She noticed Zev and her other friends standing at the door. Watching her with the same solemn look Lucenna was now.
“You’re angry and violent, and so lost. I wish I knew how to help you,” Lucenna said, her voice breaking. She hugged her tight. “I want my friend back. Please come back.”
Dyna closed her eyes, fighting the tears welling behind them. The girl she used to be was gone. Why did they keep hoping to see her?
“I’m sorry…” She exhaled shakily and slipped out of her hold, looking away. “I need to be alone. Please…”
There was a pause before she heard Klyde say, “Come, lass. Give her a moment. You have cloaked the area enough.”
Lucenna walked away toward the hut. The others went inside, and the door closed quietly behind them. Dyna sank to the wet grass and pulled up her knees, wrapping her arms around them. She listened to the chatter of the forest as her vision blurred.
What they didn’t know was that Dyna missed the girl she used to be, the one who trusted the good in people, who loved unreservedly, and still believed in hope. But how could that girl live with half of her heart missing?
At the gentle snort and brush against her head, Dyna hugged Fair’s muzzle. He lowered onto the grass beside her, serving as the only thing holding her up as her tears soaked his mane.
Fair didn’t judge her. He never questioned her, no matter how distraught and angry she was. Maybe it was silly, since he was a horse and couldn’t speak, but he was her only comfort now.
Dyna laid there with him in the grass as she looked at the half-moon. The wispy clouds parted, bathing the field in soft light. The stars seemed distant without her dreams beneath them. And she wondered where the other half of her heart had gone.
Sitting up, she rolled her eyes at herself.
Crying was pointless. She didn’t need these types of thoughts holding her down. Reaching into her satchel, Dyna took out a pewter bottle and sipped the tonic. It tasted awful, but it did the trick to vanish the ache in her chest. She sighed down at the bottle.
She really was pathetic.
A flick of blue flashed in the corner of Dyna’s vision. It was a familiar aquamarine shade. She whipped her head to the left in time to see the tip of a tail dashing into the bushes.
Azulo?
She leaped to her feet and ran after him. Fair trotted close behind her as Dyna followed the streak of blue darting through the forest. Where was he leading her?
The trees eventually receded to a clearing with a small pond with a short waterfall. The rush of water joined the sounds of the night, and somehow, Dyna sensed that held a purpose. A fully grown blue fox with a diamond-shaped patch on its forehead waited for her by the edge of the bank. He sat on his haunches, wagging three fluffy tails.
“There you are, sweet one.” She smiled and gently scratched his head. “You have grown over the winter, Azulo. How big are you now? Perhaps, to my shoulder?”
A golden light flared around him, and he rose up way past her shoulder. A young man with furry ears grinned at her. He looked about twenty years old or so now. Only in a pair of black trousers, she got an eyeful of his well-built form. Bright cerulean hair fell around Azulo’s handsome face in soft waves. The sapphire gem on his forehead glinted in the moonlight.
“Much bigger than that, Mistress.” He chuckled at her shocked face, flashing his fangs. Muscle had filled him out well, his new height a good foot above her. He gained some new tattoos on his shoulders and chest. They pulsed blue faintly with magic.
Dyna gaped at him a moment, then laughed in surprise. “Dear Gods. You surely have grown.”
Azulo puffed out his chest proudly. He scooped her up in his brawny arms and hugged her tight, spinning her around in a circle. “I have missed you.”
“As have I.” But her smile wavered when his did, and he set her down. “You didn’t lure me here for a visit, though, did you?”
His furry ears lowered. He glanced away, and she followed his stare to the crop of trees on the right. A shadowed form moved forward and stepped into the moonlight, revealing the beautiful green-haired male she met a season ago.
The Druid’s golden eyes glowed eerily in the night. “It’s time, clever mortal.”
“For what?” Dyna asked, but she knew. It had been coming since the night her geas began to throb.
“To complete the deal we agreed upon. A favor for a favor of my choosing.” He circled her, grinning like a cat toying with its meal, and he leaned in intimately close. “No amount of scheming will exempt you from it.”
CHAPTER 25
Dynalya
Dyna’s pulse drummed as she waited for what came next. Leoake took a seat on a boulder and snapped his fingers. Azulo kneeled beside him like an obedient puppy, or better yet, a slave. It was at that moment, she noticed the geas on Azulo’s ankle. It was in the shape of an oak tree with interwoven branches.
