run.
Panic fills him as he glances to his right and his left, but there’s no escape. It’s either let her plants overtake him...or fight back.
“What were you thinking earlier?” she asks more softly as her vines and roots continue snapping at him. His back hits the wall of the arena, and his heart beats rapidly.
Can Arisanna feel it?
